Last week my friend Kim (of adopted Rocky the cat notoriety) sent me an article from 9news.com, one of her local news stations’ websites. She lives in Denver, but the story was about a duck in Minneapolis named Frank and his duck-hunting owner Joe Mansheim.
When he’s not hunting ducks, Joe drives a truck. He delivers construction materials. Frank the duck “helps” him.
Why does Joe have a duck for a sidekick instead of something more traditional like a dog? Well, Joe does have a dog, but it’s because of the dog that he now also has the duck.
Apparently he’d spent $700 for a dog that was supposed to hunt ducks but wouldn’t. His boss joked that’d he’d have been better off just getting a duck.
Being cute, and more as a joke than anything, Joe ordered a duck from a feed and tack store. Trouble was, the store didn’t know it was a joke. They ordered him a duck. A few days later Joe was the proud recipient of “a little ball of fuzz.”
Joe took the duck home, reared it, and don’t you know what happened? They bonded.
So much so that one day when Joe left for work, Frank followed him out of the kitchen, across the yard, and hopped up in his truck. He’s been riding shotgun on deliveries with Joe ever since.
Frank enjoys unwinding from a hard day on the road by “hassling” the dog who wouldn’t hunt ducks in the backyard or wading in his plastic pool. Come morning, even before the sun’s up, he’s waiting by the truck for Joe to get a move on.
I love, love, love stories like this one. Especially because Joe, a man who’s supposed to hunt ducks, found himself in awkward territory: as a surrogate duck dad. Next thing he knows the duck’s attached to him.
Maybe he was a bit embarrassed or dreading being teased about hauling around a duck in his truck at first. But no more. He’s proud to be known as “the duck man.”
Seems he’s learned a lot from his feathered friend. Here’s my favorite quotes from the story:
“I’m a duck hunter but I don’t consider Frank a duck. I just consider him a friend.”
“Stupid as it sounds maybe if more people had a duck in their lives we wouldn’t be all so mad at each other.”
~-Joe Mansheim, from “The duck in a truck” by Boyd Huppert-~
Ducks, dogs, cats, rats…I don’t care which kind of animal you connect with. Once you do, it’s hard not to have a greater appreciation for life and more peace within your soul. This is just another story that’s a testament to that.
Courtney Mroch writes about animals great and small in Pets and the harmony and strife that encompasses married life in Marriage. For a full listing of her articles click here.
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Photo credit: Jan Roger Johannesen, Photographer. 
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