There was a
time a few years ago, when I was very active in the exercise
department. I took aerobics three days a week and on two other days I would jog
to and walk around the local park. Then I started having some trouble with my
foot which made it very difficult to run or walk a lot so I had to give up the
trips to the park for awhile. Finally I was able to get my foot problem under
control and started making my rounds in the park again.
The park
near my house has a lake in the middle with a paved path that goes around it
and has three bridges that cross over it at certain points. I would jog from my
house to the park and then walk around the park on the path crossing over the
bridge in the middle to make a figure 8. I’d make this figure 8 trip around
about two or three times before jogging from the park back to my house. By the
entrance where I came in there is a gazebo and parking lot on one side and the
basketball courts on the other side along with the restrooms, further down was
the high school practice field behind the high school itself. The high school
gym teachers used the path in the park for running the mile and aerobic walking
during gym class, so every now and then you would have to dodge the kids. The
park was also filled with seagulls and geese everywhere all during the spring,
summer, and fall months, so much so that it was almost a health issue with all
the droppings!
So I would
start out jogging from home and when I reached the path in the park, I’d walk,
sometimes with my friend and her kids or just the two of us or sometimes by
myself. One day I was by myself and on my last trip around with my headphones
blaring music from my iPod shuffle, when as I passed the basketball courts this
fellow walked out in front of me carrying a basketball. I only noticed him
because he didn’t look as though he was dressed to play basketball, because he
was wearing khaki pants and a polo shirt, as though he was on his way to work
or taking a break from it. So I was just walking along behind this guy,
listening to my music and day dreaming, we crossed over the middle bridge and
started down the path toward the play ground which was near the tennis courts
and another restroom. There was a huge group of geese milling around on the
grass by the side of the little stream that ran off from the lake. Out of the
corner of my eye I could see this fellow leave the path and walk toward the geese,
as he got closer he raised the arm with the basketball in hand and let it fly
onto the ground just like a bowling ball! He was actually aiming for them! He
had invented a new sport, “bowling for geese”! He let his ball go a few more
times before gathering it up and walking away after scattering most of the
geese!
I was trying
not to stare at this marvel, but at the same time wishing I had a camera of
some kind instead of my lame cell phone! As I continued my walk, I imagined to
myself just how you would score in this game, maybe “x “ number of points for
how many you could scare into flight and you’d get double if you actually hit any
of them! Although I don’t condone messing with nature on this level, I found it
to be far more humane than the popular sport of using a car to try to hit them
as they cross the road in a line during rush hour!
