It had been quite a relaxing summer for the New Jersey Geese flock. They had gotten plenty of food along the coast, the weather was beautiful, the sun shining and the wind blowing with a whoosh. Apparently, all the conditions were perfect. Until now. The morning’s weather was decent, but that’s all that was decent about the day. Jaquavion, a fairly strong, black and white goose with a lean silhouette and brown eyes, was going out to gather food for the flock. There’s not much good about this day at all. it’s all cloudy and miserable, he noted. Ugh. Jaquavion soared over the treetops until he found a suitably lush area that seemed to have a decent amount of twigs and bugs. As he descended into the canopy, he spotted many bugs around, and a handful in a log, despite their attempt at disguise. In a swift motion, he grabbed the insects with his beak, killing them, and flying off again and taking the food back to the flock for feeding. When Jaquavion soared back and landed on the shore, he saw the gloomy faces and strange looks going around, like something bad was going to happen. He also noticed a strange chill in the air now. Going to the flock leader, Tyrone (Sometimes called Big Homie Tyrone), a muscular, aged, wise, and composed goose, he noticed that his wings were sagging too.
“Here’s the food I caught today,” said Jaquavion. Tyrone dipped his head in thanks. “By the way, what’s with all the droopy faces around?” Jaquavion was very curious now, and it made Tyrone’s face a little colder as well.
“You have much to learn, young one,” he sighed. “The weather will only get worse from here and soon there will be little prey left in the forest. We must make our annual flight South if we are to survive, but the problem is the weather. The skies seem cloudy and unsafe to fly in, but we don’t know when it will clear up or if it will be too late for us to make the flight because of the cold.” Jaquavion now dropped into gloom as well. He was looking forward to staying here for a while, but that won’t be happening this time. “So, when do we leave?” He asked. Tyrone replied, “as soon as everyone gets ready.”
After all 15 geese in the flock packed what they needed, Tyrone did a quick roll call before flight. “Is everyone ready?” Tyrone surveyed. Everyone was present and prepared, and so the geese took off promptly, with the notion nothing could go wrong now that they were flying to a new home. Among the geese there was a lot of chatter, saying things like “I wonder what our new home will look like!” or “I certainly needed a break from that cold weather.” There was a mix of tension and anticipation in the air as the geese began their 3-day journey to a new home. As Jaquavion led the left half of the V-shaped flight formation the geese were in, he noticed a change in the air yet once again. The shifting winds felt like sand flying around in a tornado, suffocating him and making his head spin. “Stay in formation!” Jaquavion screeched over the howling wind, though he didn’t really need to as the geese were already scrambling together to combat the raging tempest. The wind tossed around the geese a bit, but they managed to stay in position with some aching joints and sore wings. “Alright, we can rest here,” Tyrone called out. Almost every single goose squawked or sighed in relief as the flock soared down into a forest.
They took a quick rest and Jaquavion sent out a few geese to do some hunting so the flock could refresh their stocks of food they would need to survive the final leg of the trip. The weather was noticeably warmer in this forest than back home up north, which gave the geese hope. However, this didn’t last for long. Jaquavion noticed an overcast of clouds above, and he felt a drop of rain. What followed was howling wind and rain heavier than a pressure wash, then a boom! Beating his wings hard, Jaquavion raced to fly back to the rest of the flock. “We need to leave now!” He panted. “Grab what you can and let’s leave!” Charlie, Delta, Jeff, Tyrone, and other geese yelped, and then nodded, swiftly gathering food and jumping to the skies. The rain now pattered hard like bullets shooting his wings. Every wingbeat was painful, and it felt as if the whole sky was falling on him. Screeching in pain he indignantly yelled, “PUSH ON! Stay in formation!!!”Tyrone called out something as well, but he was in too much pain to hear it. He could hear the wingbeats moving behind and around him, and soon enough, the geese were tight enough together to fly and combat the storm. Each was protecting one another like an unbreakable shield and flying at the same pace. Gallantly, regardless of the conditions, each and every member of the flock strove to push further. “Almost there!” Shouted Tyrone and Charlie in unison.
At last, the geese cried in victory. “Yes! We made it!” The rain slightly eased, and part of the thick dark gray fog parted to reveal a perfect spot for landing. They had managed to elude the brutal storm with no casualties. Max grinned.“Great-” CRASH! At that moment, a bolt of lightning struck on Tyrone! "TYRONE!!!” Many of the geese yelled, soaring down as fast as they could to catch him. He was falling listlessly in the sky, completely knocked out, and as Jaquavion rushed towards him with a throbbing head, he fell into the trees. Jaquavion could almost hear and feel the thump as he knew his head fell to the ground, dead. What will we do now? We have no one to guide us. All the other geese murmured in grief as they saw the body of Tyrone, covered in blood as his blank eyes stared at the evening sky.
“He always knew how to see things through to the end,” a goose murmured, stricken.
“He was such a good leader,” testified Charlie in a thoughtful voice.
“He was so kind and friendly and always there for us,” said Jeff and Delta at the same time.
“And he was a great friend,” Jaquavion finally said, hoping these words would be soothing.
“I think Jaquavion should lead us now! He’s the bravest and kindest of all of us!” A few of the flock said. Then others started joining in. “Jaquavion! Jaquavion! Jaquavion! Jaquavion! Jaquavion!” As his name flooded his ears, Jaquavion called out to everyone. “There’s a lot to do, and we don’t have a lot of resources to get started. We all will miss Tyrone, but it is time to move on as he is watching us from the stars. We will be able to survive and we definitely will as long as we work together.” The other geese nodded in respect. “So let’s get started, shall we?”
