新天地
自言自語
Joel, a loan officer at Sterling Bank works downtown in a second story office building, overlooking busy Riverside Avenue. Several weeks ago he watched a mother duck choose the cement awning outside his window to build a nest above the sidewalk.
The mallard laid ten eggs in a nest in the corner of the planter perched over 10 feet in the air. She dutifully kept the eggs warm for weeks and Monday afternoon all of her ten ducklings hatched.
Joel worried all night how the mamma duck was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy, Downtown, urban environment to take to water, which typically happens in the first 48 hours of a duck hatching. Tuesday morning, Joel came to work and 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 and started quacking to her babies above. In disbelief Joel watched as the First fuzzy newborn toddled to the edge and astonishingly leapt into thin air, crashing onto the cement below.
He dashed out of his office and ran down the stairs the sidewalk where the first obedient duckling was recovering from the near fatal fall.
Joel looked up to see the second duckling was getting ready to jump! He dodged under the awning while the mother duck quacked at him and the babies above. As the second one took the plunge, Joel jumped forward and caught it with before it hit the cement, and he set it by the mamma.
One by one the babies continued to jump to join their anxious family below. Each time he would reach out in the nick of time as the duckling made its free fall. The downtown sidewalk came
to a standstill. Time after time, Joel was able to catch the remaining ducklings.
At this point Joel realized the duck family had only made part of its dangerous journey. They had to walk two blocks across traffic, crosswalks, curbs, and pedestrians to get to the closest open water, the Spokane River.
The on looking secretaries brought an empty paper box to collect the babies. They corralled them, with the mother's approval and loaded them up into the white cardboard container. Joel held the box low enough for the mom to see her brood. He then slowly navigated through the downtown streets toward the Spokane River, as the mother waddled behind and kept her babies in sight.
As they reached the river, the mother took over and passed him, jumping into the river and quacking loudly. The office staff tipped the box and helped shepherd the babies toward the water and to their mother after their adventurous ride.
All ten darling ducklings safely made it into the water and paddled up snugly to mamma duck. Joel said the mom swam in circles, looking back toward the beaming bank workers, and proudly quacking as if to say,
'See, we did it! Thanks for all the help!
愛心常在！