The Duck (3)(Marla) So, here I am again, writing about Felix. If you haven’t read the first two accounts, just know that I have a duck that I did not seek and…actually you might want to skim through those first two accounts.

Anyway, Felix. Yesterday I came home from work and did my usual thing – I sat down to relax with my show. He waddled down the hall (from HIS bedroom) and sat beside me. I wasn’t in the sunporch this time. He had no problem settling himself on the couch now.

So, we watched the show, and he didn’t interrupt, which is a big deal to me as you might know if you’ve read the other two accounts. The evening seemed to be the same as any other.

I was wrong. So wrong. I never saw it coming.

As soon as the show was over, Felix gave me a long gaze that I couldn’t read. Then he waddled down the hall and returned with another duck!

Wow. The nerve. He’d invited another duck into my house without even consulting me. I know, it’d be difficult (perhaps impossible) for him to ask. So there I was, looking at two ducks. It might have been one thing if his girlfriend (if she was his girlfriend) had looked at me with some sort of imploring. She could have at least tried to make it look as though she were asking to stay. But she wasn’t. Until that day, I wasn’t aware that a duck can look like an entitled snob. I can assure you a duck can do it. How in the world did Felix find this one at all attractive? Felix looked at me and pointed at her with his wing. Then he looked at her and pointed his wing at me. And that was it. As if that made everything okay! It didn’t.

I took a long breath and let it out slowly. I felt myself unusually annoyed, and I decided to go for a walk and think.

Had this been Felix’s plan all along? Had I been fooled by a duck? What to do? I couldn’t write to Dear Abby or post my complaint on Reddit. Who would believe me? They’d probably just laugh at me and tell me I was a fool for ever letting him stay in the first place. Perhaps I deserved that ridicule. Could I google things that ducks hate and do my best to drive them out? Weirdly, as annoyed as I was, I didn’t really want to do that. I knew it wouldn’t make me feel much better. I thought about Felix, and the more I thought about Felix, the more I thought that he didn’t plan all of it ahead of time. All of us get a bit bolder as we get more comfortable. It was as simple as that. So, I hadn’t been fooled by a devious duck. Felix was just a duck who had realized that he needed a special duck in his life. But what did Felix have planned? A whole family? Could I happily come home to an entire family of ducks living in my house? No, definitely not. His ducklings would be cute at first, but they’d probably make a lot of noise. Do ducklings quarrel with each other? Ugh. That would be exhausting.

So, I had a problem. Living with one duck was fine. Living with a family of ducks was not. I took a deep breath. I felt calmer. I decided to go home, make dinner for the ducks, try to be nice to Ms. Entitled Duck, and then get a plan for a new home for them. I admit that I was a bit sad or disappointed or whatever you want to call it. Maybe it even hurt my heart just a little. I’d gotten used to Felix’s company. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that he was a bachelor duck. We were just two individuals who kept each other company. Could I possibly hope that she would be gone when I returned to the house? No. That introduction meant something. She was important to him, and somehow I knew with certainty that he would prefer to live with her, even if it meant leaving my house. With that acceptance in mind, I headed for home.


Stay tuned!

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