Her father peered down at the new baby in his wife's arms. He smiled. "She has very big feet! Isn't that cute! It reminds me of something, but I forget what."
Mr. and Mrs. Greene looked at their sweet baby. They thought and thought.
"It's coming back to me," Mr. Greene said at last. "Do you remember when we went on that bird-watching trip to various islands in the Pacific Ocean, and we saw all kinds of marine birds?"
"That's it!" his wife said. "She looks very much like one of those birds. But which one?"
"Let's get our photograph album from that trip," Mr. Greene said.
Together they turned the pages of the album.
"Doubled-crested cormorant?" Mrs. Greene said. They looked down at the baby. No. She didn't look like a double-crested cormorant.
"Red-necked grebe?" Mr. Greene suggested. They looked at the baby again.
"She does have a red neck," Mr. Greene said.
"She does not!" said Mrs. Greene. "It's pink." They turned the pages some more. Suddenly they both said, "Oh!"
Very carefully they looked at the photograph. Then very carefully they looked at the baby.
"Big feet," Mr. Green said. "Just like our baby's."
"A head that bobs around," Mrs. Greene said. "Just like our baby's."
"That's the one," they agreed.
They read the label under the photograph. "Laysan Albatross," the label said.
"I don't think Laysan Albatross Greene is a very pretty name for a baby girl," Mrs. Greene said sadly. "It sounds too scientific."
"I agree," Mr. Greene said. "But look at the small print."
Together Mr. and Mrs. Greene read the words in the small print: OFTEN CALLED GOONEY BIRD.
"Gooney Bird Greene!" they said.
"I like the sound of it!" Mrs. Greene said. "And it has a G and a B."
"It does indeed," said Mr. Greene.
So they decided to name their new baby girl Gooney Bird Greene. Then everyone, including a doctor, a midwife, and a cleaning lady, hugged and kissed and did a Viennese waltz together.
The End
"What a lovely story!" Mrs. Pidgeon said. "And it gives us a chance do some science research. We will look up 'Laysan Albatross' in the encyclopedia. Thank you, Gooney Bird. You may take your seat now, and we'll turn to our arithmetic."
"Wait! Wait!" Beanie's hand was waving in the air.
"Yes, Beanie?" Mrs. Pidgeon asked. "What's wrong?"
"I want to hear about the diamond earrings, and the palace!"
"That's a different story," Gooney Bird said. She was walking back to her desk.
"Tell it! Tell it!" the children called.
Barry Tuckerman jumped up and stood beside his desk. "I want to hear how Gooney Bird came from China!" he said.