A Master Plan always looks very important on paper, and the Master Plan for Gooseberry Park was no exception. Herman had suggested they show it to Augustina, so when he and Kona started out for the park at midnight (Gwendolyn unlocked the door, as she always did when friends would come and go), the Master Plan had been neatly folded by Herman and tucked under Kona’s collar.
It was a very bold plan and would require all participants to be very daring. Herman had drawn it all out quite carefully, in flowchart fashion.
When Kona first saw the plan on paper, he had to ask Herman what “Houston, we have landed!” meant.
Herman said it was what astronauts always say when their rockets land on the moon. It meant “mission accomplished.”
“Who is Houston?”
“Not a who, a what,” said Herman.
“What?” asked Kona.
“Yes,” said Herman.
“No, what?” asked Kona.
“Yes,” said Herman.
“But what?” asked Kona.
“Exactly,” said Herman.
Kona decided he would just look it up in the encyclopedia.
Kona and Herman enjoyed their walk together to the park. Herman told Kona about the history of the planet and how an asteroid had brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs. Herman said that scientists think that birds today are relatives of all those extinct dinosaurs.
“Really?” said Kona.
Herman said that it had something to do with the little bones in their wings.
“You mean Murray is a relative of a dinosaur?” asked Kona.
“Not Murray,” said Herman. “Murray is a mammal.”
“Murray’s not a bird like you?” said Kona. “But he flies.”
“So do squirrels and they’re not birds,” said Herman.
“Squirrels fly?” asked Kona.
“Some of them,” said Herman.
“Well, don’t tell Stumpy’s children,” said Kona. “They fall on their heads often enough as it is.”
Kona was quiet for a few moments.
Then Kona said, “Herman, do you think there will be another asteroid? Do you think we will become extinct?”
Herman seemed to consider the question very carefully.
Finally he said, “I think that there is, for all of us, a greater danger than asteroids.”
“What is it?” asked Kona.
“Greed,” said Herman. “I think it is greed.”
Kona did not understand what Herman meant. But he knew Gwendolyn would understand. He would ask her when he got home. He hoped he would not also have to ask for a Band-Aid for his nose.
They arrived at the park. The park was dark and beautiful. Kona was rarely in Gooseberry Park this late. Once, when Top had a fever and Stumpy needed a thermometer at two in the morning. And there was the time when Murray was worried another ice storm would come and had asked Kona to stand guard in case they had to save the children again. (Ice never came, but Kona did have to walk through two feet of snow to get back home before Professor Albert got up for breakfast.)
The nighttime park was beautiful. And it was also very active. All the night creatures were out: possums, bats, owls, raccoons, mice. And others were trying to get some sleep: squirrels, chipmunks, bluebirds, wrens.
Kona was starting to feel a little nervous. In the daytime Kona felt that he belonged to the park. Actually, he felt sometimes that the park belonged to him. It is a heady experience to be a chocolate Labrador walking his owner through Gooseberry Park. As Professor Albert once said, “It feels as if we have the world on a string, Kona.” If that meant confidence, then Kona had to agree. A dog in a park on a sunny day with his owner is nothing but confident.
But now it was after midnight. And Kona knew he did not belong.
“I hope Augustina likes dogs,” Kona said as Herman guided him to her roost.
“Just be yourself,” Herman told Kona. “You are enough just as you are.”
Hearing that, Kona lifted his head higher. Being enough was so important to him. And Herman had said he was.
Kona was ready to meet Augustina.
Herman flew up into the branches of an enormous walnut tree, and Kona waited.
“Good evening,” said a voice suddenly behind him.
Kona almost jumped out of his fur. He turned around, and there before him was a calm and powerful owl who Kona knew could be no one other than Augustina.
Herman flew down from the branches and introduced them.
“It is an honor to meet you,” Kona told Augustina. “I didn’t hear you coming.”
“Few do,” said Augustina. Her very large eyes blinked once.
Herman pulled the Master Plan from Kona’s collar. He then spread it on the ground so Kona could explain.
“Two hundred of us, you say,” Augustina said to Herman.
Herman nodded.
“Describe to me very carefully this brilliant plan,” said Augustina.
So Kona described it.