The Goose Who Couldn’t Fly

By Kenneth Lapointe

Stella was a young Canada Goose who loved to look up and watch birds and airplanes flying through the air.

“Harr-onk!  Harr-onk!” honked Stella.

“Mommy!  Daddy! Look at those big airplanes up there, flying through the air!!  Why can’t I fly like that?  I’ll NEVER be able to fly!”

Stella’s parents had heard this all before, ever since she was a baby.

They noticed she would just stand there on the ground and look up when all her brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles flew in big groups in the sky.  She wouldn’t even flap her wings.

“I can stand on one leg, I can float and swim, I can run, I can talk, I can eat tasty things, I can play, I can do all these things but I can’t fly!  It’s impossible!”

“Why don’t you try to fly, Stella?” asked her mom.

“Because I’m too big and heavy!”

“But Stella”, said her daddy goose, “All the other geese are flying and they’re all about the same size as you.”

“No, they’re not!  Look at Mae and Jemma and Kendra!  They’re streamlined and built like a willow branch.  Jasper is big but he’s a boy and boys have more strength to do things, everybody knows that.  It’s okay for boys to be big but not girls!” cried Stella. “It’s not fair!”  Stella was so upset she stuck her head underwater to cool off.

So Stella’s parents made a plan with Custard Pie, the floppy-eared beagle.  He was a happy, friendly dog who belonged to Mrs Good Morning, a nice lady who lived in a pink and yellow house on the other side of the park pond.

The next day Stella was standing on the edge of the pond when Custard Pie quietly sneaked up behind her….and all of a sudden with as much noise as he could make barked a big giant “WOOF!!!” that startled and scared Stella so much it made her start running as fast as her loosey-goosey goosey-loosey legs could carry her!

She was so scared she didn’t even look back to see Custard Pie laughing and happily flapping his ears extra floppily to make himself look bigger, as he pretended to chase her like some big, mean dog.

Of course, in the commotion, Stella started flapping her wings and soon she stopped running.

“Oh no!  I’m not running anymore!  That mean dog will catch me now!  Harronk!  Harronk!”

But instead, as she looked down she saw the ground get farther and farther away and Custard Pie too, who had stopped and was looking up, waggling his wiggly-waggly waggly-wiggly tail.

“I’m flying!” honked Stella.

“I’m not too big or heavy!  I just had to learn how to fly!  Now, look at me!  Watch out world!  Here I come!!!”

- Total nr. of readings: 1,362 Copyright © The author [2020] All Rights Reserved. This story may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the author except for personal use.