A Pet Duck

  
     
       
 

By Linda Madrid

  
         
  My son’s Fourth grade class hatched Duck and Chicken eggs as a class project.  It was one of those projects, at the end of which, some willing children are needed to take the newly hatched chicks and ducklings’ home with them.  The students were all willing, but their parents were standing firm, no duck or chick wanted.  
     
  From the pleading looks from our son and the prodding of his homeroom teacher (you have the perfect place, sixteen acres in the country), two suckers were born.  We not only were suckered into one critter, but two, a duck and a chicken.  
     
 

The chicken was no problem.  It survived long enough to be let loose in the yard.  Being as large as the cat we thought the chicken would stand a chance.  (Wrong.)  The duck on the other hand, not only survived but also lived to be a pest.

  
     
  One weekend we heard quite a commotion outside; growling, barking and quacking.  My first hope was that the dogs had had enough of the little green droppings left all over the sidewalks and patio and were doing the duck in (wishful thinking).  What we saw, when venturing outside to our front yard, was quite an unusual sight.  Our two medium sized, mixed breed dogs (nice way of saying mutts), with the aid of the duck, were taking on a large groundhog that had invaded our front yard.  Picture this: the dogs positioned – one directly in front of the groundhog and one directly behind the groundhog.  The one in back would attach the groundhog and bite at its hind legs.  The groundhog would turn to face its’ attacker only to be attacked from behind again by the other dog.  The crazy duck was attacking from the side, running in to bite at the groundhog.  
         
  The strange threesome finally worried the groundhog to death.  (We did not stay to watch, only returned when it was over to bury the remains).      
         
  It wasn’t the green droppings everywhere that caused us to want to do the duck in, but the quacking outside our bedroom window at five A.M. every morning.  Johnny had finally had enough.  He took the duck for a walk in the woods (like in “Hansel and Gretel”).  Only we were hoping that the witch would win in this case.  The duck was back at the house almost as fast as Johnny was.  Johnny decided to take the duck on a longer walk and this time. He blindfolded the duck, walked the duck through the woods to the river which was located two miles from our house.  Johnny took the blindfold off and threw the duck into the water.  When last seen the duck was happily swimming around the river.  But alas, five A.M. the next morning, the duck was back quacking outside our window.  (Where is a wicked witch when you need one?)       
         
  This story has a happy ending.  The very same week that we were trying to “do in the duck,” we were invited to a friend’s parent’s farm for a picnic.  They had a pond, and in that pond was a duck that looked just like ours.  We were planning a nighttime drop-off when we heard one of the parents say that originally there were two ducks, but one had been run over and killed.  We were quick to offer our duck as a replacement.  The last we heard the two ducks were very happy together.       
       

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