Ferguson

This summer a couple in my ward took in an orphaned duckling.  They christened her "Ninety-five Guns'n'Ammo Bobsled".  She was such an adorable duckling and loved to get to know everyone in the ward.  She'd come to ward activities, ward prayer, even a ward pancake dinner.  After a while she got pretty independent and stopped going inside at night.  One night she disappeared.

Ninety-Five Guns'n'Ammo Bobsled

After a while I noticed these two other ducks around Raintree - one brown one grey.  I wasn't too fond of these ducks because I thought they chased Ninety-Five away; one day I actually caught them in the act of chasing away a duck that I thought must have been Ninety-Five!  I hated these two.  Everytime I would walk past them I would hiss or yell at them.  One night, while I was out of town, the brown duck was killed by a stray cat.  Now it was only the grey duck at Raintree and how happy I was!  I would walk past and tell it how I wish it would leave too so Ninety-Five could come back and live in peace.

One day while sitting on the balcony reading (during the summer my balcony was right next to the pond) this grey duck looked up at me and started quacking.  What on earth did it want with me?  This duck knew that I hated him, was he just quacking to disturb my reading?  I decided the only way to shut him up would be to go down and feed him some bread.  I guess he wasn't that bad.

That's what began a beautiful relationship!  We would bond; I'd feed him bread and he'd follow me.  I decided he needed a name; I christened him Ferguson.  Sometimes when no one was home to talk to I'd go out and tell Ferguson about my troubles.  He was a great listener.  Ferguson and I grew to be best friends - he was MY pet duck and just about everyone knew it.

When summer was over and I had to move back to the outside of the building I knew it would be a little more difficult to see him on a regular basis.  I had to make time to go out and visit Ferg, but it wasn't as if it was a laborious thing - I loved to see him!  Just seeing him, having him follow me around gave me such great joy.

My roommate Charlee and I were worried about what would happen to him when winter rolled around.  Neither of us had ever seen him fly, and when ducks would come and go we hoped they'd teach him to fly, but he never left.

Ferg had his downside though - he quacked every morning around 6:00 - at sunrise.  It never bothered me, but I had neighbors that absolutely hated him.  One in particular threatened to turn him into Thanksgiving dinner.  Now I couldn't have that.  I was protective of him.  I found him being chased on multiple occasions and I would yell at his predators, do whatever I could to get them to leave my duck alone.  Last night I found him under attack again.  This afternoon I went out to visit him.  I took him a couple slices of bread, he came and sat by me and let me pet him.  Then I had to leave to take a test.

When I got back Ferguson was nowhere to be seen; I searched all over for him.  Immediately I texted those two who attacked him last night, but they didn't respond.  Eventually, through other means, I found out that Ferguson had been caught by those two and taken to the Duck Pond south of campus.  It was good to know he was safe, but I am still very upset that they never even told me where they'd be taking him.  Ferguson just disappeared!

I went to visit him at his new home today; he loves it.  When living at Raintree, Ferguson was quite lonely.  He never had friends here that stayed very long.  There are always ducks at the pond, so I'm sure he'll be happy there.  I love him, and I hear that if you love someone, then let them go.