The Goose: A Hetty, Harry, and Denalene Story
The Goose: A Hetty, Harry, and Denalene Story
By Denny Taylor, For Ava
On a frosty December morning a man who lived in Ashford, Kent was walking into town when he saw a goose waddling towards him. The man was worried that the goose would waddle into the road and he looked around to see if there was someone who might know what to do. There was no one behind him and no one in front of him, just the goose waddling along and getting closer.
The man put his hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a long piece of old string. He quickly made a slipknot and pulled on the loop to make it big enough to go over the head of the goose. Meanwhile the goose kept waddling towards the man and did not seem to be worried about going by the man. The man took a step forward and the goose waddled closer and just as the goose was passing by the man without any quick movements passed the loop of the slipknot of the string over the goose’s head.
The goose stared at the man for just a second, but it did not seem to be surprised that the string was around its neck or that the man was holding the other end of the string in his hand. The goose waddled on and the man turned and walked along with goose hoping that he would see someone who would know what to do with it.
There was no one walking towards the man and goose and there was no one behind them. The man started looking at the houses. He hoped he would see someone gardening, but there was no one outside. Then he came to a house with a brass plate beside the front door with R.S.P.C.A. inscribed upon it. He knew these letters stood for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and so the man opened the gate and the goose turned and waddled up the path without the man having to encourage it.
The man knocked at the door. The goose stood still beside him.
Hetty and her daughter Denalene were in the kitchen. They had just finished cooking Welsh cakes. Hetty turned off the gas under the bakestone and closed the door to the kitchen before walking with Denalene to open the front door. On the front step was a worried looking man with a goose that had a piece of string around its neck.
“I found this goose and I was worried it would step out into the road and a car would hit it,” the man said, “and I don’t know what to do with it.”
Hetty reached down and grasped Denalene’s hand. Hetty was a little frightened of geese, because when she was a child they would lower their heads and stick out their necks and gobble and honk as they pecked at her legs when she walked home from school.
The goose looked at Denalene and then up at the man who was nervously fumbling with the piece of string.
“Open the gate and take it into the back yard,” Hetty said, trying not to show that she was scared of the goose. “Harry will take care of it when he comes home.
The man turned sideways, but the goose had smelled the Welsh cakes and tried to go into the house through the front door.
“Take it around the back!” Hetty said, as she tried to shut the door.
The goose lowered its neck and gobbled and honked and the string broke and Hetty moved back against the wall with her arm around Denalene who was not frightened at all.
“Get that goose out of my house!” Hetty shouted at the man.
The man stepped back and scratched his head. He told Hetty that he didn’t know how to get the goose out of her house, but he was sure Harry would know what to do when he came home.
The smell of the Welsh cakes filled the whole house and as the kitchen door was closed the goose went to look for them in the front room.
“Get that goose out of my front room!” Hetty shouted at the man.
“I have to go,” the man said, hurrying down the path, “I am sure that Harry will be home soon.”
“Let’s shut the door and leave the goose in there until Dad comes home,” Denalene said, as she tried to comfort her mother.
“It will ruin my carpet,” Hetty said, looking as if she was going to cry.
“Let’s have a Welsh cake,” Denalene said, shutting the door on the goose in the front room.
Hetty pulled her handkerchief out of the sleeve of her cardigan and dabbed her eyes. She smiled at Denalene.
“Good idea,” she said. “I’ll boil the kettle and we can have a cup of tea.”
When Harry came home Hetty and Denalene were sitting at the kitchen table. They were both eating a second Welsh cake. Hetty quickly got another cup and saucer and poured Harry a cup of tea, and she put a Welsh cake on a plate and placed it on the table as he sat down on the third kitchen chair.
Harry loved to tell stories about being an R.S.P.C.A. inspector and he immediately started telling Hetty and Denalene about what had happened to him at Ashford market that day.
“I’ve been looking for a goose,” he said. “One of the farmers at the market lost it. It was in a cage at the back of his van and somehow it got out of the cage and out of the van. I’ve been driving around looking for it.”
Hetty looked at Denalene and Denalene looked at Hetty and they both burst out laughing.
Harry put half of the Welsh cake on his plate into his mouth as he looked from one to the other, and then with a full mouth he said, “Why is that funny?”
That made Hetty and Denalene laugh even more, and as Harry put the last of the Welsh cake in his mouth, Hetty said, “Have a look in the front room and see what we found this morning!”
Harry pushed his chair back and opened the door to the hall and then the door to the front room.
“Het!” Harry shouted. “What’s this goose doing in our front room!”
Harry shut the front room door and grinning from ear to ear and scratching his head as he came back into the kitchen.
He took another Welsh cake and put half of it in his mouth and pushed his teacup across the table and Hetty picked up the teapot and poured Harry another cup.
Harry raised his eyebrows. His eyes were twinkling and he chuckled. “Wait till I tell the farmer I found his goose in my front room!” he said. He looked at Hetty and then at Denalene. “How did it get in there?”
“A man knocked at the door,” Denalene said, “just as we finished making Welsh cakes.”
“He had the goose with a piece of string around its neck,” Hetty said. “I told him to take it around the back, but the goose came in through the front door and the man was so surprised he didn’t stop it.”
“You’re frightened of geese,” Harry said, looking at Hetty.
Hetty shuddered and nodded her head.
“Mum was great,” Denalene said. “We shut the door to the front room and came into the kitchen to try the Welsh cakes and wait for you!”
Harry grinned and took a third Welsh cake and put half of it in his mouth. “I’ll get a basket out of my van and put the goose in it to take it back to the farmer who’s lost it.
“Can’t we keep it?” Denalene asked at her Dad, her eyes filling with tears. She looked at her Mum. “If you take it back the farmer will sell it, and someone will eat it at Christmas!”
Hetty looked at Harry and Harry looked at Hetty, and then they both looked at Denalene.
They had a chicken coop at the top of the garden and a big shed where Harry took care of injured birds that people brought to the house.
“Goose eggs make great cakes,” Hetty said. “And they are lovely scrambled.”
“The farmer owes me a favor,” Harry said, thinking out loud. He looked at Denalene, “I’ll ask him.”
Denalene jumped up and hugged her Dad.
“Let’s take it out the back and it can stay in the shed until we know if we can keep it,” Harry said.
“Can I have another Welsh cake?” Harry asked, as he pushed his chair back and stood up.
“That would be your fourth!” Hetty said.
“It’s not for me,” Harry said. “It’s for the goose!”
Harry took two Welsh cakes and opened the door to the hall and then the door to the front room.
The goose was resting on the rug in front of the fireplace and the noise of the door opening startled it. The goose stood up and spread its wings, gobbling and honking.
Harry made shushing noises and quietly stretched out his arm. In his hand was a little piece of one of the Welsh cakes. He dropped the Welsh cake on the rug and the goose stretched out its neck and pecked at it. Harry took a step back and dropped another piece of Welsh cake. Slowly, with Harry moving backwards and the goose moving forward with Hetty and Denalene moving backwards behind Harry they all made their way into the hall, through the kitchen, down the back doorsteps, and into the back yard, Finally, two Welsh cakes later, they all reached the shed.
Hetty and Denalene quietly stepped aside as Harry stepped backwards into the shed and dropped some Welsh cake inside. The goose looked at Denalene and then at Hetty and then it stepped inside.
Post Script
The farmer was going to sell the goose, but he gave the goose to Harry. So Denalene became friends with the goose and Hetty made cakes with the eggs the goose laid. But they all knew that the goose needed to be with other geese and have a pond in which it could swim.
A few days before Christmas Harry came home and told Hetty and Denalene he had found the perfect place for the goose to live. Harry said there was a wonderful pond with lots of ducks and geese, and he asked Denalene if she would like to go with him to release the goose into its new home.
After breakfast on Christmas Eve when the frost was still sparkling, Harry took the half of the last Welsh cake and used it to coax the goose into a basket. Smiling, he put the other half in his mouth. Denalene went with her Dad in his R.S.P.C.A. van and they drove out into the country, turning and driving through the gates into the grounds of the big house where there was a big pond.
Harry got out of the van and waved at the man who was way off in the distance standing outside the huge front door to his house. The man waved back. Harry took the basket with the goose inside out of the back of his van and he put it on the grass.
Denalene stood beside her Dad as he opened the basket and tipped it forward. She watched as the goose wobbled a bit and then climbed out of the basket. The goose stood still for a moment, and then turned its head and looked at Harry and Denalene before it waddled into the water and used its webbed feet like paddles and went off for a swim.
“Merry Christmas,” Harry said to Denalene, squeezing her hand, and Denalene said, “Merry Christmas Dad.”
Hetty’s Welsh Cakes
225g (8 oz) of self-raising flour, or 225g plain flour and 1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt, ideally Welsh sea salt
100g (4 oz) of butter, or margarine, plus extra for cooking (again, ideally Welsh)
50g (2 oz) of caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
50g (2 oz) of currants
1 egg, beaten with 3 tbsp milk
Note: Hetty used lard. She insisted Welsh Cakes taste much better with lard and that they are much flakier.
Also, Hetty made Welsh Cakes so often she did not measure the ingredients. She was able to estimate the amounts needed.
Here is how Hetty made them:
Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl and rub in the margarine or butter;
Add the sugar and currants and stir well;
Pour the egg mixture in and mix until you have a stiff dough;
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured board until 5mm (1/4 inch) thickness;
Stamp out rounds with a pastry/biscuit cutter (Hetty used a glass).
Here is how Hetty cooked them:
Heat the bakestone (griddle or iron frying pan) over a medium heat until hot;
Grease with a little butter (or lard);
Heat until a little water sprinkled on the surface skips about in balls on the bakestone;
Cook the cakes for about 3 to 4 minutes each side, until they are golden brown and have risen slightly.
Cool on a wire wrack. Sprinkle with sugar and a little cinnamon if you like it (Hetty never sprinkled with cinnamon.
Store in a tin for up to a week. Spread with butter if there are any left the following day!