This little tale happened in Down town Spokane. A guy named Joel, is a loan officer at Sterling Bank. He works down town in a second story office building, overlooking busy Riverside Ave. One day he watched a mother duck choose the cement awning outside his window as the uncanny place to build a nest above the side walk.
The mallard laid 10 eggs in a nest in the corner of the planter that is perched over 10 ft in the air. She dutifully kept the eggs warm for weeks & Monday afternoon all of her 10 ducklings hatched!
Joel worried all night how the momma duck was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy, down town, urban environment to take to water, which typically happens in the 1st 48 hours of a duck hatching. Tuesday morning, Joel came to work & watched the mother duck encourage her babies to the edge of the perch with the intent to show them how to jump off!
The mother flew down below & started quacking to her babies above. In his disbelief Joel watched as the 1st fuzzy newborn toddled to the edge & astonishingly leapt into thin air, crashing onto the cement below.
Joel couldn't watch how this might play out. He dashed out of his office & ran down the stairs the side walk where the 1st obedient duckling was stumbling near its mother from the near fatal fall.
Joel looked up. The 2nd duckling was getting ready to jump! He quickly dodged under the awning while the mother duck quacked at him & the babies above. As the 2d one took the plunge, Joel jumped forward & caught it with his bare hands before it hit the cement. Safe & sound, he set it by the momma & other stunned sibling, still recovering from its painful leap.
1 by 1 the babies continued to jump to join their anxious family below. Each time Joel hid under the awning just to reach out in the nick of time as the duckling made its free-fall. The down town side walk came to a standstill! Time after time, Joel was able to catch the remaining ducklings & set them by their approving mother.
At this point Joel realized the duck family had only made part of its dangerous journey. They had 2 full blocks to walk across traffic, cross walks, curbs & pedestrians to get to the closest open water, the Spokane River .
The onlooking office secretaries then joined in, & hurriedly brought an empty copy paper box to collect the babies. They carefully corralled them, with the mother's approval, & loaded them up into the white cardboard container. Joel held the box low enough for the mother to see her brood. He then slowly navigated through the down town streets toward the Spokane River , as the mother waddled behind & kept her babies in sight.
As they reached the river, the mother took over & passed him, jumping into the river, quacking loudly. At the water's edge, the Sterling Bank office staff then tipped the box & helped shepherd the babies toward the water & to their mother after their adventurous ride.
All 10 darling ducklings safely made it into the water & paddled up snugly to momma duck.
Joel said the mother swam in circles, looking back toward the beaming bank workers, proudly quacking as if to say ..... "See, we did it! Thanks for all the help!"
The little tale gave me the affirmation that there are people out there who still care for others... :)
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