Goose Gander

Feel free to visit my facebook page: Goose Gander How to Cross a Street From page 4: The morning sunshine heated the cement sidewalk in front of his home. He hopped with joy a few seconds before opening his gate. On this particular morning Goose Gander enjoyed feeling the warm sunshine on his beak as he opened the front gate to leave his home. “Perfect day for a walk,” he said to himself. As Goose Gander closed his gate he whistled softly to himself. From page 8: Some of the intersections that Goose Gander had crossed with his parents, had street lights, some did not. The ones without street lights were easiest, because there were usually fewer vehicles to watch for. His parents helped the whole family cross by pointing out the black, rectangular boxes, attached to poles, on each corner. The boxes all had lights inside. Mamma had explained, “Inside the box across from us there is a red paw shaped light. That means we should wait. Soon there will be a white light shaped like a creature in full stride, or the word walk will appear in white. The cars have boxes with red, yellow, and green in them. Those boxes tell the vehicles what to do. Red means to stop, yellow means to slow down, and sometimes to stop, and green means to go. When we see the white light in our box, we can walk, knowing that the cars will stop. From page 10: Goose Gander had one other feathery trick. He liked to carry a comfort item when he walked in the neighborhood. If he felt nervous he remembered holding his mother’s wing when he was a gosling. Goose Gander’s mother taught him to carry a special symbol of her love to help him stay calm in stressful situations, like crossing intersections. His comfort item was a heart shaped grouping of her wing feathers and a mustard seed, which his mother had encased in resin for him fi ve years before. He grasped it tightly, as he crossed the crosswalk, and gained courage remembering how much his mother loved him. Even though Goose Gander hadn’t seen his Mamma for a couple years, he could still imagine her presence as he crossed the street. First Goose Gander looked around him, then he enjoyed the sounds and vibrations of what he was seeing. Goose Gander was glad that he could see. He had a friend who could not see. His friend was helped by special speaking street boxes and a little dog who had devoted their own life to seeing for them. Goose Gander relied most of all on his eyes to see if a vehicle was coming. Goose Gander checked the intersection with his eyes and ears. He looked right, front, left and then behind!