Goose-Sitter

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“Do they really think you’re their mama?”

“Yep.”

She stared at the small flock of geese. There were still goslings, in a way, but they no longer looked like anything but full grown, feathers puffed, beaks out to get ya in the soft parts geese.

“They’re quite tame,” Luke chuckled at her wariness.

“Tell that to the bruise that this one over there left on me the other day.”

Luke’s chuckle turned full throttle laughter. “Miles was just trying to establish a pecking order. He’s fairly low ranking and you could’ve showed him his place. Instead, you freaked and he showed you his. It’s normal goose behavior.”

“Normal for you, perhaps. I’m a human. Not a goose mama.”

Luke patted one of the geese in what Darla swore was just a showing off. “Also, they are a little antsy,” he conceded. “It’s going to be their first real flight.”

Darla nodded, unconvinced. She was already regretting her agreement to take care of any stragglers. Luke was going to fly the flock — or any of the flock who were capable — through the whole migration route. Darla was to help with those who lagged behind or proved too weak. Luke already had two in mind that he believed would end up among them, including, of course, Miles de Munch.

She wasn’t sure how she got roped into agreeing. There was, of course, Luke’s contagious enthusiasm. And his charm.

Darla sighed. She’d bail out if it weren’t for the fact that they were due to leave tomorrow and there was no way Luke would have time to find a substitute goose-sitter.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Luke’s face lit up in a manner very much like the excitement that had led her to agree to shepherd biting geese in the first place. “We’re going on one last practice fly today. Wanna come?”

 

 

 

For Keith’s Kreative Kue 235

 

In A Moment

Photo Prompt © Ted Strutz

 

She sat with her nose glued to the window, ignoring the roar of the engines and the bawdy chatter in her headphones.

It was cloudy when they’d taken off, with only little visibility. Now miles of forests stretched in all directions, the greenery as dense and impenetrable as her father’s face the last time she’d seen him, brooding and taciturn even by his own standards.

A glint of water sparkled in the distance and the pilot banked to the right to circle toward the lake. Suddenly she could not breathe.

It’s been a long ten years.

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

 

 

Blue Planet

Blue Planet NaamaYehuda

Photo: Na’ama Yehuda

 

Serpentine line

Undulates across planes

Amidst the snowed patches of

Rugged terrain.

Spread below

To horizon

Of blue onto blue

This one planet

We share

All of us –

Me and you.

 

 

For July squares: Blues

 

 

Spin Cycle

spin cycle Y.Levenberg

Photo: Y. Levenberg

 

Making foam of sky

With kicking feet

And screeching mouths,

Must be the new spin

Of a hit thing

Going around.

 

 

For Kammie’s Odd Ball Challenge

 

 

In Flight

in flight stephenforte

Photo: Stephen Forte

 

In the slight pause between

Flapping up,

Flapping down,

Live the breath

And the lift

That propel

To carry on.

 

 

For the Photo for the Week challenge: Birds

 

Way To Fly

Flight of the Gibbon, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Photo: Flight Of The Gibbon, Thailand

 

Helmet on

Harness tight

Zip along

In a flight

As gibbons chatter

Out of sight

In the tree tops’

Stunning height.

 

 

For the Which Way Photo Challenge

 

Up Swing

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Image credit Gamze Bozkaya via Unsplash

 

“Hang on tight!” Mermee called

And she launched

Wings unfold

O’er fields

Mountains old.

And below her

I swung

My heart in my throat

Rung

As below me unfolded

Hope and fear, life remolded.

Till claws

Let go

And I fell.

Morning broke

My dream’s spell.

 

 

For The MMLM Photo Challenge

 

Swing high

To all the little girls on beaches everywhere …

Inspired by the beatific smile of one …

Remembered with much fondness today.

 

swing beach

Swing high.

Touch the sky.

Feel the sand 

Rushing by.

Sense the surf

Humming forth.

Hear the waves

Singing froth.

Swing on high.

To the sky.

Sun and cloud

Streaming by.

Move your heart

To the pace,

Of your legs’

Aerial race.

Swing up high.

Touch the sky.

My oh my.

Breathe and fly.

Sky-High Practicality

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Seven hours into a twelve-hour flight the other night, an adorable (and chatty) curly top three-year-old in a nearby row: “Mommy, I don’t want to stay on the airplane anymore. My legs want to run.”

Mommy (sounding similarly fed-up if not run-ready): “I know, Sweetie, but we can’t get off right now.”

Curly Top, miffed, tone slightly rising toward whine-a-thon: “Why?”

Mommy: “Because we’re very high up so we can’t go out now.”

Curly Top: “We’re in the sky, Mommy?”

Mommy, voice disheartened: “Yes … we’re up in the sky.”

Silence. Then Curly Top again, pensive with a touch of wonder filtering in: “Mommy, we flying?”

Mommy: “Aha … the airplane is way up high because we’re flying.”

Another silence, followed by bubbly cheerfulness in the toddler’s voice: “Oh, that okay Mommy! We can just fly down right now!”

🙂

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