Expedition

Written 54-K02 [2023-04-28], Edited 54-K02 [2023-04-28]

Image credit: Twitter Twemoji

The flock of geese lifted off from the cold pond of Waterloo Park, for the final time this year. The group of seven geese began their journey to distant lands.

Did the older geese remember what awaited them? Did the younger ones shake with trepidation, curious about their expedition into the unknown? Or did the geese all operate without any knowledge of what was to come, having only a creeping restlessness, an inescapable feeling that it was time to leave now?

The geese flew over the colourful leaves of trees siphoning off chlorophyll for energy. The trees’ cycles of growing and killing their leaves was partially governed by the changing length of the day, which their leaves could measure. The trees would stay to brave the cold, to the extent that a plant staying out could be considered brave. But the trees experienced the winter and the geese did not. The geese were fleeing an enemy they could not name.

In the Evolution Book by Sara Stein, the author suggested that geese aren’t northerners who fly south but southerners that fly north. Perhaps they go south like college students coming home for thanksgiving, returning to a world they used to call home.

Notes

This was written in 10 minutes during a Joy of Writing meeting.

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