A funny thing happened at CVS last night.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

21. Back in the early 70s

we lived in a house in an unincorporated area where you could keep chickens, horses, ducks, goats, etc. (we had all of those critters). We had a bunch of duck eggs that we put on an electric blanket and they hatched inside the house. After a few days, I walked out the back door and they followed me as though I was their mother and they dove into an inflatable kid's swimming pool I set up for them. They were loads of fun and I gave each of them names (like Cunegonde from Voltaire's Candide for a female duck and Werther from the Goethe work for a male). They were constantly at the back door begging for food and if you let them, they tried to come inside, remembering their place of birth. Sometimes we went to the store and left the back screen door slightly ajar in the summertime (people would often leave their houses open back then) and somehow the ducks had learned to stick their beaks in the crack of the door to open it. We'd find a dozen friendly ducks in the living room when we got back from the store, quacking away in front of the TV set. We never clipped their wings and they never flew off. They were very tame and very amusing.