Duck

Written: 1/23/09

When you think of Africa you think lions, elephants, zebras, etc. Little, fuzzy, baby ducks with little baby beaks and little baby wings are not on that list. While walking to dance today 3 little boys started asking me for money as is typical. One difference was that one was yelling gibberish at me then he opened his little hands to reveal a precious baby duck as previously mentioned. Environmentalist/girl-who-loves-baby-animals in me asked the little boys where the duck lives. Where is its mom? Dad? Brothers? Sisters? Quickly the two youngest boys plopped frightened little ducky into my hands and ran into the giant field with the giant pond. They jabbered and pointed. I mumbled some stupid thing like “He wants to go home, he needs his mom.” We get to where they said they found him and I made the talkative one walk baby out past the sludge. Very happy duck started paddling out to the potential mommy and daddy ducks. We all three held hands for a moment and I made them say goodbye to the duck which earned me a sidelong glance and we all went our separate ways. When I was about 50 yards away the bigger boy who stayed behind came sprinting across the field, into the water, and grabbed my baby ducky! I then took a good look at him and the other boys; ratty clothes, filthy, no shoes, herding cows at the ages of 5, 7, and 10. OH MY GOD! THEY ARE GOING TO EAT IT! I started to walk determinedly back with my disapproving mommy face. With my limited Sesotho I could not yell “Drop the duck!” so instead said “What are you doing?” and repeated “eh-eh” over and over. The big boy finally flung, pitched, discarded baby duck in a manner like it was just a thing not a precious baby animal. I started to walk away satisfied when the kid shot me an eat-shit-and-die look and went back in to get the duck again. This resulted in me chasing 3 little boys across a field yelling “I will whip you”, not something I would actually ever do but still felt totally guilty saying. I stood at the edge of the pond watching the little spot and his little ripples disappear into the group of big tough ducks. I didn’t feel sorry about saving the little duck that fit into one palm and I could wrap all my fingers around from being eaten. It would have given those three boys less nutrition than if they were to eat sand. Horrible me had a skip in my step as I walked the rest of the way to dance and watched the boys while I walked stand knee deep in the pond until they gave up and went home.