Mrs. Yoder and the Talking Duck - Elliot, age 12

Mrs. Yoder and the Talking Duck

By Elliot, age 12

Mrs. Yoder was the cook at a lactose free restaurant in Lactoseville called NoMilk. She made delicious meals that were gluten free, nut free and vegan. She was known all over Lactoseville for her gluten free, nut free and vegan dishes, and had won the Most Accommodating Cook award four years in a row. She was a celebrity in her town. It was a normal day at NoMilk, when something most peculiar happened.

Mrs. Yoder was in the kitchen, making a vegetable pot pie with a cauliflower crust when she heard a strange noise from the restaurant. She peeked through the order window and was astonished by what she saw. Tables were turned over, people were running for the exits and food was all over the room. As a duck danced through the restaurant, Mrs. Yoder stood still in bewilderment. She was confused and perplexed by what she saw, but she regained her composure and crouched down to hide from the duck, who had just looked up at the window.

Mrs. Yoder eluded the crazy duck by running to the back exit of the restaurant. However, by the time she reached the door, the duck was guarding it.

“You evil fiend!” She cried, scared and bewildered by this dancing duck.

“On the contrary, I am quite gallant for coming to help you,” the duck said, furrowing his brows, as though he was perplexed by the cook’s behavior.

“You can talk?” Mrs. Yoder yelled, bursting into fits of hysterics.

“Yes, I can!” The duck said indignantly, raising his head. “ . . . and I have a premonition that something bad is going to happen to this restaurant, so I came.”

“Huh?” Mrs. Yoder said, her voice quavering in fear now that she had gotten over her shock.

“That’s right. I don’t really want to help, seeing as I have a very busy schedule, but I feel that I’m inclined to,” said the duck seriously.

“Well, what do you think will happen?” Mrs. Yoder asked, trying to keep the duck talking so that she could slowly back away and make her escape.

“I think that a meteor - in this case, a chunk of rock from the dark side of the moon - will fall onto this restaurant and smash everything inside except for the drawer full of forks,” the duck said.

“How oddly specific,” Mrs. Yoder said, stopping for a moment.

“Yes, yes, it is. But my premonition was strangely very specific,” the duck said,
checking the time on a watch he wore on the tip of his wing.

Mrs. Yoder realized that the duck was wearing a watch and then she fainted and fell to the floor. A moment later, she felt something very cold and very wet splash over her face. She sat up and spluttered.

“What?!” She said angrily.

Then, she saw the duck and felt dizzy again, because she had forgotten about the duck in the short time she had been unconscious.

“You really must hurry, go tell the police, anyone! Anyone who can save this quaint little restaurant of yours,” the duck said. “Ta, ta. The wife and kids are waiting for me to bring home dinner. Martha gets angry when she’s hungry,” he added, whispering the last part as though it were a secret he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.

The duck grabbed the veggie pot pie, opened the back door and danced away.

“That was my pie!” Mrs. Yoder said, annoyed at the strange duck.

Then, she calmed down a little and realized what the duck had told her. Well, if I can’t trust a strange duck who can read a clock, talk and dance, who can I trust, she thought as she stood up and brushed herself off.

“I’m going to warn everyone!” She decided.

But how? She thought. Wait a second! I completely forgot! They are unveiling the statue of me in the square at 3 today! Everyone in town will be there! I can still make it!

So, Mrs. Yoder ran down to the square, where she saw a giant bump with a sheet over it and people standing all around it. The press was there with their microphones and huge cameras, big business people were there with their almost-too-perfect hair and shiny two piece suits, police and firemen were there in their suits, surveying the crowd, and, of course, regular, absolutely normal people were there.

Some wore jeans and t-shirts, others wore I HEART LACTOSEVILLE shirts and had cameras, while others were dressed to look like Mrs. Yoder and yet others carried signs saying WE LOVE YOU MRS. YODER! or KEEP COOKING THAT GOOD FOOD! WE LOVE IT! Mrs. Yoder was touched by all the people who loved her and believed in her.

She rushed to the middle of the square and stood on the platform the statue was on. She was immediately surrounded by cries of “Mrs. Yoder!” and “Look over here, Mrs. Yoder!” and occasionally, a “Will you marry me, Mrs. Yoder?” She waved her hand and the crowd went wild. Someone handed her a microphone and she tapped it to make sure it was on.

“Hello!” She said.

Her greeting was met by people chanting, “Miss-is! Yo-der!”

“Thank you, everyone! I came here to say that something horrible is about to happen! Do you all know the restaurant NoMilk?” She asked.

The crowd went crazy and the people holding signs started waving them and jumping.

“Well, it’s about to be hit by a meteor from the dark side of the mood! Only the drawer full of forks will be saved unless we do something!” She yelled.

The crowd gasped.

“Do you know what we have to do?” She yelled. “We have to move everything out of the building, so that NoMilk, a local business, doesn’t go bankrupt!”

The crowd cheered and lifted her off of the platform. They carried her all the way to NoMilk. There, they all started carrying tables, chairs and appliances out of the building and into the empty parking lot next to it. Finally, they stopped and all sat in the parking lot congratulating each other for getting everything out.

“Wait, I forgot the fork drawer!” Someone yelled.

“It’s too late!” Mrs. Yoder yelled to them as people held that person back from running back into NoMilk.

They all looked up to see a meteor falling from the sky towards them. Everyone hid behind something and braced themselves for impact when the meteor hit the NoMilk building. The building collapsed and dust rolled towards them from the collapsed building. A few moments later, scientists rushed into the building and took a few tests from the meteor.

“You were right! It is from the dark side of the moon. It completely matched the samples from the moon we took a few years ago!” One scientist said to Mrs. Yoder in astonishment.

“And look, the fork drawer has been entirely untouched! The building collapsed around it!” One volunteer said as they looked through the rubble.

“Mrs. Yoder isn’t just an amazing person, she’s a hero!” Someone yelled and they all lifted her up and took her back to the square, where her statue was uncovered.

The mayor of Lactoseville herself gave Mrs. Yoder an award for bravery and gave her the funds to rebuild NoMilk. Then, feeling that she shouldn’t get all the credit, she made the duck the official animal and bird of Lactoseville and designed the flag to have a duck on it. She also put a statue of a duck wearing a watch next to her statue in the square.

That was the story of Mrs. Yoder and the Talking Duck.