It was late September and the lake was quite. Mila was having dinner with her parents when all of a sudden large quacking started to be heard on the lake side. “The are Canadas who are leaving. I want to say good bye to them. Is that OK?”. Mila, you have to wait until dinner is over, we shall finish in 15 minutes.
“But then it may be too late. The Geese may just as well land at a different lake…”.
“Well, other flocks will soon arrive. Be patient”.
After dinner Mila went to the beach to see if the geese had landed. She could not hear anything, as it was quite foggy. It was also dark and little could be seen across the lake.
She was returning a bit disappointed when all of a sudden she heard two distinctive Quack! Separate dby a few seconds. She returned to the beach but she could not see anything. She knew however that the flock had landed at Breeches. The morning would confirm it.
She went to see Pierre, two cottages down the lake.
“Pierre, there is a large flock of Canadas who have landed on Breeches for the night. Can we go with the canoe tomorrow morning around 6:00 AM?”
“Sure no problem. Bring the Zeiss binoculars and a life jacket for me. I will see you at the beach at 6:00 sharp”.
Mila could not sleep out of excitement. By 5:00 AM she could not wait any longer and got dressed. She went to the beach and listened carefully. After a few minutes a couple of very short “Quack!” could be heard across the lake.
Raising her voice she said the secret word that the Lake Fairy Twing had revealed to her: “Naturageist. Open your gates”. All of a sudden she could hear the meaning of some of the quacking . A baby goose asked her mother: “Mother, I am hungry. When are we going to fly off and have breakfast at a nearby field?” “Be patient, Oki. We have to wait for the rest of the flock to wake up and for dad to issue the order to fly off“. The flock of geese was barely 20 m. away from the canoe but the fog made it difficult to see. Mila and Pierre could hear the quacking and chats but could not see the flock. All of a sudden a southern wind rushed in and the whole flock of approximately 50 birds appeared majestically swimming in front of the canoe. Mila immediately shouted: “Hello, geese, we are friends. Please do not rush away” The closest geese, including Oki and his mother Oka were very surprised to understand words from a human. “Who are you who talk in our language? We have to move south and now it is hunting season so we do not want to be shot by your friends. Besides how can I trust your words?”
“I know, our government allows hunters to shoot you until the end of December, but only when you are on farm land. You are safe while on the water. In any case while having breakfast please watch for hunters and rush away to your southern home in Ohio and Virginia. We will be missing you greatly and cannot wait to see you back next year in April or May. Cheerio and have a safe trip south.
The leader, Oko, who happened to be Oki’s father and the perpetual companion to Oka, in hearing these words gave immediate orders to the flock. “Group commanders, Pass the word: we are taking off now and will stop at the nearby farmer fields nearby”.
Taking off is not an easy task for such big birds. They have to run on the water with their webbed feet or “palmates” until they can use the strength of their wings to bring them into the air.
In order to indicate that they were ready to fly, every single Canada would shout: “Quack! Quack! I follow you!” The noise was tremendous. If hunters were nearby they would surely have a field day shooting then down.
Mila and Pierre watched in amazement the flock taking off and flying south. Soon after the “Quacking” calls stopped they returned home with a sense of longing to see them back in the spring.
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