Geese At The Cabin In Tahoe

Every year, when I would arrive at the cabin, one of the first things I’d do was call my mom and Kim to report on the goose situation. (My mom was always much more excited about these updates than Kim was.)

There is a park at the edge of the property where Canada geese nest and lay their eggs, so I would eagerly await my first sighting of a goose couple or, if the weather was warm enough, an entire family. Every morning I’d jump out of bed as soon as I’d hear honking. That was my alarm clock, the signal that the geese were getting ready to head out on the lake for the day. They’d come waddling along the shore toward the pier and set off from there.

One year I was so excited that there was a family with five goslings. I got up at dawn every morning to watch them go out, and in the evenings I waited for them to come back home. The goslings were hilarious, always wandering off to investigate something interesting, scrabbling hither and thither, and Mama Goose would get annoyed and go round the stragglers up while Papa stood further down the beach looking annoyed, impatient to get the show on the road. You could hear him tapping his little foot and sighing with exasperation as he sat in the driveway, engine running, honking the car horn. But that’s how it is when you have kids. You signed up for this, pal.

I kept Mom and Kim updated on the goslings every day, and I was excited for Kim to arrive so he could see them in person. The day he came, we piddled and drove around a bit on the way over to the cabin, as we always did, but I made sure we were back by evening so he would  get to see them come in for the night.

Just as we got to the cabin, right on cue, I saw their bobbing shapes out in the water, coming around the rocky bend, heading for the shore. “Kim! KIM! THERE THEY ARE, THE FAMILY’S COMING!!!” We went out on the deck to watch the procession, as did our neighbors. The geese get to shore, Mama, Papa, babies one, two, three, four…. four….. four……. “Oh my god, there’s one missing. There should be five. Where’s the fifth one?” I strained my eyes looking as far out over the water as I could, hoping the baby was just lagging behind. Nothing. I started chewing my nails. The goose family stood in a group at the water’s edge, also waiting. I asked the neighbors if they could see the missing baby. (No.) After some minutes had passed, the goose family gave up and started the march toward home. Kim got bored and went inside to unpack. The neighbors went inside to make dinner. I sat out on the deck alone in the cold and started to cry.

After about fifteen minutes, I went down to the water and paced back and forth, wringing my hands, looking for any sign of movement. Hey, what’s that? Oh, it’s just the bachelor goose coming around the bend, heading for home. I’d been keeping an eye on him every day, too. I felt sad for him, wondering why he didn’t have a mate, wondering if something tragic had happened to her, wondering if he was lonely. Watching him broke my heart. But wait, what’s THAT? I thought I spotted a tiny bobble in the water next to him. He was still pretty far out, I couldn’t see what it was. Maybe the glints on the water were playing tricks with my eyes. Yes, it must just be the light on the water. But, no, wait, really, there’s something there… What IS that? 

A gosling!

It had to be the missing baby! I wasn’t aware of any single geese with single goslings in the area. I instantly imagined that baby had straggled at some point, looked up to find himself alone in the middle of nowhere, and then he latched onto the first adult he came across for the rest of the day. Bachelor looked awfully worn out. It didn’t seem like he had enjoyed playing uncle, but his sense of duty prevailed. A man of honor!

I raced toward the cabin. “KimKimKimKimKimKim! IT’S THE BACHELOR GOOSE, AND HE HAS THE OTHER BABY WITH HIM!”

Kim came out to watch. The neighbors came out to see what all the ruckus was. I was so happy, skipping around, dancing and laughing and singing.

The goose family also came back to see what was going on.

Papa and Mama marched down the beach from the park, kids in tow. Bachelor and Baby #5 hit the shore some distance along and Bachelor started hearding the straggling kiddie toward its parents. When Mama and Baby spotted each other, they awkwardly ran to each other, as best as geese can run. They were so overjoyed to see each other!

Bachelor continue trudging wearily up the beach, heading for home after an exhausting day of babysitting.

Then Papa suddenly let out a series of honks, spread his wings, rushed Bachelor at lightning speed, and pecked the living snot out of him before turning in a huff and marching the family back to the park. Ungrateful bastard. Bachelor stood dazed at the edge of the water for some time after, feathers ruffled, looking very pitiful and forlorn.

The moral of this story is: No good deed goes unpunished.