The baby duck and the boy

Label: Literary realism

Theme: Unexpected companions

Title: The baby duck

Jeremy remembers the day as if it were yesterday.  The July morning already pushed just past ninety with matching humidity.  He headed out the door to feed his ducks and geese and run fresh water in their sunken bathtub pond, a chore he took with pride every morning and evening.  When his Dad assigned him the chore of caring for the animals instead of giving the responsibility to his older brother, it made him feel more grown up, not just a bothersome little pest the way his brother made him feel.  Taking care of the animals was a grownup responsibility.

He was only eight...maybe ten.  At his age now, his childhood tends to blend into one long age of somewhere around eight or ten.  It's not until his high school years that what he did at specific ages becomes more clear in his memory, and even his high school age is slowly becoming more like when-I-was-fifteen...maybe seventeen-type of memories.

While the memory of his exact age hangs in his mind like a ground hugging fog that defiantly refuses yield to the sun, the event, itself, plays in his mind as if he were watching a movie.  On this particular July morning, he began sweating three steps outside of the door.  He didn't mind the heat, but he hated the humidity.  With sweat dripping in his eyes, which wiping only made them burn more, he turned on the hose to flush the geese and ducks' makeshift pond out and walked the twenty-five yards to the back of the property to feed them.

Jeremy had two geese, Will and Madeline.  Madeline laid an egg or two every year, but none ever hatched.  The farmer down the road pointed out her sagging stomach to Jeremy.  "See how low her stomach hangs?  That means her egg sac is worn out.  She'll never produce an egg that will hatch."

It was only a couple of weeks earlier his Mom took him, and his brother and sister, to the auction.  Jeremy loved to see the animals, even though Mom rarely bid on any of them.  This time, though, Jeremy stared at a brood of fifteen baby ducks.  No matter where around the pen Jeremy walked to get a closer look, all the ducks moved away in unison as if they could read each other's mind to know which way to go.

Mom began to walk away saying it was time to go.  Jeremy looked up at her and asked, "Can we get these ducks?" 

"You got the two geese, a half dozen chickens, and three rabbits.  We don't really need more animals.  How are you going to take care of them all?" 

"But please Mom.  Mr. Dale says Madeline is too old to have babies anymore.  Maybe the ducklings will make her happy."

Mom hesitated a moment.  "It won't hurt to see how much they're going for, but I'm not promising anything."

Jeremy brought home his little ducks after the auction.  The long summer days meant there was still plenty of daylight to see how Will and Madeline would welcome them.  Mostly, the two geese ignored them as the baby ducks eagerly followed their new parents around the yard.

Two weeks passed uneventfully before that fateful day.  The baby ducks had grown double in size, but retained their yellow down.  Every morning and evening, Jeremy fed them and flushed their pond out.  Every evening after the last of the sun fell below the horizon, he would herd Will and Madeline back to the coop before it got too dark so they would be safe from any predators.  The baby ducks dutifully followed them home.

This July morning, though, as he began walking to the back of the yard to feed his animals, he feared wiping the sweat from his burning eyes.  His eyes were swollen, probably from crying all night.  At least one eye was probably black.  He was too ashamed to look in the mirror to see how bad he looked.  He only took comfort in knowing his eyes would be normal before school started in another month and a half.  Since he wasn't allowed to invite friends over to play, he wouldn't have to make excuses to all his school friends.  His eyes would heal and no one would know.  

Jeremy had long since run out of excuses.  He didn't know why Dad would fly into fits of rage.  It wasn't always the beer and whiskey that set him off, but it was almost always what set off the violent rage.  And Jeremy never could figure out what he did to make Dad so angry at him.  

He grabbed a scoop of cracked corn out of the bin in the shed and opened the gate to feed the birds.  All of the baby ducks ran in unison to the other side of the pen, except one.  He snuck between Jeremy's feet and ran outside of the pen.

"You stupid bird!" Jeremy screamed as he ran around the pen to catch it.  

As Jeremy closed in on the little duck, the duck veered a sharp left and tried its hardest to squeeze his body through the chicken wire so he could join the safety of his brothers and sisters.  The more he struggled, the tighter he wedged himself in. The baby duck got himself hopelessly stuck.

Jeremy knelt down to help free him.  Sweat and tears stung his eyes.  The duck squirmed trying to get free of Jeremy's grip.  His little web feet paddled the air fiercely with tiny claws scratching Jeremy's hands.  Jeremy felt a rage building in him.  Every time he tried to back the duck out of the wire, it would spread its stubby wings and try to lurch forward.  Then the stubby wing would get caught on the wrong side of the wire.  Jeremy struggled to get the wing folded closed and threaded through the right side of the wire, but to no avail.  The little duck simply struggled harder.

"Stop squirming you little bastard!  I feed you every day.  You should know by now I'm not going to hurt you!"

For a split second, Jeremy's world went black and then he felt the baby duck go limp.  He quickly took one hand to wipe the sweat and tears out of his eyes so he could see.  A blurry duck lay still in his hand.  It didn't move as Jeremy carefully untangled it from the chicken wire.

He cupped the bird loosely, slightly rocking back and forth and unable to stop crying.  He may have even mumbled a prayer or two.  

He thought he felt a slight movement in his hands.  He jumped up and ran to the gate.  

"Please, please, please be alive!" he pleaded as he gently placed the baby duck on the ground.  

It rested on the ground for a second or two before jumping up and running over to his brothers and sisters.  Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief.  He hadn't killed the baby duck, and, judging by its appetite, he hadn't hurt it either.

Some friends walk into your life. Some waddle.

Jeremy disappeared into the woods and sat under his favorite tree overlooking the river.  Even on the hottest days, a slight breeze coming off the water always cooled him down.  As he sat under the tree and the sweat and tears subsided, he made a promise to his new friend and companion.  He promised he would get his rage under control.  He had too many broken toys and now nearly killed a baby duck.  He had to get it under control or he might end up in prison one day.  

Jeremy folded his arms over his knees and buried his head in them.  He may have even taken a nap or maybe dozed just long enough to let the swelling in his eyes go down. All he remembers is he woke up feeling refreshed.  

He rushed over to the goose pen and counted the baby ducks.  Yup, fifteen, just like there was supposed to be.  He opened the gate and headed to the house for lunch.  Will and Madeline followed with their brood of fifteen obediently following.  

Jeremy went in the house and made himself a sandwich for lunch.  He sat at the picnic table watching the baby ducks as he ate.  For the life of him, he couldn't tell which duck gave him all the trouble earlier that morning.  But he reaffirmed his promise.  He had to keep it.  He had to do it for the baby duck he almost killed.

Jeremy stuck to his promise to control the rage he knew he was capable of.  Sure, he had a few more broken toys along the way at first, but he stopped breaking his toys before he outgrew them.  He made a promise to that baby duck and he aimed to keep it.  Before long, he'd still get angry.  All people do.  But he never let the anger grow into rage.

Until thirty years later...

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Posted by One Drunk Redneck