Salvation By Duckling

I didn't want to go on a walk after work. I didn't sleep well last night. I have an appointment with my first oncologist tomorrow. I'm scared. Beloved and the little angel made me go.

As we rounded the corner and walked past where the road separates the silt pond from our neighborhood's larger lake, I saw a mama duck standing on the edge of the spillway that dumps overflow from one to the other. She was quacking frantically and staring into the hole.

I made a joke about chatty ducks and we kept going.

Then I turned back, because something about the tone of her quacks was something only a mother can recognize.

"Guys," I said, "I think her ducklings fell down there."

We went walking back, and sure enough, we could hear the ducklings chirping.

I immediately started freaking out. The little angel was very calm, saying something about nature taking its course (who is this kid?) and Beloved dutifully started calling numbers. Because it's apparently Truman Day, he had no luck with the Jackson County sheriff, Lee's Summit Fire, Lee's Summit police, Animal Control or the property owners' association. However, the Lee's Summit police dispatcher kept trying Animal Control, but nobody was home. Finally, she sent us back to LSFD and they said they'd see what they could do.

We hovered on the edge of the lake, watching the mama duck get more and more and more frantic. She flew down into the hole and we watched sadly, knowing ducks don't exactly have talons with which to grab their young.

I was just about to give up when the association truck showed up, assessed the situation, and then left as ... OMG ... yes, that is a huge yellow fire truck, complete with three firemen and all the toys you need to save somebody.

We cheered. And then this happened.

Ten-foot ladder and hero number one.

If you listen, you will hear what sounds like cheeping and a very worried mother duck.

Hero two, complete with badass scuba suit.

Hero three, with a different but equally badass suit.

Our heroes prepare to descend into the spillway to save the frantic ducklings.

Helpful random guy pulls over and offers a winch.

Down they go.

Ten-foot ladder

Looking for a bagful of ducklings.

That is a bagful of ducklings.

Our heroes!

You can just barely see the eleven ducklings inside the bag.

Cheeping all to hell for mama.

Mama duck hears her ducklings and comes running toward the fireman.

She rushes down to the water, quacking to her babies.

Y'all, I was practically bawling at this point.

The first few ducklings hit the water and looked like cartoon roadrunners as they practically tipped over headfirst paddling toward their mama.

Mama duck counts heads. Oh, no! Someone is missing.

The last duckling makes a break for it.

Now that everything's fine, their good-for-nothing father shows up.

Awesome day's work, lads.

Off go mama duck and her eleven ducklings, quacking excitedly to each other.

BEST. WALK. EVER.

Huge props to the Lee's Summit Fire Department and the dispatchers who wouldn't give up on eleven ducklings and one frantic mama duck. Really needed a happy ending today.