“What’s an Embden?” I asked.
“It’s the kind of goose you see in Mother Goose books,” Mom answered. “You know, the ones with snow-white feathers, orange beaks and feet, and those bright blue eyes.”
“It isn’t really white—it’s yellowish gray,” I pointed out.
“That’s just baby down. Its real feathers will come in white,” Dad said. He shook his head. “I wonder where that egg came from? I’ve only seen Canada geese around here.”
“Maybe its mom stopped here on her way to somewhere else,” I suggested.
Dad scratched his belly and yawned. “Not likely, honey. Embdens are domestic. They aren’t good fliers like wild geese.”
“Then it must have been magic.” Mom grinned at Dad in a jokey way. Still, the word magic made the back of my neck prickle.
“May I?” Dad asked, taking the gosling from my hands. When he turned it upside down, the baby let out a tiny squeak of protest. “Aha, it’s a female,” he said as he examined it.
Mom clapped her hands. “A girl! What will you call her, Pix?”
“Oh, I don’t think we should give her a name,” said Dad quickly. “For all our sakes, we shouldn’t get too close to this little one. It will only make it tougher to give her to a farm or a petting zoo.”
“But I want to keep her!” I took the gosling back from Dad and tucked her between my chin and my neck.
My father tilted his head to one side as he looked at me. “You’d better think carefully about it. She won’t be a fluff ball for long. Like any pet, she’d be a responsibility. You’d have to feed her, clean up after her, and keep her safe.”
I remembered Aunt Doris’s last words to me, “Above all, guard your goose.” But it wasn’t the only reason I wanted to keep her. I knew I’d begun loving her before she even hatched.
I turned to Mom. “I think she was meant for me,” I pleaded.
Mom’s eyes, all big and moist, told me she understood. “It’s your choice,” she answered. Then she gazed at Dad with her chin tipped up in the air. I recognized that look. It meant she was standing her ground.
“I guess I’m outvoted.” Dad reached out a finger and rubbed the gosling’s head. “Welcome to the family, little . . .” He stopped and looked at me. “What are you going to call her?”
Before I could answer, there was a tap on the mudroom door. Dad opened it. Gray’s sneakers were untied and his hair looked uncombed, but he was grinning like it was his birthday.
“Her name is Destiny,” I announced as I placed her in his arms.
“Perfect,” he whispered. “Hello, Destiny.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ye Olde Greed
For the first couple of weeks she was with us, Destiny was all I could think about. I got up extra early, so I could spend time with her before school, and I ran home from the bus stop when I got back. I carried her around so much, Mom said, “That gosling will never learn to walk if you don’t put her down once in a while.”
“I don’t hold her all the time,” I replied. “When I do homework on the mudroom floor, she walks all over me. Besides, I have to share her a lot! I’m always letting Sammy hold her. Gray, too, when he comes over.”
The truth was, I felt like a two-year-old with a new toy whenever I handed Des over to anyone, even my parents. I had to ball my hands into fists to stop them from acting grabby. I forced myself not to keep looking at the clock and sighing.
“I just think you need to have a few more human friends over before you start honking,” my mother said.
I rolled my eyes and groaned. “Oh, Mom! I have friends—in school.”
But that night, I brought my notebook into the mudroom and wrote a poem that wasn’t about Destiny. It was about headcheese. Actually, I wrote three versions and they were all limericks:
One
The lunch ladies served us headcheese.
I think it was made from pig sneeze.
They said lunch I’d flunk
Unless I ate that junk
So I answered, “I’d rather fail, please!”
Two
The lunch ladies served us headcheese.
I think it was made from pig sneeze.
In sliced bread they hid it
And when Sage Green bit it
She shouted, “I’d like some more, please!”
Three
Some kids went on strike against headcheese.
They said it was made from a pig’s sneeze.
But a cafeteria lady,
Whose name was Miss Sadie,
Said, “You’ll eat whatever I please!”
I brought the poems to school with me the next morning. I wanted to invite Lucy and Alexa over to meet Destiny. We’d been sitting together at lunch every day since Gray had “dumped” me, and I’d given them daily reports on all the cute stuff Des did. But we’d never done anything together outside of school. I was nervous about asking them over. I was hoping the funny poems might make it a little easier.
“These are disgusting! I love them!” Alexa laughed when she read them.
“Yeah! Especially the one about Sage,” agreed Lucy. “You should ask Leo to illustrate them.”
“Maybe later.” My face got so hot I could feel my freckles spreading like butter in a frying pan. Then the teacher on lunch duty blew her whistle. I needed to invite them before we had to leave.
“I, um, I wanted to ask you both if you’d like to come over and meet Destiny?”
“Are you kidding?” Lucy squeaked. “I thought you’d never ask.”
They came on a Saturday when Destiny was officially three weeks old. As I led them into the mudroom, she began honking like crazy. “My dad says that a newly hatched goose thinks the first creature it sees is its mother,” I explained. “So to Destiny, I’m Mom.” I scooped her up and deposited her into Lucy’s cupped hands. “Here—hold her close to your body so she’ll feel secure.”
I watched Lucy’s black eyes grow shiny as she gazed down at Destiny. She didn’t say a word, which for Lucy was very unusual. But I knew it was because there was no way to describe what it felt like to hold Des. She was so light, you almost weren’t sure she was there. Yet she was so bright and alive you couldn’t stop staring at her.
When it was Alexa’s turn, Lucy pulled out a pile of miniature clothes from the tote bag she’d brought with her. There were old-timey dresses, hats, capes, and a fringed vest.
“Hey, aren’t those for your History Village Dolls?” I asked.
“Yes, but I want Destiny to have them. I’m too old to play with dolls anymore.”
“Come on, Lucy. That’s just someone else’s opinion,” grumbled Alexa.
I twirled a prairie bonnet around my finger. “Whose opinion?”
“Sage’s,” Lucy admitted quietly.
“My mom collects dolls from all over the world and she’s a grown-up and a judge,” said Alexa. “She still has the doll that her great-grandma in South Africa made.”
“Alexa’s right,” I agreed. “You should make your own decision.” I felt bad that I’d sneered at Lucy’s enthusiasm for her doll collection before I’d gotten to know her. I hated the idea that I could be as mean as Sage.
“I did make my own decision!” said Lucy. I could tell she and Alexa had discussed this before. She picked up a little red cowgirl hat and displayed it on her palm. “This one was Cassie Cowgirl’s. Do you think I could take a picture of Destiny in it? It would make a super-cute photo for her baby album.”
“Okay, but I don’t have an album yet.”
“Now you do.” Alexa plucked a binder covered in baby bottle and teddy bear stickers from the bag. “It’s from both of us.”
“Thank you!” I popped the cowgirl hat on Dessie’s little head. “Watch this!”
I played the old mix tape Mom listened to when she did laundry. The first song, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” was Destiny’s favorite. As soon as she heard the music, the gosling began swaying on her oversize orange
feet, flapping her weenie wings, and waddling her backside. She looked like a windup toy.
I think the doorbell must have rung a few times before any of us heard it. “Oops! My mom must be back from the supermarket,” I exclaimed. “She probably wants us to help her bring in the groceries.”
We all ran to the door. But before I opened it, I peered through its small acorn-shaped window. A woman with a pointy face was standing on our doorstep. She had on a black jumpsuit and tall black boots, and in her wild, orangey hair, she was wearing a small straw hat that looked like a nest.
Suddenly she brought her beady black eyes right up to the glass. “I can see you, you know,” she said in a voice that sounded like she’d swallowed a fistful of driveway gravel.
I jumped back.
“When her mom wasn’t home, Penny Pioneer opened her cabin door and a bear was standing there,” Lucy whispered. She was jumping up and down trying to see through the little window, which was too high for her.
“It’s definitely not a bear,” said Alexa, peering over my shoulder. “It’s a woman with a bird’s nest on her head.”
The three of us started giggling.
“My mother is busy,” I called through the door. “You’ll have to come back.”
“Your mother phoned me,” the woman said. “I’m Raveneece Greed, the gosling rehabilitator. Didn’t she mention me?”
Gosling rehabilitator? Were my parents trying to give Destiny away, after all? “Our gosling doesn’t need rehabilitating. We’re keeping her,” I said.
“How nice,” croaked the woman. “Well, as long as I’m here, I’ll check it for the parovirus.”
“Paro-what?”
“It’s a goose disease—very dangerous. Since your egg was found in the wild, the chances are higher that your gosling is infected. If it has paro, it would need to be treated immediately. Otherwise . . .” She shook her head as if it were already too late.
“Um, can you wait? My mom will be back any minute.” I turned to Alexa and Lucy with raised eyebrows.
“So she’s not home!” The woman suddenly sounded cheerful. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll examine your gosling anyway.”
“I can’t let you in.”
“That’s all right, girlie, you can bring her outside. Your mother wouldn’t mind that, would she?”
“Can’t you wait just a little while longer?”
“Sorry. I have a long list of goslings to see today.” She turned and started for the dusty blue minivan she’d parked in the driveway.
But I hadn’t forgotten Aunt Doris’s warning to guard my goose. I was pretty sure that included protecting Destiny from weird viruses.
“Pixie, don’t!” Alexa warned when I reached for the doorknob, but I opened it anyway.
Raveneece Greed whirled around. “A wise decision, girlie. Now give her to me.” She held out a hand. Her fingers were knobby and crooked. “I’ll have to do the examination inside my mobile clinic. It will only take a few minutes.”
“Um, okay,” I said, stepping outside. But when I tried to put Destiny in Raveneece’s hands, she let out a hissing sound I hadn’t heard her make before.
“Pipe down, Goose!” snapped Raveneece. Her gnarled fingers curled around Destiny’s neck.
“She’s just frightened,” I said. I had to stop myself from grabbing Destiny back.
Raveneece turned a sharp eye on me. “Don’t worry girlie, I know how to handle goslings. This will only take a minute.” She slid the door to the minivan open and climbed inside. “You brats—I mean, girls—wait right there,” she called over her shoulder.
Brats! I had a bad feeling before, but now I felt super suspicious. “Wait!” I shouted as the door of the minivan slid shut. In another moment, I heard the engine start.
Alexa grabbed my arm. “I think she’s kidnapping Destiny!”
We ran toward the van and began battering the door—kicking, screaming, and pounding. For a second the van jerked as if it were stuck, then it took off with a powerful screech. We had to jump out of the way so the tires wouldn’t run over our toes.
“Stop! Come back! Come back!” I shouted as we tore after the van. But the dust it kicked up created a cloud that made us stop in our tracks. Coughing and rubbing our eyes, we watched it vanish around a curve in the driveway.
That’s when I began feeling really weird. Wind whooshed in my ears and words began swirling in my mind. Then a poem practically flew from my lips:
“Descendants of the Planet
In countries near or far
Please save my goose and set her loose
Stop Raveneece’s car!”
A moment later, the sound of screeching brakes came echoing through the trees. I took off running, with Lucy and Alexa right behind me. As we came around the curve, we saw the minivan stopped—blocked by Mom’s red SUV.
“Mom!” I screamed as she jumped out of her car. “The woman in that van has Destiny!”
Slowly the door to the “mobile clinic” opened and Raveneece stepped out. “You must be the mother of this lovely child.” She held out a hand. “I’m Raveneece Greed, the Animal Welfare Department’s chief goose rehabilitator.”
“Where is Destiny?” Mom demanded, her hands balled at her sides.
“Is that what you’ve named the gosling? How sweet. She’s safe and sound in my clinic, dear. Since you called me, I thought I’d stop and—”
“Called you? I did no such thing!”
“Oh? Perhaps I was given the wrong information. But what a lucky coincidence that you, too, have a gosling! With paro going around, I was going to give it a thorough examination at our rehabilitation center.”
“You lied! You said you were going to check her in your van!” I shouted.
“I said no such thing, brat!” hissed Raveneece.
Moving as fast as a karate master, Mom pressed her cell phone into my hands and grabbed Raveneece by the arm. “Give us back our gosling right now or we’re calling the police!” I hardly recognized my mother. She seemed taller and stronger than her usual self.
“Calm down, dear. This is just a small misunderstanding. Of course, you can have it back.” Raveneece reached into her van and pulled out a canvas sack. When she turned it over, Destiny tumbled out.
I scooped her up.
“There!” said Raveneece, glaring at all of us. “Now if you’ll move your car out of my way, I can go help someone who appreciates my services.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ye Olde Mysterious Me
“How’d you do it?” Alexa asked me as I locked us safely inside Acorn Cottage. Promising to be only a few minutes, Mom had gone to pick Sammy up from the Westerlys.
“Do what?”
“Stop that woman’s van.”
“I didn’t.”
“It looked like you did. You recited a mysterious rhyme and she stopped,” Lucy said.
“Mysterious? That rhyme was weird.” Alexa had her arms crossed over her chest. I bet her mom, the judge, looked that way when she was about to send someone to jail.
“It was a coincidence! My mom came home at the right time. That’s why she couldn’t get away.” I really hoped it was the truth and not some weird Goose Lady thing.
“Then who are the Descendants of the Planet?” Alexa asked.
“I don’t know. It just came out. I was upset.”
Lucy patted my arm. “Of course you were. We all were.” She looked at Alexa. “Quit the courtroom stuff, Al. Pixie wouldn’t lie to us.”
Back in the mudroom, we settled Destiny into an old playpen Dad had dragged down from the attic after she’d outgrown the aquarium. It was lined with newspaper, which I changed every day. Des was only allowed into the rest of the house if she wore one of the special goose diapers Mom had made for her. But so far, she wouldn’t keep one on for more than a few minutes without pulling it off.
When the door between the kitchen and the mudroom swung open, we all jumped. But it was only Mom. “Are you girls okay?” she asked.
“I guess so,” I answered for all of us. “You came home just in time, Mom. If your car hadn’t blocked that woman’s van, Destiny would be gone.”
“I know. It was lucky.”
“Do you think we should call the police, Mrs. Piper?” asked Alexa.
“Yes. I’ll call and report it. Though my guess is that woman was probably just an animal-rights activist who got carried away with her mission. Anyway, I doubt she’ll ever come here again. You girls were fierce.”
“She wasn’t just weird, Mom,” I said. “She was scary.”
From a storage shelf above the washer, Lucy grabbed a straw basket that had once held fruit. She balanced it on her head and croaked, “Don’t worry, girlie. I know how to handle goslings!” It was a good imitation. We all burst out laughing. Even Destiny shook her head back and forth and honked.
“Can we have lunch now?” I asked, because there were questions I didn’t want to think about, like how Raveneece Greed knew we had a gosling in the first place, and why we should believe she wouldn’t come back.
In the kitchen we made food art by decorating open-faced peanut butter sandwiches with blueberries, raspberries, and sliced peaches. Sammy stuck his thumb through a slice of bread and called it “Daddy.” Mom’s sandwich was a smiley face with a peach slice for a mouth, but she only ate a small bite.
“I need to make some more poodle skirts this afternoon,” she said. “I think I’ll have enough material to make one for each of you, if you’d like.”
“My mom thinks everyone is into costumes.” I tried to make it sound like a joke. “Actually, she and the ladies at the senior residence are putting on the play Grease. It’s about teenagers in the olden days.”
“Right, the Stone Age.” Mom sent me a sarcastic grin.
My stomach tightened as I watched Lucy’s and Alexa’s eyes meet. But then they burst out singing: “‘We go to-ge-ther like rama lamma lamma ka dinga da ding dong’!”
“You’ve heard of Grease?”
“Are you kidding? Alexa and I always watch it when we have sleepovers,” said Lucy. “We’ve memorized all the songs.”
The Secret Destiny of Pixie Piper Page 7
