It must have already been more than two hours we were beyond the creek and into the little woods close to home. He just wouldn't give up. I couldn't bear the pain of walking and standing any longer so I had to blurt out something.
"My legs are killing me, Chad!"
I was speaking to my twelve year old older brother. Apparently, he had no intention of stopping anytime soon. He kept on moving deeper and deeper into the woods. Now, there were no bears in this part of the woods and that was a good thing. But right now, I just hoped a bear would jump out of nowhere or something so we could both begin to run back home. Chad continued to search everywhere with all vigor. I knew I should've stayed home. He pretended as though he didn't hear when I called out to him the first time. This time, I was mad.
"Chad!"
Now turning his face back to look at me, he finally spoke to me after more than twenty five minutes of not even a single cough.
"What is it, Fred!?" From his facial expression, it was clear that he was fed up with me calling his name for so long. I'd finally gotten his attention.
"I wanna go home."
"Tch. Don't be a wuss, dummy. I'm sure she came this way. We'll be outta here quick enough and then we'll be rich," he said, rubbing his fingers against each other to intensify the richness. "Now stop being a wimp and come on."
"(sigh). This is crazy Chad. There's no such thing as a..."
"Hey! Don't you dare say it. If there's no such thing, then why did you follow me all the way here when I told you where I was going?" Charles said, folding his arms and looking at me me with one brow raised.
"I followed you here only cause I wanted to prove you wrong. And I think I've done that well enough already. Now let's go!"
"No way Jose! We've still got one more hour. If we don't find her up till then, then you win." At that, he turned his back on me and kept moving on. I was so annoyed at Chad at that moment. I mean, where could he have kept his brain that he would embark on this mission?
"I'm telling Mom when we get home!" I screamed those words to him. Unsurprisingly, he didn't care but just kept on moving. Worst of all, he was the only one with a phone then. So, there was no way I could call Mom. I wasn't also expecting a call from Mom anytime soon. We were meant to be home before six o'clock and that was still 1 o'clock.
This was totally insane! We were literally on a wild goose chase! Chad had taken me all the way there in the name of looking for the goose that lays golden eggs. This time, he was sure he saw a goose heading into the woods. Not only that, he claimed to be sure that this was the particular goose that dad talked about in his stories some nights before. Typical Chad. He wasn't really the 'take things with a pinch of salt' kinda guy. At times, I did wonder if I was meant to be the older one. He did a lot of stupid things.
"Hey! There she is!"
Chad said this and began to run quickly. Guess what? It was actually a goose! I stood there shocked for a bit. I thought to myself, "So he really did see a goose? This is strange. We don't normally see geese around these parts.
"Come on bro, don't just stand there. Hurry up!"
We both began to chase after the goose through the woods. It ran so fast that we just couldn't catch it. In no time, we were out of the woods and into an open grass land. I couldn't believe my eyes! In the center of the field sat a golden egg!
"Bingo! I told you that this was the right one" Chad said this and approached the egg. I joined him too. I just couldn't believe it. For once in a long long time, Chad had proven me wrong. He came very close to the egg and grabbed it. The egg was so huge. He beamed at the egg for long like someone who had just won a million.
"Wait a minute," I said. "This is just papier-mâché painted gold". I grabbed the 'golden egg' and ripped it. Yup, it was papier-mâché. Someone had fooled us. Just then, a voice came from the nearby bushes.
"You can rest easy now." It was Dad. He popped out of the bushes with a big smile.
"Dad!" I ran to him and hugged him. Finally, someone who wasn't crazy.
"Come on Chad, let's go home"
My older bro just stood there for a while, dumbfounded. He was so confused and disappointed at the same time. He quietly spoke his next words;
"Hold up Dad. You planned everything?"
"Yup."
"But where did you get the goose from?" Chad said, pointing at the goose that was moving about the place, pecking at the ground.
"Oh, her? I borrowed her from Mr. Douglas. You know, he owns a farm a few miles away. I figured I'd just mess with you guys a little. You really took my tale too seriously, didn't you, Chad?" Dad said and afterwards bursted into laughter. I joined him too and laughed so hard. That was just who my dad was. He was the fun one in the family.
Chad stood there and watched us laugh for a moment. He then joined us in the laughter.
"Yeah, I guess I did believe a little too much," he said, rubbing the back of his head. Dad picked up the goose and led us to the road which was close by. Our SUV was parked by the roadside. Boy, was I glad to see it there. At least we won't have to walk back home. My dad put the goose into the trunk of our car. I called shotgun while Chad stayed at the back seat.
"Alright. First I'd have to go give Mr. Douglas his goose back. These things don't grow on trees you know. This would be a nice time for you two to visit him. It's been two years."
As Dad said that, he started the car and we began to move.
edited on Canva
