6: Sick on Vacation

A worried look came over Tobias Kielholz's face when his younger brother emerged from the woods by himself. "Erich? Where is Karl?"

"I don't know. He was right behind me," Kielholz replied, looking over his shoulder.

Tobias sighed before re-tying his boat to the dock that extended out into the lake. "I don't exactly want either of you getting lost out here."

The two headed back up the path leading from the lake to Tobias's isolated home in the woods. Their calls for Langenscheidt echoed around—as did the sound of someone retching. Breaking into a run, the Kielholz brothers continued up the path until they found Langenscheidt kneeling in front of a patch of freshly bloomed—and now ruined—flowers, with his arms wrapped around his stomach.

"Are you alright?" Kielholz asked.

"I think so," Langenscheidt moaned.

Tobias frowned when he looked at the flowers. "Was there something wrong with the breakfast I made?"

"If that was the case, I think we all would be sick," Kielholz replied.

"True." Tobias gave Langenscheidt a quizzical look. "I guess something didn't agree with you, then."

"I guess not." Langenscheidt leaned on Kielholz as he stood. "Let's get on with our trip."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Kielholz asked.

"I am fine. We saved up leave for this."

The three headed back down to the dock, where Tobias began untying his rowboat. He kept giving a concerned look to Langenscheidt, especially after they were all in the boat and drifting into the lake. "It is a lovely day, isn't it?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Not a cloud in the sky," Kielholz replied. He was quiet for a few moments, then asked, "Have you seen Father recently?"

"Just a week ago, actually. He misses both of us."

"Well, I haven't failed to write one letter a week yet."

"Neither have I, but Father is looking forward to us all being together again."

"I am looking forward to that as well."

Tobias took it slow while rowing up the center of the lake. His back was turned to his younger brother and Langenscheidt, whose face was alternating between a stark-white and a pale-green color.

"Have you seen much wildlife out here, Tobias?" Kielholz asked.

"Lots, actually," his brother replied. "There's a family of badgers living just outside my garden. I leave food by the entrance of their sett if I have extra."

"I miss the badgers living near the house we grew up in."

"Funny story, actually—the last time I talked to Father, he said the badgers disappeared shortly after you were conscripted and sent to North Africa."

"Disappeared?" Kielholz frowned.

Tobias nodded. "They left. Father thinks it's because they realized you were gone."

"They could have stayed and looked after him."

"I guess they felt you were special. You did help in raising some of the cubs several years ago."

"True."

Suddenly, Tobias stopped rowing, and cursed aloud. "We have to turn around," he whispered.

"What is it?" Kielholz whispered.

"Do you see those geese?" Tobias pointed ahead of them. Sure enough, there was a flock of geese sitting on the water several meters ahead of them.

"Yes. What about them?"

"They are like those pigeons you were telling me about." Tobias slowly began turning the boat around. "Just stay calm and quiet, and we can get out of this alive."

Langenscheidt's face was now the color of fresh-fallen snow, and then rapidly darkened to green when the boat started turning. He gagged, then leaned over the side of the boat.

"Karl, don't!" Kielholz hissed.

Twenty goose heads turned when Langenscheidt's retching shattered the tranquility of the lake, and a hellish chorus of honking and hissing began to dominate all other sounds.

Tobias was rowing as fast as he could when the geese took flight and began charging the boat. It didn't take long for the geese to overtake them, landing on and in the boat, and swatting the men with their wings and biting them with their fearsomely toothed beaks.

Tobias was covering his head with his jacket hood and waving his arms feebly as the geese attacked. Kielholz was covering the still quite queasy Langenscheidt with his body, trying to push geese away from them.

"Erich! Take over the rowing!" Tobias barked, shoving away a goose trying to bite his neck.

Kielholz crawled over to the paddles, keeping his head down as he grabbed them and propelled them closer to shore. A goose landed on his back, plucking his cap off and nipping his scalp. Kielholz yelped in pain, then felt the weight of the goose leave him as Tobias lifted the beastly bird.

When they reached the shore, Tobias shouted, "Grab Karl and get in the house!"

As if he was back in North Africa, Kielholz responded with a, "Yes, sir!" and threw Langenscheidt over his shoulders before hopping out of the boat and onto the dock, jogging into the woods. He turned around to see his brother drowning in geese. "Tobias!"

"Go, Erich! I am right behind you!" Tobias hollered.

Heading up the path back to the house, Kielholz could still hearing the honking of geese. He was contemplating getting Tobias's rifle hidden in the basement when he heard someone running up behind him, and a bruised and bloody Tobias appeared.

"Go, keep going," Tobias said, nudging his brother forward. "I threw them the picnic basket."


When they returned to the house, Tobias started bandaging everyone's goose-related injuries. As he got to Langenscheidt, he frowned upon seeing how pale he was, and gently touched his forehead. "You are quite warm, Karl," Tobias said. He took a thermometer from his medicine cabinet.

An embarrassed look managed to creep through the nauseated expression on Langenscheidt's face. "I… I am sorry, Tobias. I did not feel well when I woke up this morning, but I didn't want to ruin the trip for us."

"Well, I hate to say it," Kielholz said, rubbing his head and looking at his bandages, "but you did ruin the trip for us."

"If you had said something earlier, we wouldn't have had to worry about the geese," Tobias added. "And it's not like either of us would have been upset if you said you did not feel well."

"No, but Erich was dead-set on going on the lake. I didn't want to spoil that for him," Langenscheidt replied.

"If you don't feel well, you don't feel well." Kielholz shrugged. "It's not like we couldn't have enjoyed our leave another way. Honestly, just staying here seems nice. Especially now that we know that there are murderous geese outside."

Tobias nodded. "It may also be beneficial that you became sick here instead of back at camp. You will recover faster in a less stressful place, and I have… recently acquired some ginger and peppermint candies that should help with your upset stomach. Go on out to the living room and lie down. And take a bucket with you."


Author's Note: Geese inspired by Abracadabra's "A Gaggle of Guards."