I got to Washington Park at the lake and watched the ducks and geese, some I even had to shoo away as they were persistent beggars. I walked around the new Fair building and tried out the bathroom before getting back on the track around the lake. Halfway around, a man walking the other direction towards me said, as he was approaching, “Do you know what temperature it is?” to which I replied, “It’s not too terrible.” He said it was 93 when he got out of his car and after one lap it was already 97. We chit chatted a bit more and went on our way. But he stopped and turned around after a few strides and said, “There’s a white duck over there. I feel real bad for her. She’s got something wrong with her leg and I keep meaning to bring some food back for her. I’ll come back later and do that. Those males won’t leave her alone. I feel sorry for her. I want to see if I can help. I’ve done that for other ducks here in the past.”
And I walked on. A short way later, there was an elderly lady in a blouse and white pants trying to maneuver a massive fishing net out of her van. I said, “Going fishing, huh?” She smiled, not saying anything, and I went on. As I came to the wounded duck, I approached her to see her injuries closer. That elderly lady with the fishing net rushed old-lady style over to me saying in a distressed tone, “Oh, please don’t scare her! She’s injured. Don’t touch her!” I held up my hands and explained I was only looking and shooing the male away.
Well, this lady explained that she was deaf but asked me to shout to her, and she could hear most of what I said then. She had bought the net to capture the duck to take it to a vet to help it. She called everywhere and found a vet at PetsMart in St. Charles who would help save the duck. I helped her capture the duck (easily) and saw that the duck’s leg was swollen huge and her back had been ripped open by all the males digging into her. The lady said that earlier in the morning (she checked on the bird frequently), the duck’s neck was bleeding. It was plucked raw. They were killing her one male at a time as nature tends to take care of itself in some pretty cruel ways like that. The poor, sweet lady was almost in tears. She was so upset, “They’ve just been raping her and the people have been scaring her for days.” She’d been feeding her some corn every day, but today the duck wouldn’t eat so the lady bought a net. She just couldn’t watch the suffering and “raping” anymore.
I suggested that she could save her money and a trip to St. Charles and take the duck to Dr. Brinker down the road to have the duck euthanized. I called Dr. Brinker (because the lady was deaf) to see if it was possible, and after clarifying the details, she agreed. Had it not been a white duck (domestic), she could not do it.
After the phone call, I turned around and there was another lady talking to the elderly woman about the duck. She, too, had come to check on the duck. It was such a disturbing sight and everyone who’d seen it felt so helpless. This sweet old lady was a lonely widow and couldn’t sit back and feel helpless like this duck. She could relate to it in so many ways that I’d venture to guess she’d also been raped at some point in her life.
Now the man was back, the one who mentioned the duck to me in the first place. I explained that we had the duck and were going to take her to Dr. Brinker to be euthanized; she was too far gone. The man said he was determined to help in any way he could so if we met him back at his Corvette, he’d give us $60 to put it down. (I’d told him that’s what I paid Dr. B for my cats.) So we went back since he was parked by my car, and he gave us some cash and said he was just really glad someone was going to help this little girl find rest from her suffering.
I told the elderly lady, Shirley, that I’d lead her to Dr. Brinker’s and she could take it from there. Shirley said, “You MUST be a Christian!” And she poured her heart out about how there’s so much evil in this world and it’s only getting worse. She was starting to wonder if anyone in the world still cared like she did and now she knows some do. She was shocked that this man handed us $60 in cash, and that I was there at that very moment to help her to know what to do to help the duck and make a phone call for her since she’s deaf. She said she didn’t know if she should euthanize or what to do but she was so glad God sent someone (me) who knew what to do. She was very happy to euthanize if it meant it was the RIGHT thing to do. I assured her it was because even if she’d had all the money in the world to help the duck recover, it could never go back and would have to stay in captivity because it couldn’t heal right.
Well, Shirley was blessed in her soul today. The other lady was relieved. The man was able to contribute to the effort. Dr. Brinker got an adventure. And I just went where I was carried. I didn’t know what to do after all that so I just went back home. Funny, I drove all the way out to Washington just to walk less than one lap around the lake. I just went there to relax. Hmm. My life seems like it’s ALWAYS like that. I just want to do the simple things and God always has exciting things in store. Dare I even put the house up for sale?? Or try to BUILD a house?
I told Ryan a few weeks ago, “Our new home won’t come to us by looking on the internet. It’s going to come to us in a conversation.”
He added, “Relationship. Yeah!” because we’ve both learned that the things in this life are just the means by which God builds relationships between us and with us. This duck brought 5 people together today and tugged the tender heartstrings of human beings to keep compassion alive, to remind us of God’s order and design, and to get us all involved in ways we never would have come together otherwise. This little duck kept this widow’s hope alive in God’s goodness here on earth. When evil seemed to prevail, GOOD WON! Shirley needed it most, but we all needed it just the same.
