Golden Christmas Goose's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

The parade started in one hour, and the Golden Christmas Goose had nothing to show the judges. She smoothed the red bow at her neck and watched the other entries roll past. A dozen floats glittered with lights and tinsel. Behind them, she stood alone on the snow, plain and small. She wanted only one thing this winter: to win first place and become the town's holiday mascot. But no float meant no chance. The judges would look right through her. She waddled to the edge of the staging field, thinking hard. A goose could honk. A goose could waddle. Neither would turn a single head today. Then she spotted something half-buried under a tarp near the fence. She tugged the tarp free with her beak. Beneath it sat a sleigh made of gingerbread. Candy canes trimmed its sides. Frosting curled along its edges, and bright gumdrops lined the base. Wheels of spun sugar waited to roll. Someone had built it and left it behind. The Goose stared. Here was her float. But a float alone was not enough. She needed to shine, to catch every judge's eye at once. She searched the seat and found it tucked inside. A slender silver wand rested against the frosting. At its top sat a crystal star, cut into sharp points. When she lifted it in her wing, the star threw rainbows across the snow. The Goose worked fast. She slipped the harness over her shoulders and tested her weight against it. The sleigh creaked, then rolled. She tucked the star wand upright in the seat so it would ride behind her, catching the sun. Her heart pounded. The horn sounded to line up the entries. She pulled onto the parade route just in time. The crowd along the path fell quiet, then pointed. Behind the Golden Goose rolled the gingerbread sleigh, its candy trim shining. Above it, the crystal star flung colored light across every face. Children reached out. Grown-ups clapped. The judges rose from their bench to watch her pass. She honked once, proud, and lifted her head high. The overlooked goose was overlooked no longer. Every eye in the square followed her down the route. Then she felt the harness snap tight. The sleigh lurched sideways. One sugar wheel had caught a patch of ice and cracked clean through. The gingerbread tipped, and the crystal star wand slid loose. It tumbled from the seat and skidded across the snow, straight toward the crowd. The Goose lunged, but the harness held her back. The wand vanished under a hundred stamping feet. She had made the judges look. Now she stood frozen in the middle of the parade, a broken sleigh dragging behind her and her one dazzling treasure lost somewhere in the crowd.