A Duck's Tail

A heartwarming story to make you smile all day long... and all night too!

Joel, a worker at the Sterling Bank in Spokane, WA, works on the second floor of a building on Riverside Ave.  A few weeks ago, he noticed a mallard duck had made her nest by his window which stands about 10 feet above the ground.  Ten days later, it had laid 10 eggs.

With spring, the ducklings came out of their shells...

Joel was wondering how the duck was going to lead her babies to the nearest water spot, so he kept an eye on them.  The next day, he saw the duck fly down to the sidewalk and call to the little ones to join her, cackling encouragements.  Finally, a brave little duckling threw himself off the windowsill and landed next to his mother, somewhat groggy.

Realizing that this fall could be fatal to the tiny birds, Joel hurried downstairs and hid under the porch while the duck was still calling her children over to her.  But, when the next bird jumped off, Joel came out from under his cover, caught the little avian then set it down next to his brother.

One by one the ducklings jumped off the windowsill, and one by one Joel would catch them and place them by their mother, until the whole family was complete, to the mother duck's delight.

However, Joel realized that the duck family's labors were not over, as the nearest water spot was the Spokane river, which runs a few blocks away.  Understanding their plight, some of the workers from the bank came down with a box for Joel.  In went the ten little ducklings under the watchful eye of their mother.

Then, for the next few hundreds of feet, Joel walked with the box held low, followed closely by the mother duck.

When they made it to the river, the duck hurried in the water and quacked for her children to join her.  Joel then put the box on the ground and the ducklings hopped out of it and waddled over to the river.

The duck then continued to quack to Joel and the other bank workers who'd followed, thanking them for their hard work, did a few circles before of them in the water as well, then swam away, her brood following in tight formation.

 The End