“He goes by Nate. He wants me to come to his house to watch a movie. Can I, Mom?”

“We’ll see. Let me talk with your father. Maybe we could have him come here and have dinner with us one day?”

“Could we?” David could hardly contain his excitement.

“How did you meet him?”

David explained the first day and what had happened on the bus and how funny Nate was, the things he noticed in the lunchroom. He didn’t mention the observation about Mrs. Hayes’s shiny forehead.

When his father got home from work, David told him about Nate in one long, run-on sentence. David looked up at him expectantly.

“Why don’t we call after dinner and see if he can come tomorrow?”

“Yes!” David said.

After dinner, David helped his father clear the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher while his mom called Nate’s mom. After a few minutes, she hung up and said Nate had something to do the next night. “His mom said maybe next week.”

David’s shoulders slumped.

“Hey, how about going over to the pond and putting a line in the water before the sun goes down?” his dad said. “What do you say, sport?”

“You’re not going without me!” his mother said.

They walked to the nearby park and sat on the bank. From the start, his mother had insisted that David learn to bait his own hook. She had been the first to show him how and David wondered if all moms were as good at fishing as his.

David sat between them as they watched the September sun sink to the tops of the trees. A goose came walking up the hill on the other side of the pond. Trailing it, walking the edge of the hill, were several goslings. The goose surveyed the water as if making sure everything was safe for her offspring. Then it ventured in and the goslings followed, one by one.

“They’re so cute,” David’s mother said.

“Hey, Dad, it’s like the story you tell.”

His dad laughed. “Yeah, that could be the family I tell you about.”

“What story?” David’s mother said.

“Oh, we were out here the other day and I made up a tale about a goose and her husband.”

“I’ve never heard that one,” she said.

“Let me tell it, Dad.”

His dad glanced at his mom as David started in.

“So there’s this goose who lays some eggs and sits on them and tries to get them to hatch, but they don’t. One gets taken by a . . .”

“Snake,” his father said.

“Yeah, one gets taken by a snake. And then a racoon. And then the others get stepped on by somebody who doesn’t see them. It was an accident, but the goose is really sad. She doesn’t have any babies.”

“That is a sad story,” his mother said.