Maple Warriors

Mathew

"Your little leg looks better, eh?" I cooed at the Canadian goose waddling around my back yard. The first time I saw him was during one of my nature walks the winter before.
His leg had been broken but I fixed it up with the sap and twigs from a maple tree and the fur of a beaver.
I had a way with forest animals. I could even talk to them. I never found out what it was, but Alfred clearly didn't hold the ability.
"It feels much better. Thanks eh?" The goose nodded.
I smiled. Animals were always so grateful to me. On the days I worked in the infirmary my patients would leave, wounds healed faster than normal, without the slightest glance of gratitude in my direction.
"No problem." I smiled even more.
I was pretty sure that all the animals in the forest saw me as a clinic. I was like a vet, but for the pets of Mother Earth.
Kuma was my first patient. I came across him wandering alone and orphaned in the woods, unable to see and finding it hard to smell.
Kuma claimed that he didn't know what happened before he met me. I suspected hunters were involved.
Francis would only let me take in the one pet. All the other forest animals would have to stay forest animals. But that didn't stop me from making sure the other creatures were cared for.
"Is something wrong buddy?" The goose asked me.
"Nothing by." I replied.
"Oh but it has to be something eh?"
"It's just...this gang. I'm not really helping them in any way. Why am I still here?"
"You don't have to live in the shadows, Mattie." The goose told me. "You could always start your own gang."
"But who would join a gang run by me?" I asked. "I'm just a nobody."
"I'd join a gang run by you. And I bet the other forest animals would too." The goose smiled as much as a goose could.
"Really? You think so?"
"I do." The goose nodded.
"Well you know what? Maybe I will start my own gang. I'll call it...The Maple Warriors." I stood up from where I was seated on my back doorstep. "Gather all the animals interested. Our first meeting is tomorrow at midnight."