Curwen Oneshots Vol. 2

Geese

(Modern Day, They're Not Spies)

If there was one thing Owen Carvour absolutely hated, it was being forced into social situations. And, as much as he loved Barb, he found her tendency to do this completely infuriating.
It was a Saturday. He was supposed to have a day off from dealing with teenagers. But today, instead of his students, he had Barb's nephew's birthday party. He had no idea how he let himself be talked into going, but there he was, walking down a cobbled path toward the park.
At least there was an ice cream van. That's how she did it, he thought. But, just as he was gearing up to curse ice cream for being the thing that ruined his day off (usually ice cream was what made his days off so much fun), he felt himself start to fall backward. His head just missed the stone and landed on the grass, but something cracked against the edge of the path.
"Oh my god. I am so sorry."
He turned his head and saw a man lying practically on top of him.
"Are you all right?" The man moved to the side, grabbing a broken ice cream cone. That's what cracked.
Owen would have been relieved that he hadn't broken any bones had it not been for the fact that he was still on the ground and could hardly breathe, let alone speak.
The man held out a hand.
Owen stared, confused.
"You want some help there?"
He took the hand, feeling himself be pulled up.
"Um, thanks," he said as he brushed the grass off of his jacket.
"I'm so sorry about that. I should have been looking where I was going. It's just..."
Owen felt as though he should have been angry, but something about the man's sincerity made that difficult.
"I was just running from the geese. They tried to steal my ice cream, and-"
Owen smiled. "Hang on. You were running from geese?"
The man sighed, laughing and shaking his head. "Yeah."
"Geese?"
"They're scary!"
"Sure they are."
The man rolled his eyes. "Anyway, are you okay?"
"I think so."
"Good. Okay."
"Now back to the geese."
Terror suddenly spread over the man's face.
Owen laughed. "Come on, it's not-"
"Run."
"What?"
"Just trust me."
Owen looked behind himself, his eyes widening when an aggressive hiss pierced his ears. "Shit!"
The man was already a couple of metres away, so Owen finally followed. He caught up pretty quickly, then slowed down so they were running at the same pace along the grass, a flock of maybe six or seven geese on their tail.
"Believe me now?" The man said, smiling smugly.
"Okay. You were right. They are scary."
The man looked behind them briefly. "I think we've lost them." Then he fell forward, his hands latching onto the edge of a table as he exhaled.
Owen sat on the bench next to him. "You all right, love?"
"I ... Think ... So..."
"How long have you been running for?"
"Apart from the interruption," the man answered once he had caught his breath, "about ten minutes."
"Why didn't you just give up the ice cream?"
"I couldn't let them win."
"They're geese."
"They're evil."
"Sure."
The man sat down next to Owen. "I'm Curt, by the way."
"I'm Owen."
Curt paused for a second. "Well, it was nice to meet you. Even if it did happen when I ran into you whilst being chased by geese."
"Worth it," Owen said, before he could stop himself.
"What do you mean?"
Owen's cheeks started to go red. "I- Ah- I just mean... I was meant to be at my friend's nephew's birthday thing here and I didn't really want to go. Maybe she'll let me off now since I was just chased by ... geese."
"You don't sound convinced."
"She's very persuasive."
"Is that why you gave up your Saturday?"
"Yep. Very few things could make me do that."
Curt looked at the grass for a second before looking back at Owen, a hint of anxiety on his face. "What about an invitation to go for a walk? The forest here is really pretty. And goose-free."
Owen's heart started to speed up. "That might work. I do like trees."
Curt started to laugh.
"Or literally any other reason that doesn't make me sound like fucking Evan Hansen."
"No, it's okay. Trees are very cool. We wouldn't be able to breathe without them."
"That is very true." Owen smiled gratefully.
"So, you wanna go admire those trees?"
"Sure. Let's go for it."