“You’ve got a sick goose over there,” Gene Fleming remarked to his sister-in-law as they walked to his car. He had stopped by Billee Schuck’s farm in Nebraska to pick up some ducklings for his pond, and he noticed a goose that kept toppling over.
Billee didn’t even look round. “No, that’s Andy,” she said. “He was born without feet.”
With the ducklings safely stowed, Fleming went over to look at the handicapped goose. “You’re a gutsy fella,” he said as Andy, flapping wildly, tried to run away. The grey goose looked like a little boy on his first pair of stilts. His legs, thin as twigs, ended in calloused knobs about five centimetres wide. The only way Andy could stay upright was to run as fast as he could until he pitched forwards on his breast.
He fell now, and Fleming reached out to smooth his feathers. Because geese tend to be peevish, he expected to get nipped; but Andy was quiet under his touch.
Gene kept thinking about the crippled goose as he headed home to his 37-hectare farm. He felt an appeal in those shoe-button eyes as Andy lay forlornly on the ground, his breast caked with mud. That goose is just as helpless as a little child, he told himself. I ought to be able to do something for him.
Gene put his inventive mind to work, just as he had years before when he saw cows tormented by insect bites. That time, he designed a scratching device that cows could rub against to release a dose of insecticide and soothing oil.
Bu hikaye Reader's Digest India dergisinin March 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Reader's Digest India dergisinin March 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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BOOKS
Books review
STUDIO - Off Lamington Road by Gieve Patel
Oil on Canvas, 54 x 88 in
NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF MEDICINE
FOODS THAT FIGHT DEMENTIA
TO HELL AND BACK
The Darvaza crater in Turkmenistan is known as the Gates of Hell. I stood on its edge - and lived to tell the tale
THE SNAKE CHARMERS
Invasive Burmese pythons are squeezing the life out of Florida's vast Everglades. An unlikely sisterhood is taking them on
Sisterhood to Last a Lifetime
These college pals teach a master class in how to maintain a friendship for 50-plus years
...TO DIE ON A HOCKEY RINK
ONE MINUTE I WAS PLAYING IN MY BEER LEAGUE, THE NEXT I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL
Just Sit Tight
Broken, battered and trapped in a ravine for days, I desperate driver wonders, \"Will anyone find me?\"
Allow Me to Mansplain...
If there's one thing we know, it's this: We're a nation of know-it-alls
THE BITTER TRUTH ABOUT SUGAR (AND SUGAR SUBSTITUTES!)
It's no secret that we have a serious addiction. Here's how to cut back on the sweet stuff, once and for all.