Look Who Met The Ducks From The Docks! The Adventures of Jake, Willard and Winston

While still at the farm, the boys find themselves afoul of the ducks that run the docks.

Our friends, Jake, Willard and Winston have really been enjoying their time on the farm. Now that the farm dog is friends with all the other farm animals, things have been going great on the farm. Everyone is happy.

After spending a little quality time with their people and the kids, Jake, Willard and Winston have decided to spend their afternoon down at the pond. They’ve really taken a liking to the place. Winston, of course, always finds himself a nice shady spot under the big oak tree. He lays out a big bone he stole from the kitchen and prepares to layback and enjoy the beautiful day. Jake and Willard on the other hand make a mad sprint from the barnyard to the pond and don’t even try to slow down as they leap into the water trying to see who can go the farthest. In the week they have been at the farm, they’ve not had a care in the world. Especially once Rufus saw the error in his ways.

Then, suddenly, out of the blue, they hear a voice speaking in a particular city accent. They’ve heard this accent before. It was when they went to the docks with their people. They had overheard them discussing what happens if you cross these guys. “Hey you! Dog! What do you think you're doing in our pond?” Jake looked around, trying to find whoever was talking to them. “Hey stupid. Over here. I said, what are you doing in our pond?” Jake, Willard and Winston all turned and saw a duck wearing a gold chain and sunglasses. Willard, being a chihuahua, couldn’t resist opening his big mouth before he used his brain. “Your pond! We’ve been here all week and nobody said this was anybody’s pond!” Winston, who was getting a bit nervous, ran over and quickly put his paw over Willard’s mouth. “We didn’t know this was your pond. We haven’t seen anyone around so we thought it was ok. We apologize for the intrusion.” Winston said in the most diplomatic voice he could muster. “OK. Respect, You’ve shown respect. We can appreciate that. Let me introduce myself. My name is Vinny. We’re ducks. We run the docks back in the city and use this little pond as a stop off, a place to rest, when we’re flying back and forth taking care of business. These two are Sal and Carlo. Not that bright but very loyal.” Vinny explained. “We’re from the city too!” Jake blurted. As much as he enjoyed the farm, he was starting to get a little homesick.

Winston said, “We’ll be going and we’ll leave your pond to you. We really are very sorry for the intrusion.” Winston had a gut feeling something just wasn’t right. Vinny said, “I wouldn’t hear of it. You guys can stay here and we can get to know each other. We city boys gotta stick together.” The truth was Vinny didn’t want them going back and telling anyone they were there. The farmer always tried to shoot them this time of year. They had learned to be discreet.

“Well we really should be getting back.” Winston explained. Vinny spoke up as Sal and Carlo stepped forward. “That would be rude if you take off so quickly. You wouldn’t want to be rude now would you?” ”Well now that you mention it, we definitely wouldn’t want to be rude.” Winston agreed. Winston knew they were in a little bit of trouble.

Jake and Willard sat down next to Winston under the big oak. “Listen. I got a bad feeling about these guys. We better just play along for a while. I don’t think these guys play around. Once they get some rest maybe they’ll fly on to the city and we can get back to the farm house.” Jake agreed and for what may have been the first time in his whole life, Willard didn’t say anything. Little dogs aren’t afraid of much, but something deep down in his gut told Willard to just shut up for once.

“So you’re from the city too. What part.?” Vinny asked. Jake said “We're a few miles from the docks just as you enter the suburbs.” “Ok. I know that place. We have a bookie who covers that neighborhood.” Vinny said. “What’s a bookie?” Willard asked. Vinny wasn’t sure how to answer the question. Could these guys really be so clueless they didn’t know? Vinny had lived a hard life. Joined the union at the docks as a kid. Everyone he’d ever known was hard. “You mean to tell me you don’t know what a bookie is?” Vinny asked. Willard said “No. We just recently decided to sneak away from home and see what was outside of our neighborhood. We’re learning all kinds of new stuff.” Then Jake, Willard and Winston proceeded to tell Vinny, Sal and Carlo about their adventures.

They told them about the dog catcher, and the nice ladies on the corner downtown. About that weird tasting water that left them with a headache for three days and they finally got to the story of how they came to the farm and what had happened with the farm dog. Vinny said, “That farm dog was about to get retired if you know what I mean. No respect “ Winston quickly interjected “I don’t think he’ll be a problem for you anymore. He didn’t realize his pranks hurt other people. He's very sorry. He’s learned his lesson.” “Really.” Vinny said. “I hope so. It would be a shame if he hadn’t and there was an accident.” Winston told Vinny he would personally make sure the farm dog got the message and promised he wouldn’t have any more trouble out of him.

Vinny stood up. Behind him to either side Sal and Carlo took their places. “You guys are ok.” Vinny said, “I think we can be friends. We’ve got to get back to business, so we’re headed back to the docks. If you find yourself close, stop by. Tell that farm dog he owes you big time.” “It’s been nice meeting you!” The boys said as they watched the three ducks fly off towards the city.

They quickly found their way back to the barnyard and told everyone what had happened. “You mean you actually talked to the ducks and nothing happened?” The goat asked. Rufus, the farm dog, was grateful they had straightened everything out with the ducks. He hadn’t even realized he was in so much trouble. ”We’re very glad you guys came to the farm. You’ve made it so all of us are friends again and you’ve protected us from the ducks and stopped them from doing what ducks do. You guys will always be welcome here on the farm.” The rooster said speaking on behalf of all the other animals.

With that, the boys made their way back to the farm house. They ran inside to their people and loved on them all evening. Their time at the farm would soon be over. Jake, Willard and Winston would never forget the friends they had made and the adventures they had there.

I guess the moral of this tale is, it’s ok to not see the world for what it is sometimes. Keep a good heart and see the world for the place it could be. You never know when you might run into those ducks from the docks.

The End