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Trouble in Federwitz
When they reached the village, it was as if they had stumbled into a completely different story. Federwitz was a postcard-perfect place: half-timbered houses, crooked chimneys, fluttering clotheslines. Geese waddled across the market square like town sentries, and somewhere, someone was playing "Daisy Waltz" on a rusty accordion. Gertrude froze. "Oh no," she said. "Oh yes?" Remy asked. "This is my old nest. My family. My whole... troop." Before she could escape, someone had spotted her. "GERTRUDE?!" "Gertrüüüüüde! YOU'RE ALIVE!" "We thought you'd become goose pie!" In a few moments, Gertrude was surrounded. Geese fluttered, quacked, and threw hay confetti over her head. A particularly plump goose in a top hat solemnly announced: "You will sing the solo. At the Autumn Festival! At the big goose sing-along!" "Me? No! I can't—" "She can!" cried an old aunt. "She MUST!" cried a little gander. "She WILL!" cried the mayoress. "...Oh dear," whispered Gertrude. And so, against her will, Gertrude found herself sitting on a hay throne, a veil on her head, flanked by two young geese with bells around their necks. Remy sat in the front row, nibbling relish on a caramel apple and grinning broadly. "You look regal!" he exclaimed. "I feel like a roast goose," she hissed back. Then the moment came: The choir fell silent. The music began. And Gertrude... sang. First softly. Then louder. And then—suddenly—she was in the middle of it all. Her beak trembled, her voice sounded clear, strong, proud. The crowd went wild. Remy was genuinely impressed. "You fooled me," he murmured. "I can do a lot of things," she said after the performance. "I just won't mention them right away." Later, as the fireworks faded and the geese snored in straw beds, the two sat on a hill above the village. Gertrude looked down. Then at Remy. "I like them. I've missed them." "But...?" "But..." she sighed. "They're not you." Remy looked at her. For the first time, without a grin. Then he held out his paw. "Back to the wild, then?" "With pleasure," she said, and nudged him off the hill. He rolled down the slope, laughing. And she followed him—with her neck arched proudly and a song in her heart that wouldn't soon leave her.