At one time during my childhood, we owned ten geese. I do not know why my
parents felt the need for goose ownership but it probably came about through
the time-honoured practice of bartering. Something like, I’ll give you my ten
geese, if I can have your two lambs. Perfectly good sense.
As the eldest of four children, I was the designated caretaker for the creatures in our ever-changing menagerie, and I remember the time of the goose with very little fondness. The goose pen was a rough enclosure of corrugated iron and chicken wire beneath one of the river gums at the edge of the ‘back paddock’. I would enter the pen with a sturdy stick in hand to ward off close encounters with the hissing birds, my back firmly pressed to the perimeter and every goose in line of sight. Food and water were dispensed with military precision followed by a rapid withdrawal. Inevitably, the time came when a goose failed to hatch a clutch of eggs. I was summonsed and duly ordered to ‘see if the eggs were fertile’.
As the eldest of four children, I was the designated caretaker for the creatures in our ever-changing menagerie, and I remember the time of the goose with very little fondness. The goose pen was a rough enclosure of corrugated iron and chicken wire beneath one of the river gums at the edge of the ‘back paddock’. I would enter the pen with a sturdy stick in hand to ward off close encounters with the hissing birds, my back firmly pressed to the perimeter and every goose in line of sight. Food and water were dispensed with military precision followed by a rapid withdrawal. Inevitably, the time came when a goose failed to hatch a clutch of eggs. I was summonsed and duly ordered to ‘see if the eggs were fertile’.
I managed to prise the goose from her nest and lifting my sturdy stick a
little above the selected egg, brought it down gently onto the shell. Tap, tap.
In that one moment, the hairbreadth of time between the first and second touch,
the egg exploded. An otherworldly stench violated my nostrils, my senses, and
every pore of my being. My reaction was so swift and so violent the normally
aggressive birds were cowed in the corner as I fled to the cleansing waters of
our backyard pool.
It happened then, sometime later, that one of our bantams failed to hatch her clutch of eggs. The edict was unfailingly issued, ‘TC can you check the eggs’. I mentioned earlier I was the eldest of four children and fortunately, one of my sisters was always up for anything. ‘Hey Lu, come on, let’s go check the eggs’.
Tap. Tap.
It happened then, sometime later, that one of our bantams failed to hatch her clutch of eggs. The edict was unfailingly issued, ‘TC can you check the eggs’. I mentioned earlier I was the eldest of four children and fortunately, one of my sisters was always up for anything. ‘Hey Lu, come on, let’s go check the eggs’.
Tap. Tap.
TC
Disclaimer: The situation depicted in the painting above in no way
bears any resemblance to the personal experience of the author.
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