One goose—she was female, I could smell—paddled close to where we stood. When she saw and heard our geese, her long neck stretched out and her head lifted.
“Could that be her? The geese’s mother?” Maggie Rose asked Dad.
Dad shrugged. “No way to tell. She’s certainly interested in the young ones, but we just can’t know for sure.”
“Come on, Lily, follow me!” Maggie Rose said.
13
Maggie Rose led me down a short path to the lake.
The geese followed me. Dad followed the geese. We all arrived at the lake, and the geese waded in. They shook out their feathers and flapped, but they didn’t fly. They paddled, just as they did in the small pool back Home.
But this was not a small pool. This was a very large lake.
The geese headed out toward the middle of the lake. They seemed very excited, and looked back at me often to see if I would join them.
I don’t know how to paddle. To me, paddling is not a dog thing.
I stood next to my girl on the shore. “They’re doing it, Lily. They’re doing it!” Maggie Rose whispered.
The grown-up bird who’d seemed so interested in my friends was still close by. She met the younger geese in the middle of the lake, and there was a lot of honking and splashing and flapping of wings.
“That’s the mother. I’m sure it’s their mother!” Maggie Rose said, clapping her hands.
“Might be,” Dad said. “Come on, let’s give them a little space.”
We went back up the path toward the truck. A very strange thing happened when we did that.
The geese did not follow me. They stayed out on the lake, swimming in small circles and honking and flapping.
Other geese were gathering around, too. Some were beginning to take off from the water in short flights. They’d wheel in tight circles and land again. Sometimes two or three would take off together.
At the truck we found a big bench to sit on, where we could see what was happening on the lake.
“I think we’re about to witness something wonderful,” Dad said. “It’s the beginning of their migration.”
Maggie Rose held me tight.
“These geese will probably go to California, or even Mexico,” Dad said. “Some head for South Carolina. Hundreds of miles. It’s amazing. And they’ll come right back to this lake in the spring.”
And then, with a noise that sounded like a large wind in the trees, the geese were suddenly all flying.
The shadows of the geese in the air fell over us. They were honking and we could hear the sound of their wings. It felt exciting. It felt strange. It seemed as if the geese—all the geese!—were playing Chase-Me, and I should play with them. But I couldn’t play Chase-Me up in the sky!
I jumped off the bench. I barked a little as the geese circled, the whispers of their wings joining into a steady whoosh. And then some geese headed away, the sun behind them, and then the others followed.
And then they were gone.
I sat and looked up at Maggie Rose. She seemed a little sad, and I nudged her hand. Then I looked out at the lake, which seemed oddly empty now, with no geese anywhere.
I thought I understood something then.
For so many days, I’d been surrounded by geese. Geese had been behind my rump and under my paws and cuddled up into my fur. Geese had been everywhere. They had bothered me like a bad itch. I longed to get away from them.
Then we came here, where there were many floating geese, and now they were all gone and my girl was sad, which meant that the geese were gone. Gertrude and Harold and the rest of them had left to be geese with all their bird friends, and would not be coming back to Work to be with me and Brewster anymore.
And I felt a little sad, too. Now that they were gone, I realized I actually had grown accustomed to having them around. What would it be like to go to Work and not have them come running up, frantically happy to see me? It was as if I were a mother dog and they were puppies. When I was a puppy, I had loved my mother dog more than anything else. And then I went to be with Maggie Rose, and I was even happier.
It never occurred to me that my mother dog might miss me. I wondered if she had been sad when we parted, just as I was sad now.
Then I heard it. A slight noise in the air, followed by a soft honk. Maggie Rose lifted her hand to shield it from the sun as she looked up into the sky.
“It’s Gertrude!” she cried.
It was Gertrude, who loved me the most. She landed elegantly in the water, right near shore, and my girl and I ran down as she swam over to us. She came up on shore and straight to me. She leaned into me as she always did.
“Oh Gertrude, you came back to say goodbye,” Maggie Rose breathed.
Gertrude and I looked at each other. I licked her on her strange lips and she wiggled her tail. She honked very quietly.
I knew then that even though geese are birds and not dogs, they can love in their own bird way.
I heard more honking and glanced up. A line of geese trailed across the sky, all honking, their necks outstretched. Gertrude saw them, too.
With one last look at me, Gertrude turned and plunged back onto the lake. Within moments, she had lifted herself with her wings and had joined all the others.
My girl and I returned to where Dad was waiting by the truck. “Oh, Lily,” Maggie Rose said. “I know you miss the geese. But it’s the best thing. They’ll fly far away and have a good winter somewhere warm.”
“And they’ll come back,” Dad promised.
“And they’ll come back, Lily. They’ll come right back to this lake. They might even come see us at the rescue.”
“And they’ll build their own nests,” Dad added. “Let’s hope they don’t pick a planter in a parking lot.”
We climbed in the car. There were no geese in the crate in back. But I did have my girl. I had Maggie Rose.
And I had Home.
Home was where all my family lived. I loved my girl. I loved my Home. I loved my family: Mom, Dad, Craig, Bryan, Maggie Rose.
Brewster, too.
MORE ABOUT CANADA GEESE
Gertrude and her nestmates are Canada geese. You can identify a Canada goose by its long black neck and the white patches on its cheeks. Male and female Canada geese look alike.
A Canada goose can weigh up to nineteen pounds. Their wings can stretch more than five feet across.
Canada geese eat grass, water plants, seeds, and berries. They will also gobble up crops like corn and wheat.
Most Canada geese live in Canada and the northern U.S. in summer. In winter, they migrate to the southern U.S. and Mexico.
Some geese who live near humans do not migrate. This can make the birds less healthy, and it can cause a nuisance for the people. A flock of fifty geese can leave two and a half tons of poop behind in one year.
It’s best not to feed geese. Giving geese human food can make them sick. It can also encourage too many geese to stay in a too-small area and can discourage them from migrating.
Canada geese learn to migrate by following their parents. If a bird stops migrating, its goslings will never learn.
A mother goose usually lays four to seven eggs at a time. She keeps the eggs warm for twenty-four to twenty-eight days while her mate keeps watch nearby.
The goslings call or peep to get their parents’ attention. They can even peep while still inside their eggs.
Goslings are ready for their first flight when they are between seven and nine weeks old.
READ ON FOR SNEAK PEEK AT LILY TO THE RESCUE: LOST LITTLE LEOPARD, COMING SOON FROM STARSCAPE
I followed my girl across the grass to the back of the yard. There was a rocky little hill there, and out of a crack between two rocks there came a most intriguing smell.
I pulled hard on the leash, longing to get my nose up to that crack and sniff hard. But Maggie Rose held me back.
The smell was of a cat. I know about cats. When I go to Work with Mom, there are usually cats there. They
live in crates, like all the animals at Work, and people come to meet the animals and then take them home.
That is what happened to me. I used to live at Work, and now I live at Home with Maggie Rose. It happened to Brewster, too.
But before the animals go Home with their new people, I play with them. I play with cats and puppies and grown-up dogs and sometimes with my friend Freddie the ferret.
I hoped I was going to get to play with this cat, even though we weren’t at Work. It smelled different from the other cats I’d known. The smell was young, but at the same time, it was big. This was a kitten, but somehow it was a large kitten. A girl.
I had never met a cat like this one before. I was very eager to find out all about her so we could start playing.
“Do you think Lily can get the leopard cub to come out?” Dad asked Maggie Rose. “I really don’t want to have to crawl in there after her. She’s already scared. Having a person come at her like that could stress her out too much.”
“Lily can make friends with anybody,” Maggie Rose said confidently. She bent down and snapped the leash off my collar at last. “Go get the leopard, Lily. Go on. Go!”
ALSO BY W. BRUCE CAMERON
Bailey’s Story
Bella’s Story
Ellie’s Story
Lily’s Story
Max’s Story
Molly’s Story
Shelby’s Story
Toby’s Story
Lily to the Rescue
Lily to the Rescue: Two Little Piggies
Lily to the Rescue: The Not-So-Stinky-Skunk
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
W. BRUCE CAMERON is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Journey, A Dog’s Way Home, and A Dog’s Promise; the young-reader novels Bailey’s Story, Bella’s Story Ellie’s Story, Lily’s Story, Max’s Story, Molly’s Story, Shelby’s Story, and Toby’s Story; and the chapter book series Lily to the Rescue. He lives in California. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
More About Canada Geese
Read on for Sneak Peek at Lily to the Rescue: Lost Little Leopard, Coming Soon from Starscape
Also by W. Bruce Cameron
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations,
and events portrayed in this novel are either products of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
LILY TO THE RESCUE: DOG DOG GOOSE
Copyright © 2020 by W. Bruce Cameron
Illustrations © 2020 by Jennifer L. Meyer
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Andrew Beckett
A Starscape Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-23452-0 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-250-23451-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-23450-6 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250234506
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional,
educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate
and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: September 2020
Lily to the Rescue: Dog Dog Goose Page 5