Thursday, August 03, 2006

Just my luck...

...that I went to the market down the street without my camera today....

I was at the counter talking to the clerk when a young woman walked in and bought several packages of sunflower seeds. Suddenly, the woman left her purse and the seeds on the counter and rushed outside. I could hear hear talking to someone, and what I could only call a quacking noise in response.

This is unusual. Even the neighborhood winos still seem to have the power of speech. Most of them, anyway. And, while people do tie their dogs to the rail outside the store, most of the pooches either bark or are silent. I was puzzled.

The woman came back in, picked up seeds, change and purse, and walked out. I followed.

There, waiting for her, were a full-grown goose and a small bright-yellow gosling. The goose was quacking up a storm, but a handful of sunflower seeds took care of that. Thw woman said "come on, guys, let's go home," and the three of them headed down the street. Girl, goose and gosling, in a neat line.

And me without my camera.

This is a weird town....

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is an example of an 'alternative family!'

MrScribbler said...

Two adult females and a child? Not an unknown combination in this neighborhood, lovezao!

Dorrie said...

I now use a backpack instead of a purse because my camera and just EVERYTHING fits into it! Now my camera is with me ALL the time... don't want to miss it like I've done before. And here I used to ijijbq those things... the backpack I mean...

John0 Juanderlust said...

My first thought was that my neighbor got drunk, ended up in your town, and was outside the store talking to the lady. When she gets drunk, frequently, she quacks like a duck, thinking she is carrying on a conversation.
That was a great scene. Sorry you didn't have the camera but glad for the story.

gillardia said...

Wow. That is too funny! I would have been cracking up right there.

Gill

MrScribbler said...

It quacked me up, Gillardia!

SAREJESS said...

Well that sounds like a strange family group and It would have made a great picture

WhimsicalMadCap said...

Precious story! I'm a gooseaholic: my big "outing" each week is feeding the geese @ the park. The rest of the time, I simply coo @ them and have little chitchat conversations, apologizing for my emptyhandedness (they've grown accustomed to this "goose girl's" handouts). And yes, right now, there are in fact 2 goslings. Last Spring, at least 20 of them roamed the grassy stretches there, guarded by hissing trios of elders. They're all adults now.