Dear Pepper,
Tonight is your last night as our weekend guest. Tomorrow, you will return to the elementary school where I teach and where you were born a few weeks ago. We watched you bust out of your egg on a Youtube livestream, several days before you were due to hatch. We thought you were the earliest of your siblings to arrive, but it turned out that no other siblings were born. You were the only egg out of 4 others to hatch. Thus, you've had no animals to cuddle with or bond with or learn how to be a duck with. When my colleague asked if I would take you home Memorial Day weekend, I hesitated. I do not know how to take care of a duck! I have a clingy dog who doesn't like to share the attention. How will this all work out, I wondered? My third grade team needed my help and so I agreed to take you home. My daughter, Megan was beside herself with glee. My son, Alex- not so much. "Why do we have to have a big duck in our living room?" he posited on your first night here. He did find you cute, though. I don't meant to hurt your feelings, Pepper, but you do poop a whole lot. I had to buy several plastic tablecloths to cover my screened in porch for when we took you out of your crate. You would zoom around fast, exploring. It must have felt so different to be out of the 4 walls of the plastic crate where you usually reside. I didn't really want to love you or get attached or worry about you when you leave our elementary school. But now that I've been the one responsible for keeping you alive these last few days, I'm emotionally invested in your survival and well-being. Will the other ducks accept you? Will you know how to interact with the other ducks? Will you learn how to swim? Will you find friends to cuddle with at night? Will you remember that when you were a duckling children read to you? And we played classical music for you when we went out so you wouldn't feel too quiet or too lonely? Will you know that you have been loved when you are out in the wild, making your way? I hope so. Pepper, I will miss you. You remind me of the innocent nature of creatures and that being good to all beings is our responsibility always. I am rooting for you to go out love that big wide natural world! Love, Kathleen
3 Comments
Kim Johnson
5/30/2023 03:49:17 am
Oh my goodness, he is too cute! What an incredible experience for you and your family to have cared for a sweet duckling for the weekend. He's a charmer, and you're an amazing team player to have stepped up to the challenge and made the emotional investment and bonded with Pepper. I like his name. It looks like someone sprinkled pepper on his bill.
Reply
5/30/2023 06:32:02 am
I can see why Pepper's visit changed your attitude about the Memorial Day visit. A cutie for sure. Ducks are cool, and I always think of the <a href="https://www.poetry.com/poem/53746/the-duck>Ogden Nash poem</a> when I see them. And the letter is a wonderful way to say what his visit meant.
Reply
Melanie White
5/30/2023 04:09:59 pm
Oh my sweetness, those photos stopped me from reading because they capture at the right angle, with the right lighting, and the right framing, this beautiful tiny bit of life. This form, a letter to the duck, makes this all the more engaging with a narrative arc that ends with freedom and loss. So lovely!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorKathleen Neagle Sokolowski Archives
February 2024
Categories |