Duck Daze of Summer

Canada Day was beautiful this year: sunny, warm, breezy, clear and bright.

My family went to Edward's Gardens for the afternoon. Sandwich-eating and soccer-playing with the two little ones passed away the better part of our excursion.

We walked down the hill to watch the ducks and ducklings in the pond, and the waterwheel, and have fun romping around with piggy-backs. And then...

And then.

A clear voice rang out across the pond: "You killed it! You killed that duck! You killed it!"

I look over at an embarrassed young boy walking away from the scene of the accident with his brother. He had thrown a big rock into the pond, aiming for the ducks, and the rock had hit the duck and broken its neck. The duck was still alive, swimming sideways, floundering... drowning. It's mother was nearby, watching. The whole duck family swam over in a group and could only watch as we did to see the poor duckling try to right itself.

Only a few minutes more passed before the duckling stopped trying.

As far as we know, the boy was not punished. He had a talking to by his mother and another woman who saw the whole thing too, but nothing else.

At the risk of sounding cliche... Some kids are getting away with murder these days.