Kelly Bonilla 6

I find that whenever I think about nature my first thought is always squirrels or raccoons, or other animals that we city dwellers generally find annoying (pigeons...). And then sometimes I think a couple years back when we were that weird family on the block because of our pet duck. 

I'm being totally serious; we had a pet duck for about two years when I was a teenager. My mom's cousin had it first, but then her mom said she didn't want it anymore and threatened to make duck stew out of him unless she found him a new home. So my grandmother (who lives right next door) decided to take him. My father named him Afleck- how clever, Dad- and we kept him in the backyard. I always think about how incredibly odd and random that must have been for the neighbors to hear the quacking from our yard. 

He was a good duck. Unfortunately, he hurt his wing fighting with one of the stray cats from the block and after that he got really sick that winter. So my mom's uncle came over and killed him one day and my great grandmother made dinner out of him and tried to get me to eat it. She told me it was chicken and I almost believed. Thank goodness Wendy's was right across the street.