Merve the Goose

It was two days past Christmas and Merve the Goose was fully immersed in the "recovery" days before work started back (i.e. the breadcrumb free for-all died down as people returned to their jobs). While he was not immune to the tauntings of small children with pigtails and overzealous ambitions of being close enough to touch, he was one of the few geese who opted for trusting the hands that fed him rather than throwing hissy fits when the hands got too close.

Merve was a pond-half-full kind of goose, and for that matter, he was a one goose man who had recently found himself somewhat curious about the prospect of raising goslings of his own. Most geese of his age were happily immersed in chasing tail feathers, but not Merve. Merve had carefully weighed his options, evaluated and was content with his inter-goosal skills (as are important when teaching a gosling how to be a responsible citizen of a communal pond), and decided he was ready to settle down... on an egg.

Merve noticed that many of the humans that stopped by his pond were often strolling along little ones of their own. Especially in the two days after Christmas they seemed to descend upon the pond in flocks. There was one man-child in particular who stood out from the bunch. He seemed aloof, disinterested. While the others were throwing bread crumbs and squealing, this little one was calmly reclined in his stroller.

As Merve waddled closer, hoping to honk it up and get the boys perspective on parenting and to take note of the pros and cons from a gosling's side for future reference, the little one got very excited. So much so, Merve thought he might fly out of his roost on wheels and grab him.

While Merve was discouraged by the noise and commotion, he was not dissuaded from his inclinations towards starting a family, but thought better of his attempt at conversation and decided to observe from a distance.

The boy seemed to have it made; and frankly, the gentle nature of the child seemed to make parenting look feasible even. Merve's only concern was this: what would he and a little one have in common?

No sooner had the though been thunk and forgotten (geese brains are quite small), then the child's mother made a sound that sent a chill up his spine. It was a good chill, not like the chills he got as spinning reels launched baited lines off the bridge while he was swimming under. Then he heard another marvelous sound... kachunk kachunk rattle rattle... CHEERIOS!!!

As it was, Merve and the man-child shared a penchant for Cheerios. The boy yelled for them and laughed and Merve honked and clucked. It was as if the great Mother Goose has sent him a sign. "Yes, Merve! Have goslings. For as long as there are Cheerios, there will be happy children. Where there are happy children, there are happy parents."

The end.