Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Duck, Duck, GOOOOSE!!!!!

While browsing blogs this past weekend I noticed a few Father's Day blogs focused one way or another on dad as hero. I guess every dad's dream is to be hero. The interpreter of dreams himself, Sigmund Freud, opined that "I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection."

So let me think--what have I done to protect my youngsters as they were growing up? I guess I never lived at a time when I could confront a live wolf at the threshhold. There was this goose, however . . .

When my oldest son Greg was about four, Wendy and I brought him to Carroll Park in Bay City to feed the ducks. For that we carried a grocery bag of lettuce and bread. As we neared the park pond, there was a line of ducks waddling about in the nearby grass.

Off toddled Greg with a leaf of lettuce clasped in his tiny fingers. The ducks scattered at his approach. Not so one large goose who hurried to confront the young interloper.

Greg offered his lettuce to the goose who stood as tall as he. The goose sniffed the lettuce, then snapped at Greg's hand several times in quick succession. When our youngster backed off, the goose lunged forward, repeatedly biting him in the mid-section until he fell.

Wendy and I rushed over as the goose continued to pummel Greg on the ground, biting at his leg and ankle. I confronted the upstart fowl, shooing him off with the grocery bag. The goose was not cowed, looking at me as if to say, "You want some of what I just gave to your son? Step up."

Some tense moments passed as I stared down our adversary who still stalked about while Wendy tended to her fallen son. Eventually the bird bully lost interest and drifted off.

For a few years afterwards, Greg vividly could recall, "the goose who bit my belly." And how I smacked that goose with a grocery bag. Okay, okay . . . not the stuff of fables. Maybe even Freud would scoff. But, hea, that goose was mean!

14 Comments:

Blogger OldHorsetailSnake said...

My Hero!!

(I mean, really, you think Superman would have done any better? No way.)

10:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What's good for the goose IS good for the gander, after all.

Watch out, because someone's goose is going to be cooked come football season.

1:11 PM  
Blogger Deb said...

You're a hero in my book! My grandmother had a gaggle of geese at her house, and those suckers chased me every time I went over to her house.

2:58 PM  
Blogger amarkonmywall said...

We've had this same experience at Gallop-they used to drive the children to the tops of picnic tables, making ducking feeding too difficult. A friend of mine kicked at one of the geese down there because he was in hot pursuit of her son and she got a ticket! Only in Ann Arbor would the police write up such a joke.
Happy belated Father's Day Dave. Hope it was fine.

3:13 PM  
Blogger Kelly said...

Ahhhhhh BIG DAVE~~ in the eyes of a child ~~tis not the size of the foe that matters~~ but the bravery of the hero who does battle for us.
What a man~~ what a hero~~ what a father.

*dang I'm practically weeping here*

much like Wendy when you give her the news about the tent. ;)

*giggles*

6:07 PM  
Blogger Nankin said...

I'm glad it wasn't a swan, they're really mean. But it was very brave of you to step in whether it was a goose or moose.

6:34 PM  
Blogger WordWhiz said...

It reminds me of the time when I was about five. I wanted to swing on my swing set, but there were a lot of bees over by the slide. I ran inside and told my mother. She said, "If you don't bother the bees, they won't bother you."

I guess my swinging must have bothered them, because they stung me. I wasn't so quick to take Mom's advice after that.

8:36 PM  
Blogger Peter said...

Good "Hero" story Dave, ya can't be too careful around those geese... errr goose.

6:13 AM  
Blogger Fred said...

Time for an "S" tattoo on your arm.

6:42 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I loved the idea of staring down the goose and I am laughing at your swinging at him with a paper bag. This certainly is my kind of hero story and well you qualify an day for the Super Dad award in my book.

8:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm still chuckling. Yup, I'd say your encounter with the goose definitely puts you in the category of "super dad."
And geese can be VERY nasty...had a few encounters with them myself when in England.

4:56 PM  
Blogger Peter said...

Commiserations on the game Dave, we're through to the second round, but what a comedy of errors to get there.

2:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a hero. Those guys can be really nasty.

Cas
those are the kinds of things that kids remember.

6:30 AM  
Blogger Lucy Stern said...

You will always be your son's hero, how can a man with a trash bag not be? Cute story.

12:19 AM  

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