peepy
I was walking down our small creek one evening, and I came across a pile of tiny ducklings. I tried to catch them but failed miserably. I finally managed to catch one and take it back up to the house. When I finally got back, along with my mum and brother Matthew, we managed to catch two more. Matthew and I found the mother duck dead a little way up the creek and we think it was due to a hawk. We had three ducks in total but two got away as we had them in the garden enclosure for a little while. We decided to release the third duckling at the creek again as we didn’t really want only one duckling. We were all quite sad about it and while we were feeling sorry for ourselves, Matthew heard peeping in the garden. One of the two that escaped had been trapped in there but he managed to catch it and we all fell in love and after just releasing the last two ducklings, we decided that we just couldn’t release this one so that was that. We finally had our hands on Peepy and what an adventure she would take us on. One that I will never forget for the rest of my life…
To start with, it is not advisable having only one duckling as they like company so without fellow feathers the role falls on you. We used to keep her tucked in our collars, pockets, and anywhere else that we could stuff a duck into! It was all snuggles and cuteness, until a not very likeable but very familiar odour reached your nose. She would be whipped out asap and the accident would be soon rectified and back in she would go.
Feeding her was hilarious to watch as we had to take a big tub along with her wherever she went because she would literally throw her food all over the sides and make a massive mess for a tiny duckling! She too would be covered in food and it makes you wonder how much actually passed her beak!
One day Matthew and I decided to teach her to swim (we only got her when she was really tiny) so we took her to a nice clear water trough and put her in. She took to it like a duck to water! She would dive down and swim around before bouncing out the top of the water and spending the next ten minutes grooming the water off her baby feathers. We decided to take her down to a pool in the creek not far from where we found her and let her swim in there. It soon developed into a daily occurrence. She would waddle behind you so close that if you stopped she would slam into your heels at full duck speed! At the creek she would spend ages digging in the mud and paddling around while we read books and lay around. Getting her out of there was a mission and we usually had to almost push her out!
It was on a day like this that she had her first ever proper flight. She just took off and flew around for a whole minute before landing down the creek a bit. We had to go and rescue the lost duck and then promptly took her up the hill so she could get a good view of the place and didn’t end up lost in the paddock again. It worked because all future flights ended where they should; in the pond. She didn’t fly much but preffered to waddle instead.
She grew fast and so we had to think bigger. The small cat-proof cat-cage we were keeping her in was just too small for her everyday life and she had long passed the days of putting her in collars and pockets which meant we had to think real big. We decided it was time she acted like a duck so we built her an outdoor enclosure (purely because she was a little to vulnerable to our three cats) made out of poles from a gazebo and windbreak stitched together. It worked good but the only flaw was not in the enclose but in the duck! It appeared she had not grown out of human company so we had to basically live out there! We would take our school out there and even eat lunch near her so as to keep the baby-not-so-baby duck company.
Now that was all working fine until the issue of town came up. As we go into town once a week, and no-one wanted to stay home, we had to think of a solution. A few times we left her home, but pity won out, and pretty soon we were stuffing that stinky, human loving duck, into that stinky, way-too-small cat-cage. We had to bring along the feeding tub and all food and water we would need as well, as the baby-not-so-baby duck still hadn’t learned how to feed properly! So there we were crammed in the back of the car with that smelly duck who honestly couldn’t care where she was. The car never scared her and neither did people. We used to take her into the library with us (not my idea) and pretty soon people would recognise us as we made our weekly appearance. Her Royal Highness Peepy even went to the swimming pool with us. I know what you’re thinking, like a duck to water, but no, she didn’t swim in the pool!
The memorable days of taking her out and about were soon over when she finally learned how to be a duck and cope without humans all the time. We would leave her in her outdoor cage when we went out but when we were home the whole world was her oyster although she didn’t use it just then. She would spend endless hours sitting on the upturned pot in the middle of our small fish-free fishpond. She taught the cats a thing or two about ducks as well that they won’t be forgetting in a hurry. That fearless animal would run after them if they got too close and a cat might have got a peck on the nose occasionally!
She would spend less time with us and some days she would have left to go flying somewhere before we even got up and would return about mid-day for her feed. Some times she would be gone all day and we would wonder what had happened to her but she would come back again quacking as she landed demanding three days food in one meal! And that she did have! She would cram as much food as was possible down her throat until her stomach was bulging! She would then waddle around for a while as she was too heavy to fly!
One day she took off in the evening and Matthew and I ran down the hill after her barefoot in our pjs. She flew around and around as we stared on in awe of God’s amazing creation. She then landed a way off in the distance in what we now call Peepy’s Pond. This was one of the last times we saw her fly and definitely one of the most memorable. When I came inside that evening, I wrote the poem Peepy as I was feeling so moved by this awesome little duck that had come into our life.
I don’t really remember the last time we saw her but she just left one day and never came back. We often wonder what has become of her. Has she got a mate? Where does she live? Maybe she even has a family of her own? All these memories will never ever be forgotten and Matthew now has an obsession with ducks after her brief visit in our lives. She will always be in our hearts and minds, a glimpse today, and a memory forever.