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| Sunday, 29 February 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Duck wages war against William by CAROL ALOYSIUS When Duck and his two female companions first came to live with my sister-in law next door, William had already spent two years with us.
It was this close bond between William and Socks that led to his first battle with Duck. The latter, a handsome stately guy who took pride in flaunting himself in front of his two female companions, had a habit of straying into our garden each morning from my sister-in - law's house for extra food and water."Their stomachs are like bottomless wells. They never stop eating and drinking", William would grumble during his early encounters with the Duck pack. Aside from these few grumbles however, he never showed open resentment to their presence. That was until he discovered them stealing our dog's food and muddying the drinking water he had kept aside for her. Enraged by their "vanachara vada" (foul deed) and to prevent a repeat performance, he decided to wage war against Duck and his two side kicks. It was a Saturday morning when my household was awakened by an unearthly din of the ducks' loud squawking followed by the sound of someone shouting and chasing them . Running outside we witnessed William , stick in hand chasing the Duck family off our premises to their part of the house with loud threatening cries of "Palaayan umbalage gederata". (Go to your home) Halfway to the hen house with William hot on their heels, Duck suddenly stopped and did a right about turn. He then began to viciously attack his assailant with his two side kicks joining him, pecking William's leg, and the hand that held the stick. Howling in pain William threw down the stick and ran towards our house to escape from the ducks who by now were gaining on him as his frail legs could not match their speed. It was only when Dias, (my former cook who still continues to occupy my garage even though he no longer works for me), ran to his rescue with a big bucket of water which he threw on the ducks, that William was able to break free from his three assailants. With his reputation of being a brave hero after he actually caught a thief in our garden a few weeks ago, now badly tarnished, William vowed to take vengeance on the duck family. They in turn , no doubt inspired by their victory,decided to ignore William 's threats and kept invading our garden. They would invariably make a beeline to the outer kitchen where William keeps the dog's food and water laid out in style every morning. They would also deliberately desecrate his place of worship, a tiny area where he had placed a statue of the Buddha whom he worshipped each morning before beginning his day's chores, with their droppings. Thoroughly annoyed and frustrated by their disregard of his threats of "podi karanawa" and "haiyen gahanawa", William began looking for places to hide the dogs food and water, often placing them under the kitchen sink or the table or anywhere out of reach of the Ducks. And he would wait, ekel broom in hand to swoop on the intruders when they stepped into his 'holy ' ground. Annoyed by these 'underhand' tactics Duck decided to take matters into his hands. He waited till William had settled himself on the toilet seat in the servant's bathroom, and began pecking at the door warning him to get ready for a show down. Displaying false sense of bravado, William emerged with a bathroom brush ready to wage war once more with his mortal enemy. What a war it turned out to be!. Duck and man were locked in furious battle with feathers flying and William's sarong in tatters until disturbed by the noise at six in the morning, we rushed to rescue him by throwing a bucket of water on Duck. Duck however is far from being outwitted especially by an enemy he clearly disdains. Today,he continues to stalk William like a thief, waiting for him in hidden corners of the garden,waddling upto him as he sweeps the garden or hangs out the clothes and pecking his foot or his back. No matter how hard William tries to outwit them, the ducks always succeed in getting the better of him. Drawing lessons from previous experiences, they have even devised their own cunning strategies of outwitting him. Instead of making their usual noisy appearance, they have taken to creeping upto the kitchen silently taking him unawares and helping themselves to his beloved Sock's food and water. No wonder William walks around with a hangdog appearance these days.He no longer dares to whistle and make his presence known when he is in the garden lest Duck should suddenly make his appearance at the most unlikely place. "Moota kavadahari honda padamak ugannewa. Ethekota api balamu kavuda veeraya", (I shall teach this fellow a good lesson someday. Then we'll see who the hero is)" he tells me a hundred times a day. I try to bolster his drooping ego by repeating that hackneyed adage ," failures are the pillars of success. You can win if you keep on trying". A piece of advice he has truly taken to heart. |
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By this time he had not only established himself as lord of the kitchen
but also master of my household as I mentioned in a previous article. He
had also stolen the affections of my dog Socks.
