Buttercup, the Wandering Duck – Read and Print

By Rachel Dunstan Muller, copyright 2021

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When Anthony went to his closet in the morning – to get dressed before going to school – the last thing he was expecting to find was a duck. That’s right – there was a little brown duck standing just inside Anthony’s closet. It was a rather small duck, and it looked perfectly friendly. But still – it was a duck!

“What are you doing in my closet?” said Anthony.

“Quack,” said the duck.

Now, Anthony wasn’t in the second grade for nothing. He was a clever kid. He knew that a duck did not belong in his closet – but he figured he could deal with it himself. So he picked up that duck, carried it to his bedroom window, and urged it to fly away. And that’s exactly what the duck did.

When Anthony got home from school that afternoon, do you know where he went? Yep. He headed straight for his closet. But – it was empty; there was no duck. Now, there wasn’t supposed to be a duck in Anthony’s closet – that’s why he’d sent it flying out his window. But still, Anthony couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Until, that is, later that night, when he went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Do you know what was waiting for him in the bathroom sink? That’s right; a little brown duck.

“You’re really not supposed to be here,” said Anthony.

“Quack,” said the duck.

Well, just to be kind, Anthony put the plug in the bathroom sink, filled the sink with water, and let the duck splash for a little while. Then he picked up the duck, carried it to the bathroom window, and urged it to fly away. And, again, that’s just what the duck did.

The next morning, there was no duck in Anthony’s closet. There was no duck in the bathroom sink, no duck anywhere in Anthony’s house – at least not that Anthony could find. But that night, as Anthony was getting all settled under his blankets, he heard something in the dark.

“Quack!”

Anthony turned on his bedside lamp, and sure enough, there was the little brown duck, getting all settled at the foot of Anthony’s bed.

“You really don’t belong in my bedroom,” Anthony whispered. But the little duck looked sooo comfortable, that Anthony didn’t have heart to move him. “Alright,” said Anthony. “I’ll let you stay – but just until the morning.” 

And that’s exactly what he did. Every morning for the next week, the duck flew away out of Anthony’s bedroom window, and every evening it somehow found its way back to the foot of Anthony’s bed. Anthony was getting quite comfortable sleeping with a duck at night – until his mother discovered feathers on Anthony’s bed.

“You can’t keep a duck in your bedroom!” said his mother.

“Why not?” said Anthony.

“For one thing, that duck doesn’t belong to you,” said his mother. “I happen to know that Mr. Drucker down the road is missing a duck.”

It was true. Mr. Drucker had a farm down the road, with a flock of ducks. And he was missing one. Anthony was rather sad as he handed over the little brown duck. “Now, don’t you worry,” said Mr. Drucker. “Her name is Buttercup, and you can come visit her anytime you’d like.”

As it turned out, Anthony didn’t have long to wait. In fact, he got to see Buttercup again that very same night. As soon as his mother had tucked him in and left his room, guess who was quacking and nibbling at Anthony’s ear?

“You’re really not supposed to be here,” Anthony said. But secretly – he was overjoyed.

Well, this went on for days. Every morning Anthony and his mother would carry Buttercup back to Mr. Drucker’s farm. But every night Buttercup would somehow find her way back into Anthony’s bedroom.

“This is not working!” said Anthony’s mother.

Finally, Mr. Drucker put Buttercup into a cage with some of the other ducks . It was a big cage – big enough for Anthony to walk around inside. There was food and water and a little pool for splashing and paddling. But still, it was a cage.

Buttercup was excited every time Anthony came to see her. She would flap and quack, and bob her head up and down. But then, when Anthony left again, the poor little duck would go and sit all by herself in a corner. She stopped pecking in the dirt for bugs and snails. She would barely touch the food that Mr. Drucker brought.

One day when Anthony came home from school, Mr. Drucker was waiting at the door. “It seems that Buttercup doesn’t belong to me after all,” said Mr. Drucker. “So, if you promise to take good care of her, I’m giving Buttercup to you.”

Well, as you can imagine – Anthony was over the moon, he was so happy. Buttercup still wasn’t allowed to live in Anthony’s room – ducks don’t make the cleanest bedroom companions. But she did get her own little house and her own little pond in Anthony’s backyard – with another duck named Honeydew to keep her company. And when Anthony wasn’t sleeping or at school, he spent all his free time with his two little ducks. Buttercup and Honeydew followed Anthony everywhere he went. They were the best friends a boy could have.

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