So, in
part 1 of my story, I was telling you about these Canada goose chicks who got
stuck on the roof of one of the buildings at my office complex. Mama and Papa
goose were on the ground in the courtyard, honking for their chicks to follow
them from their nesting spot on the roof of the three-story building, and the
babies were running frantically back and forth looking for their escape, when
one of them somehow made it up to the top of the foot-high rim surrounding the
rooftop, and walked right off the other side.
Well,
after we caught our breath enough to get our heads to stop spinning, we hurried
back downstairs and out into the courtyard and around to the side of the
building that the chick had dropped off of. We scoured the stone beds and
ground below, but there wasn’t even a small trace of the little fellow. We were
stumped! But there wasn’t much we could do about it. We had to return to work.
A little
later, word spread that one of the chicks had actually leapt off the top of
that building and landed in the courtyard below. Those who had seen it reported
that the chick had been kind of stunned for a little while, and there was some
concern that he wouldn’t survive his fall, but soon he recovered and was
following his parents around.
O.K. One
baby safe, four still in distress, and one mysteriously missing. By now, the
e-mails and texts were flying furiously around the office with debate as to what
would be the thing to do, what the wildlife officers had or had not said, and
what, pray tell, would happen next!! On top of it all, someone figured out that
the missing baby was nearby and alive – but in even worse trouble than the
others. The buildings in the complex are attached to each other, and in between
the goose family’s building, and another tall one was another about a floor
shorter, creating a concrete canyon. The little fellow was trapped in that
space with the sun blazing off the concrete. He was not within view from the
window, but, occasionally, when he got in the right place, his shadow could be
seen casting against the far wall.
Now, all
of this may sound a bit melodramatic, but the fact is, some people, including certain
bloggers, very much care for the animals and feel quite a bit of distress when
they are in trouble. People were saying they weren’t going to sleep that night,
knowing those little chicks were trapped up there without food or water, and
many of us were having a hard time getting any work done. Not even once a
second chick successfully made the trip to the ground.
Then,
just to make things as bad as they could be, Mom and Dad Goose disappeared and
took the took the chicks that had made it down, with them. They were simply
nowhere to be seen! They had given up and abandoned their four remaining
babies!
We went
home, that night, dragging our faces.
We came
in the next day kind of dreading it. What would we find? How could the babies conceivably
have survived the night?
But
before I could even go upstairs and check, the office was abuzz again. It seems
that the evening before, once most of us had gone home and the complex was
mostly quiet, someone had phoned the animal rescue people, and had, finally,
received the go-ahead to step up. So, someone with appropriate training and
gear had gone out on that roof and carefully collected all the chicks, even the
stressed out little guy on the lower roof. The babies had been taken over to
the local vet clinic to spend the night, and the animal rescue folks had
promised to come collect them the next day and see to their well-being. Phew!
The babies were going to be O.K!
Then,
later in the day, one more announcement. Before the animal rescue officers
could take the chicks, Mama and Papa goose had shown up again - - and gladly
took back their wayward babies!
It’s fall
now. The leaves are turning and the rooftop has been quiet for a long time. One
recent morning, as I walked through the courtyard on the way to my office, I
heard a distant but familiar honking sound high above. I looked up in time to
see a V of Canada Geese cross the sky, presumably in preparation for their
upcoming big trip to their winter home.
I
wondered, for one brief moment, if any of those were our babies laughing down
at the distant rooftop that once held them prisoner.
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