Dig It Out

by Jeff Baker

“Oh, wow! What is this? It’s goooood!” Herbie said pecking at the ground with his beak.

“It’s sunflower seeds. Somebody must have been walking across the ball field munching them and dropped a few,” Morton said, ruffling his wings to settle his feathers.

“Man! I never imagined pecking for food on the ground would be so much fun!” Herbie said. “I’m gonna like being a goose!”

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Morton said. “Canada Geese live about twenty-five years in the wild. I remember reading that once, back when I read a lot!”

“Really?” Herbie said. “You mean, we don’t come back as geese again?”

“Sometimes.” Morton said. “But reincarnation’s a real crapshoot. Ugh! Speaking of which, watch where you step. Ick!” Morton shook a webbed foot. “That one was fresh!”

“You get that in a baseball field full of geese,” Herbie said, glancing over at the rest of the gaggle, munching at the brown grass near the fence.

“Yeah,” Morton said. “I wanted to be a wolf, but I keep coming back as a bird. My first goose though.”

“Yeah, I…Ow! What the heck is this?” Herbie said.

Morton waddled over to get a closer look at what Herbie had unearthed with his beak.

“Looks like a ring somebody lost.” Morton said. “Hmmmmmm…if this is gold it could be valuable. Of course, that doesn’t do us any good!”

“Gimmie a moment,” Herbie said. He picked up the ring in his beak and waddled across the field, setting the ring down on home plate. “There. Somebody will find it. Maybe they’ll even find out who owned it.”

“Depends on what they value.” Morton said.

There was a honking from the geese in right field.

“Sounds like somebody found bread!” Herbie said eagerly.

“Hold on!” Morton said. “Leave the bread. That stuff just gives us the runs. Ooooooooh! Look! Here’s some grubs!”

—end—