Yikes!! Watch out for that Duck!!!

If you have been reading along all summer, you would know that my son is an avid fisherman. Last week, we had an unusual experience that highlighted his empathy without any prompting on my part. I was moved...

All around our dock there are schools of Perch and infamous Bluegill that he catches so fast-I hardly have a chance to get to the end of the dock after reloading a worm and BAM he gets another one. Around and around I go. First to the end of the dock to do the worm dance, then to the other end of the dock where our porch is connected. I have to entertain the baby and yet remain close enough to listen to a running commentary about fish and their lifestyles(all said in a stage whisper)Did you know that the fish dont mind being caught by him because they have told each other that he lets them go? Apparently, along with a knack for knowing just where to drop the worm, he also has an "IN" with the fish leader.

So there he sat, fishing and talking and talking and fishing. All of a sudden, YANK!! The pole almost gets pulled from his grip..It is a baby duck!!! I am not kidding! actually an adolescent duck because it had all its colors, but was still with its mother. Needless to say, He panicked and started shreiking for me to get down there and help the duck. I dont think I touched the gate, steps or dock more than once on my way down.

The noise was overpowering. My son was freaking out, the mother duck was attacking the line, the baby duck had swallowed the entire worm and hook. It was almost sureal...have you ever heard of such a thing?

I just reacted. I knelt down, pulled the baby up in one motion(all the while, the mother duck was actually biting me and beating on my arm with her wings, yikes!)slid my hand down the line and gently pressed his head to one side and BIT off the fishing line as short as I could in the duck's mouth. Then, just as fast, I plopped him back into the water...

He(she?) swam under the dock and her mother swam away with the rest of the babies. My son was crying and said he would never fish again and that he was sorry and that the duck would die...poor kid....

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