| I barked again, but he just stared at me with his beady little eyes and opened his orange beak and said rude things. I barked a salvo of barking. He didn�t move. I finally lurched forward right into his face and gave him a poke with my nose. He moved back half a step. I punched him again. He moved back another half step. �This will take all day,� I concluded. What a stubborn duck. So I did what I can only describe as an act of absolute desperation. I grabbed him by the neck and shoved him toward his brothers. He flocked. By now I was drooling with exertion. Mom calmly placed herself behind me and told me to proceed slowly. The ducks started up again, but the Rogue Duck lagged behind, then turned to face me and quacked nasty things under his fowl breath. �Oh no you don�t!� I panted and grabbed him by the neck again. He quickly rejoined his brothers, looking at me askance and quacking loudly. When he started to lag, a quick �yip� kept him in line. As a matter of fact, now that we had all our ducks in a row, so to speak, herding ducks became almost fun. We drove the ducks along the fence until Mom called me to her and gave me a big hug. �Well done, Sailor,� grinned Mom. She snapped my leash onto my collar, patted my nose, and squished out the In Gate with me in tow. For the first time, I noticed how muddy the ground was in certain spots. I noticed that the stream along the cottonwood trees was running merrily and that the llama was standing on the hillside amidst his family of puffy sheep. The clouds were as white and soft looking as newly shorn wool, and the air smelled like springtime and the sea. Life is good. Maybe next time, I will be able to herd sheep and leave those pesky ducks to the Shelties. Sailor triumphant at last |
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| SAILOR DUCK Part 2 |
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