Three Good Deeds by Vivian Vande Velde
Author:Vivian Vande Velde
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
10. Town Goose
Howard wasn't very quick with numbers, but he was quick enough to know that if you needed three good deeds, and you accomplished two good deeds, that left only one good deed to go.
Another set of numbers Howard was considering was that a week and a half had passed between Good Deed Number One and Good Deed Number Two. It had been a very long week and a half, and he was determined not to wait that long for Good Deed Number Three to present itself. Surely, he thought, Roscoe would regain his courage or one of the other village children would come to Goose Pond looking for eggs, looking for excitement, looking for something to do. Howard resolved to scare that child off—rescuing a goose or two, and being returned to his true size and shape for his efforts.
Howard thought about this plan for a day.
And another.
And a week.
What finally settled his mind that it was time to do something rather than just wait was when the old witch tossed some wilting, brown-edged lettuce leaves into the pond, and the other geese practically drowned him in their frenzy to gobble it all up without leaving a scrap for him.
"Did you notice how I politely let everybody else go first?" Howard called to the old witch. "Isn't being polite a good deed?"
Without even looking at him, the old witch gave a tired backhanded wave as she walked back to her cottage.
Howard didn't feel any of the bubbling sensation from what he thought of as the goose-turning-back-into-a-boy spell, so he gathered her answer was no.
All right, he thought. Apparently he had to go to Dumphrey's Mill to remind the children that there were geese at Goose Pond.
He hesitated. What if...? he worried, letting his human boy mind flit with all the things that could go wrong while his goose body flew.
Better not to think, he thought. Then he threw himself into the air, while the other geese honked peevishly, demanding if something was wrong or if it was just that How-Word up to his taking-off-into-flight-without-warning trick again.
Irritated, Howard flapped his wings to get away from their squawking. Up, up, up into the air he went, and when he looked down he was amazed at how far up his wings had brought him. I'm turning into a goose, he thought. My body is becoming used to being in this shape.
That was not a comforting thought.
More than anything else, that assured him he was doing the right thing in not waiting. He needed to entice someone to come harass the geese so that he could heroically step forward again.
From up above, he saw the squares and rectangles of the fields.
He would have to be careful of the villagers—relatives and friends he had known all his life. He would have to make sure they saw him and got the idea of a goose dinner in their heads, without getting close enough to actually provide them with the opportunity for a goose dinner.
He flew low enough that he could see the people.
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