The duck walk!

Thursday I am coming home from work, distracted by a phone call,which I ignored, only to suddenly see a DUCK on the left side of the road, getting ready to cross this fairly busy street. MY first thought was, "OMG, I am NOT stopping for this duck!" Someone did that in Québec, I think, last year, where this caused a huge accident, and people were killed!" The woman ended up in prison, for letting some ducks cross the road in front of her vehicle. Listen, I haven't had any misadventures lately. I didn't want to chance anything, so I was quickly calculating what were my chances of outrunning the duck! Little to none. It is truly amazing ALL the thoughts that can run through your head in a split second.

However, when I glanced quickly ahead, and in my rear view mirror, there were no cars coming either way, so I cruised to a stop. It took forever, it seems for that duck to cross the oncoming lane, into mine. Now there are cars stopped behind me. I know they can't see why I am stopped. I am urging the duck on from inside my car, when she (he?) STOPS right in front of my car. In other words, it stops three quarters of the way across the road. It doesn't move. It just stays right there. There are no babies following it.. there is just that ONE duck. I think it was a Mallard. 

I have given up gesturing and shrugging my shoulders, to the people sitting in their car behind me. No one is leaning on the horn, but I know I have to do something soon. People are impatient when they are on their way home from work.  I really don't want to, but I get out of my car carefully, and do shoo-shoo movements to the duck. Would it move? No way!! I gesture to the people behind me, and short of waddling like a duck myself, try to convey why I am stopped, and out of my car, in the MIDDLE of the street. They smile nicely... and sit patiently. No one is in a hurry I guess... certainly NOT the duck.

I get back in my car, and in desperation, I give the horn a few blasts. What does the duck do? He/She/It decides to GO BACK where it came from, so I continue to wait. So does the long line of cars behind me. Furthermore, cars are now stopped in the oncoming lane, behind the first car, who doesn't want to kill the duck either. They don't know it is going back, not forward.   It seems to take forever, as we all wait for one of God's creature to waddle out of the way. 

So why did the duck cross the road? Who knows!