Ducks Only, Please

This morning when I looked out my back window I saw that Harper Lake was frozen over. I reckon the ice was less than a half inch thick, not enough to support anything larger than a duck. I did see a family of ducks skidding around on the surface, but they were gone by the time I got my camera out. I guess they were camera-shy. A few minutes ago I spotted Hazelhurst Westbrook headed down to the lake with a pair of ice skates over his shoulder. I walked out and told him a little white lie. I said the ice would not support him and I was certain about it because I saw a mother duck go walking out and the ice broke through. I retrieved her but not in time to save her from drowning. Hazelhurst bought this sorry tale. I can't imagine anyone would believe that a duck had drowned but now I know there is at least one human being on earth that would. I doubt I saved Hazelhurst from drowning but maybe I prevented a bad case of pneumonia.

ps. Somebody else caught them.

Tales of Harper, short stories and poems about the fictional town of Harper, Mississippi is available on Amazon Kindle

Coming soon: More Tales of Harper (an ebook on Amazon)