Geese Crossing

Try this for heart-stopping: You're barreling along on a six-lane divided highway, and suddenly, there's a mother goose, a father goose and about six goslings stepping out onto the asphalt right in front of you.

Kayti yells, "Mom, look out!" I swerve, barely missing them, Rex rips into me for putting humans at risk for the sake of a gosling or two.

We spent the next minute with our eyes glued to the rear-view mirror. To Ohioan drivers' credit, soon the road in front of the waddling geese looks like the starting line of a race. Six abreast, the cars rumble and idle while the mom and dad shepherd their youngsters across the highway.

After we'd finished our errand, we drove back to the hotel the same way and were vastly relieved to see the goose family resting comfortably on the grass on the side of the road where they'd been headed.

Rex, still p.o.'d that I'd swerved, told a story about doing the same thing once when he was driving a dump truck, to avoid squashing a painted turtle. He said his boss, who was driving another truck right behind him, was aghast, and to teach him a lesson, aimed for the turtle and flattened it.

Clearly, it was a lesson Rex never forgot!