I had a regular hair cut scheduled for 7:00pm this evening, an hour after I got off work. When 6 o’clock rolled around, I left the office and started to do some errands to kill time before my appointment. I put gas in my car, I dropped a few things off at my brother’s apartment, and I followed up on a few phone calls I needed to return from throughout the day. Before my appointment, I decided I would pick up a sub at Subway for dinner so I wouldn’t have to make myself anything when I got home. Upon reflection, this was an extremely wise decision.

I made a few more phone calls and then headed to the place where I get my hair cut. I park across the street from the shop and get out of my car. As I begin to cross the street, I see a shadow moving out of the corner of my eye. Much to my surprise, there was a duck just standing in the middle of the road, staring at me. Now, this is odd in and of itself. Although Nebraska is fairly rural, we still do not have ducks wandering around in the middle of the city (especially in February). I shrugged it off as an odd occurrence, gave the duck one last glance, and began to walk towards the door of the shop.

The moment I turn and make my first footstep, however, the duck goes insane! He flapped his wings and ran at me, quacking all the way. I had assumed it was being defensive, and sought to attack or scare me away. This was not the case at all, however. He stopped about a foot away from me as soon as I turned to him, and just looked me in the eyes once more. I was flabbergasted! What on earth could this duck want of me? My first thought was, “Oh, he probably smells the Subway on me and is hungry!” So I walk over to my car, unlock the door, and tear him off some bread from what was leftover from the sandwich I had bought earlier. I threw the piece of bread down to him and he instantly devoured it; ten seconds flat and the entire chunk was gone. Assuming that was that, I smiled at my new duck companion and began to walk towards the door again.

I instantly learned that although he seemed to enjoy the bread, that was not his purpose here. He again became almost enraged as I walked away, and began to flap his wings as he ran at me, quacking even louder now! I truly did not know what to do! It was clear he didn’t want to hurt me, but he obviously wanted something. We both stood there and looked at each other. As if to understand my utter confusion, he cautiously took a few steps towards my car. As he began to crane his neck downward, I began to grasp what was going on.

From where I was standing, I could make out a faint glow shining towards the underside of my car’s floorboards. Perplexed by the source of light, I began to walk towards my car and my eyes began to recognize a familiar sight: my cell phone had apparently fallen out of my car when I got out. It was unfolded and someone had sent me a text message, causing the screen to turn on. This duck not only knew that it had happened, he was able to communicate the fact with me!

I was literally in shock and awe for the next thirty minutes as I had my hair cut. The people in the salon repeatedly asked me if I was okay because I was so silent from the shock of what had just happened to me. As she finished my hair cut and I managed to pay her and thank her through grunts, an idea came to mind: this duck saved me quite the headache, I at least owe it more food and if it will let me, I’d take it home! Excited, I walk out of the store, praying to see the duck waiting for me. Unfortunately, the little guy was no where to be found. I looked around for ten minutes and got in my car and drove around the block for another fifteen. Alas, my guardian duck had vanished.