by D. Anderson

Created on: July 18, 2008

_Dixie's Quack_

Dixie lives in a barnyard with five brothers and sisters.

Dixie has feathers.

She has webbed feet.

She has a beak.

Dixie is like any other duck. Except for one thing.

Dixie doesn't like to quack. She's growing up and her voice wants to "quack" but she wants to cheep. The result is a very funny "chee-WACK!"

"You're growing up; you must learn to quack," says Dixie's mother.

Ruffling her downy feathers she asks, "why?"

"It's how we talk, to show if we're happy or in trouble, to warn of danger and mommy ducks quack so their ducklings can follow her."

But Dixie wanted to do something different.

She spent all day exploring the barnyard and imitating other animals. She barked, meowed, mooed, snorted.

She even crowed like Red the Rooster but that hurt her throat, so she quit.

Dixie liked meowing best. That night she told mother duck from now on she would meow and not quack.

"Okay, if that is what you want," mother duck said, "now go to sleep. Tomorrow we're leaving the barnyard and going to the pond."

Dixie slept that night; her beak tucked under her wings, and dreamed of animals and the sounds they make.

The next morning Dixie, her mother, and her five siblings all waddled to the pond.

It was the first time any of the ducklings had been out of the barnyard and they were very excited!

Dixie's siblings chirped and quacked to each other and just as she promised, Dixie meowed.

But her brothers and sisters didn't meow to her. In fact, none of them seemed to understand her! Dixie was starting to feel left out.

As they swam, Dixie looked around at the wide-open pond in amazement! It was much bigger than their pool in the barnyard.

Dixie spied a little grasshopper on a leaf that looked very tasty! She swam over to it but it jumped to another leaf.

She swam to the next leaf but it jumped again. Dixie kept chasing it until it jumped on the grass and disappeared.

Dixie swam to catch up to her family. They were nowhere to be found Dixie realized she was lost!

Dixie was scared! Then she remembered her mother said to call out if she got lost. Dixie "meowed" as loud as she could. No one answered.

Dixie tried every animal sound she knew: barking, mooing, snorting, and even the rooster's crow! But no one answered.

Dixie tucked her head under her wing and cried. Then, she heard someone quack. It was her mother!

Dixie opened up her beak to answer and what came out was not a moo, it was not a meow, or a snort or a bark and it was definitely not a rooster's crow.

"QUACK!" Dixie shouted.

Her family came swimming up, very glad to see her, and as Dixie's mother put a soft wing around her she said, "Aren't you glad you can quack?"

Dixie answered her with a very proud "Quack!"

Learn more about this author, D. Anderson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.