Emma’s first migration

     Emma’s first migration 

After months of anticipation the day is finally here, the big migration .I never understood why some birds chose to stay in Canada and freeze their feathers off ,when they could enjoy the sunny beaches of Florida. My mom says that a bird never forgets their first migration, and to make sure that I had to make a list to ensure that I didn’t leave anything behind or forget the safety rules because it was equally as dangerous as it is exciting. You see our annual migration happened the same time as hunting season, my auntie Martha lost her husband Marvin to a tragic hunting accident she said if I am not careful I could also end up stuffed in some old guys Rec room. 

“Okay everyone please gather around for the safety meeting.” Sammy the leader of the flock honked. My mom grabbed me by the wing and made me sit in the front row with all the other first year flyers. 

“Now Emma pay attention to everything that Sammy says because it could be a matter of life and death.” My mother gave me a stern look, nothing was more frightening then a mother goose that meant business. 

“We are heading out tomorrow bright an early, make sure that you are in you designated take off positions. First year flyers you are in the front near me second year flyers are behind them and so on. We have over have over 3,000 km to go so we need to cover a lot of ground each day. That being said there are a couple of things that you need to know, number one always be mindful of the bird in front of you you don’t want to end up crashing into each other. Number two always keep a lookout for airplanes we are just as dangerous to aircraft as they are to us. And lastly hunters, humans are the most dangerous animals on the planet and they kill without mercy so stay close to the flock at all times.” 

I nervously glanced around, the first year flyers in the group looked as nervous as I did. My best friend Maggie was shaking so bad I was sure that her feathers where going to fall off. 

That night while the others were sleeping I laid awake looking up at night sky trying to imagine what my first flight was going to be like, by the time the sun came up I was in bad need of a caffeine fix. 

“Hey do you think we be flying over a Starbucks anytime soon? I would give my tail feathers for a Carmel macchiato.” 

My mom just shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Look here missy if you hold the rest of us back because you where up all night Sammy is not going to be impressed with you. Now march your little but into position right now we leave in five minutes.” 

I grabbed my bag and took my place in line, why would a goose need a travel bag? Well why the heck not, this area has the best material for making a killer nest. While the others are rushing around trying to gather up materials I have my very own bed in a bag. I took one last inventory check before we took off. 

“Let’s see, twigs, string, horse hair, soft materials for the inside, check, check and check.” The other geese where giggling amongst themselves about how ridiculous I looked but I didn’t care. 

Maggie took her place right beside me she was laughing so hard she could barley breath. 

“You look like a tourist.” She managed to say between her bouts of hysterical laughter. 

“You say that now but when we stop for the night you will appreciate my genius. This beautiful thing right here is my bed in a bag, I over heard humans talking about how amazing it is so I thought what the heck why not.” 

“Alright boys and girls!” Sammy honked. “Prepare for flight.”

My excitement turned to fear, I have flown many short distance flights with my mom and aunt but nothing of this magnitude. After going over the rules one more time we where up in the air, pretty soon I was seeing strange beautiful animals that I had never seen before, “Hey Maggie look at that funny looking thing, come on let’s check it out we will be back before the flock know that we are gone. “ 

“Gee Emma I don’t know, we could get into big trouble.” She was alway scared to try anything new. I definitely wasn’t going to pass this opportunity up, but before I could chance to sneak away I was caught by Andrew a very noisy third year.

“And what do you think you where doing?” He honked at me sternly. 

I just rolled my eyes and got back into formation, I was very going to find out what the funny looking brown animal was. 

“Maggie we’ve been flying forever I think my wings are going to fall off.”

“Mine as well, I think we are getting ready to land it feels like we are getting lower.”

I was so glad that my friend was right and before I had a chance to complain we were comfortably on the ground, completely surrounded by those funny looking brown things. 

“Are you a moose?” It nudged me so hard I almost fell over. 

“What’s are moose?” I was so very confused it was way smaller then other ones it must be a baby. 

“Me silly, I am Melvin the moose and this is my heard.”

“Oh, no I am not a moose. I am a goose, my name is Emma and this is my flock. We are heading to Florida where it is warm do you want to come with us?”

Melvin laughed, “ Silly goose, Moose like the cold and any way how would I go with you? I can’t fly.” 

Melvin and I had a very long conversation until my mom told me that I needed to come and prepare my bed for the night with the others. I said my goodbyes and told Melvin that maybe I would see him again on the way back. He just smiled and headed back to his heard. 

“Okay Emma let’s see this genus idea of yours but you need to hurry up because I need to go gather materials for my bed.”

I opened my back pack and dumped it out on the ground, within a matter of minutes I had my nest made and I was ready to settle in for the night. Maggie stared in amazement; “I will never tease you about anything ever again.” 

That night while the others slept I lay awake once again looking up at the stars, thinking about all the amazing things that I was going to see. Finally I was so tired I could hardly keep eyes open. The next morning Maggie woke me up in a panic, “Emma, Sammy said we need go now. There is no time to gather you things we need to go.” I was still half asleep until I heard the gun shot. Maggie and I took off and joined the others. There was some much commotion going on we weren’t sure that the whole flock was together when we took off. When Sammy thought we were at a safe distance he gave the order to land, sadly two members never made it.

“We need to keep moving, they will be a time to grieve once we land.”

The rest of the trip was flown in silence and when we reached are destination instead of being happy I was in pain over the loss of two members of our flock. This was my life my reality, a journey we had to make every year. 

The end