about molly | art | writings | contact | home   the avra valley dispatch: June 15 2005 -- Free Geese to a Good Home or Dinner Table Earlier this spring, I got it in my head that I wanted a pet, something to nurture and snuggle. For a number of reasons, I decided on getting a goose. Geese, I'd read, were low maintenance, and there was a very comical and friendly goose who lived in a yard off Park that I would admire as I drove to breakfast at Jimmyšs Diner. I was instantly charmed by this goose, but I canšt really remember how I went from being charmed to wanting one of my own.   I soon found myself with four goslings (yes, four, not one ­ I haven't even mentioned the 8 ducklings that came along as packing material) living in a playpen in my kitchen ­ adorable little critters, all fuzzy and snuggly, and peepeepeepeepeep. Lišl heartbreakers.   So far so good. Shortly thereafter, however, the (old) boyfriend moved out, and I decided against moping and crying and opted instead for a social life.   Geese enjoy a social life as well, but I couldnšt very well bring them to dinner parties with me, so they stayed home and saw me more and more infrequently -- and even then only briefly as I tossed romaine lettuce into their pen enroute to a more pressing engagement.   At the end of May, I came home from a weekend trip to find that my affectionate lišl heartbreakers had turned into neurotic squawking beasts (or as the potential suitor refers to them, Gozzlemonsters). They canšt get away from me fast enough and will climb over each other, fleeing. The level of their hysteria increases with each time I don't make it home in the evening. Išve considered having a goose roast later this summer ­ the only problem is, I named them. The fancy breed Sebastopols -- pretty, ruffled birds, also apparently good eatin' -- are called Kiki de Montparnasse and the Marquis (initially the Marquesa) de Casati, and the gray barnyard Toulouse geese are LC and Lono. I canšt eat something Išve named -- but I don't mind if you do. So, I am hereby putting my geese up for adoption. For snuggles or for dinner, your call.   Kiki, back when the little stinker loved me.     Everything © 2005 by Molly Kiely. Yay!