A Lick of the Cat and the Muck of a Duck

 

India was snoozing on the kitchen floor.  It was a nice, cool place with a bit of a breeze flowing in from the outside door, past the spot she was occupying, and into the hall.  The red quarry tiles underneath always felt cold to the touch, something she very much approved of in the summer. 

Her doze was interrupted by another furry body crashing down beside her.  India kept her eyes tightly shut and ignored the intrusion.  She knew that it would be only a matter of time before her peace would be shattered, no need to hurry it along. 

There was a large and dramatic sigh from her companion, followed by some twitching and shuffling.  India counted to herself, one, two, three…

“Yulch!”  Rohan half coughed and half retched.  India ignored it.

“YUUULCH!”  Much louder this time and impossible to ignore.

“What is the matter with you?”  India asked, tersely, without opening her eyes.

“I’ve got fur in my mouth” Rohan responded, miserably.

India thought about this for a moment.

“Well, you would have” She responded, eventually, “we’re covered in it, aren’t we?”

“Not MY fur!” Rohan replied, indignantly.

“Ah!” India considered this for a moment, still with her eyes closed in the fervent hope that slumber might return, “you’ve been licking that cat, Buster, again”

“No” Rohan said, unconvincingly.

“Rohan!” India growled softly

“Oh, all right!  Yeth, I’ve been licking Buthter.  He liketh it!”  He protested.

“He does NOT like it!” India snapped, “You just pounce on him when he’s waiting for his dinner and he’ll put up with anything if he’s going to be fed”

“You don’t know that he doethn’t like it” Rohan said, in a hurt tone.

“I’m not sure that it’s a good idea” India said, gruffly, “dogs licking cats.  It was bad enough when you wanted to chase them”

“I thtill do” Rohan admitted, quietly.

“And another thing…” India got up, reluctantly, and examined the floor beneath her, “you’re wet through!  Just look at this puddle you’ve left”

“Bit damp, thatth all” Rohan muttered.

“A bit damp! The water’s running across the kitchen tiles!  Where have you been?”

“Nowhere” Rohan mumbled, defensively.

“You’ve been in that duck pond again, haven’t you?”

“No!” Rohan had his eyes tightly closed.

“You have!  I can see feathers in your fur!  You know that mum said you weren’t to go in the duck pond” India looked severely at her young, and rather damp, companion but he kept his eyes tightly shut and ignored her.  She waited for a moment and then, “ROHAN!”

“What?”  He risked opening one eye and looked up at her indignantly.

“Don’t ‘what?’ me!  I said I can see feathers in your fur, so I know you’ve been in that duck pond.  Now, what have you got to say for yourself?”

“Nothing” Rohan closed his eye again and gave the deep sigh of the severely misunderstood.

“You’ll be in big trouble if mum finds out you’ve been in the duck pond, again” India shook her head.

“Who’th going to tell her?” Rohan pointed out, reasonably.

“Nobody will need to tell her!  There’s a trail of mucky water and duck feathers that leads directly to where you’re lying, so she’ll know”

“Oh” Rohan conceded.

“What did you think you were doing?” India was exasperated with her young charge.

“It’th hot” Rohan explained.

“I know it’s hot, but you don’t see me in the duck pond, do you?”

“You don’t know what you’re mithing” Rohan grinned, “it’th nice and cool”

“It’s full of what ducks leave behind, I know that much” India frowned.

“What, feathers?” Rohan risked opening one eye again.

“No, not just feathers.  You know what ducks are like, no control over their…well, their ‘doings’ at all.  You’ve only got to look at the state of the yard to see that.  Ducks poo all the time, whenever they feel like it, wherever they are, and that includes that pond”

“Really?”  Rohan raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, really!”

“I thought it thmelt…interethting” Rohan agreed, shutting his eye again.

“it’s not only the pond that smells ‘interesting’ now, so do you and so does this kitchen!  Mum’ll have a fit when she finds out”

“I thaw thomething odd while I wath out there” Rohan offered, trying to change the subject.

“Odd?  What do you mean ‘odd’?”

“Well,” Rohan hauled himself up to a sitting position, “I saw one of the ducks walking across the yard and there were lotth of little fluffy yellow thingth following her”

“How many?”

“Lotth! More than four, anyway” Rohan explained.  Dogs can only count up to four, easily.  Anything greater than that is ‘more than four’.

“I did hear mum say that they’d had some surprise ducklings” India nodded.

“Ducklingth?  What are ducklingth?”

“Little ducks.  You know, duck babies”

“Really?”  Rohan looked astonished, “but they don’t look anything like duckth.  They’re jutht yellow ballth of fluff on legth”

“Yes, I know” India chuckled, “but they are ducks, all the same.  I think mum said there were eleven of them”

“Eleven?  How many ith that?”

“More than four, in fact, a lot more than four”

“I wonder if you can lick them?” Rohan mused.

“NO!” India snapped, “and don’t even think about trying.  The mother duck will be very annoyed.  She’ll thing you’re trying to eat them!”

“Huh, there wouldn’t be enough there worth eating” Rohan said, indignantly.

“Well, anyway, just leave them alone”

“Where do they come from then, thethe ducklingth?”  Rohan yawned and started to settle down on his damp patch of kitchen floor, again.

“Eggs”

“Eggth?”  Rohan looked surprised.

“Yes, eggs.  They hatch from duck eggs”

Rohan abandoned his nap and plodded over to the kitchen cabinet.  Once there, he stared intently at the work surface on which there were some eggs in a tray.

“Tho, thethe will be ducklingth in a bit then?”

“I doubt it” India grinned, “they’re hen’s eggs”

“Alright, henlingth then” Rohan said, in a hurt tone.

“You mean chickens, that’s what you call baby hens and no, they won’t become chickens.  Not all eggs have a baby inside them.  Even those that do need to be kept warm and safe by the mother for ages before the baby inside grows and gets too big to fit in the egg.  Then it hatches.  Sometimes, the mother hen, or duck, goes away and lays her eggs where no-one can find them and sits on them until they hatch.  That’s what happened with those ducklings.  No-one knew they were there until they hatched”

“Did I hatch, Injure?”

“It would have been a pretty big egg wouldn’t it!” India chuckled, “no, you didn’t hatch.  Birds come from eggs, not smelly puppy dogs”

“I’m not thmelly!” Rohan sniffed.

“You should be where I am!  You need a wash”

“Ok, I’ll go and wath mythelf” Rohan bounded out of the door.

“Alright, but not in the…”  There was a loud splash and some furious quacking, “duck pond” India finished weakly.

You can find out all about the dogs and all of the other animals at TURN Education  in the collection of stories about them called 'Waggy Dog Tales' - this link will tell you all about it.