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| One day in the early spring, Old Webfoot was talking about when he was a young duckling many years ago. Most of the animals thought Old Webfoot`s stories were boring, and remembered other things they had to do when Old Webfoot started on one. Shelby the racing turtle and Buster Crab, however, always listened carefully. Since they were both non flyers, they thought Old Webfoot`s stories of far off places were exciting. |
| "Yes, back in those days, they didn`t have all the put-put boats they have now," he was saying. "No, it wasn`t nearly as crowded on the water, and the shore was a lot wilder. Why, there were creeks where you`d never see a person at all." |
| "I heard the Netley sisters say the water was cleaner then," said Shelby. |
| Old Webfoot laughed. "Well, I`m not so sure. People used to dump all kinds of things from the boats- no holding tanks like today- and there were factories and canning places right on the water. They used to dump all the leftovers in the streams. It made for some pretty bad smells, I can tell you." |
| Buster and Shelby looked at each other. This was something they`d never heard before. |
| "Why, I remember one place down in the marshes past Denton that was called the River of Slime it was so full of goo. They used to say that if you flew over it, you`d see nothing but green all over the water." |
| Duckworth happened to be waddling by just then and heard what Old Webfoot was saying. He had never heard of a River of Slime. He shook his head and walked on. Later, he flew over to Oxford for a while to see what food he could find at the marinas and restaurants. |
| As he bobbed in the water near Pier Street, Duckworth saw several seagulls arouind. They were looking for food, too. |
| "We just flew up from Delaware," one of them said. "It`s too early for most of the vacation people there, so we came here." |
| Duckworth didn`t care much for seagulls, since he usually found them to be loud and pushy, but decided to be polite. He told them about Old Webfoot`s story of the River of Slime. |
| "River of Slime?" one of them said. "That`s a laugh. That old duck must be crazy." |
| "No he isn`t," Duckworth snapped. "His memory is just a little fuzzy. That`s all." |
| "Well, maybe not," said another seagull. "I remember when we flew over those marshes last year there was a storm and we got blown over a part I`ve never seen before. And just as I was looking down....Bread!" |
| Someone had thrown a piece of bread into the water, and the seagulls dove on it with a flurry of screeching and flapping wings. For the next few minutes the seagulls screeched and splashed madly as the people in the restaurant threw pieces of bread at them. Duckworth caught one, but almost had it grabbed away from him by a seagull. Finally there was no more bread, and the water was calm once again. |
| "So what were you saying about the River of Slime?" Duckworth asked. |
| "River of...oh, yeah," said the seagull. "Well, I looked down through the trees and saw it. It was a river all right, but it was all green. Green as that grass over there." |
| "Did you land?" |
| "Nah. It was getting late and the place looked spooky to me. Anyway, the thing is...I never saw it again. Not once." |
| Now Duckworth was curious about the River of Slime. Was it real, or just a story? He thought for a minute. |
| "So when are you flying back to Delaware?" |
| "In a week. It`ll be spring break and the food will be everywhere." |
| "If I flew with you, could you show me where you saw the River of Slime?" |
| The seagulls looked surprised. "We never had a duck fly with us before." |
| "Then we`re even," Duckworth replied. "I`ve never seen a River of Slime before. I might even bring a friend along." |
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| "You`re going to fly with seagulls?" said Chuck. He was amazed. "Even seagulls don`t like flying with seagulls. They`re noisy and sloppy. And who cares about a River of Slime, anyway?" |
| "Look, Chuck," said Duckworth. "Haven`t you ever wanted to find out something just so you`d know? Haven`t you ever wondered about things?" |
| Chuck snorted. "I sure have. Right now I`m wondering how you could talk me into something like this...Flying with seagulls..." |
| "Well, they helped us when we went to Crisfield and looked for pearls..." |
| "This isn`t pearls; it`s slime! I`d take pearls before slime any day." |
| Old Webfoot was nearby and heard what the ducks were saying. |
| "You`re going to look for the River of Slime? Now that is a noble quest. I remember when I was a duckling everyone said that whoever found the river of slime would get a crown on his head." |
| "What? You mean like a king" asked Duckworth. |
| Old Webfoot shrugged. "I don`t know. No one ever found it." |
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| The seagulls were surprised Duckworth and Chuck showed up to fly with them, but didn`t object. They took off from the ferry dock in Oxford and set out across land towards Delaware. As Chuck had feared, the seagulls were sloppy. They flew in bunches and seemed to wander all around, not at all like ducks who always flew in a formation. Still, they seemed to know where they were going, so Duckworth and Chuck stayed with them as they passed over farms, shopping centers, and streams. New spring growth was everywhere, looking like light green cotton balls on the ground. The seagulls kept up a stream of chatter and squeals as they flew, like a feathered storm cloud passing over. |
| "I hope nobody I know sees us with these guys," Chuck grumbled. |
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| After they passed over Denton they came to an area of broad flat marshes. |
| "Do you remember where you saw the River of Slime?" Duckworth asked. |
| "It`s over to the east a mile or so," a seagull replied. "Some of the guys headed that way to see if they could find it for you." |
| "That was nice of you," said Chuck. But the seagull just smiled. |
| A few minutes later, Duckworth and Chuck thanked the seagulls and split off from the others. |
| "It should be pretty close now," said Duckworth. |
| "Wait. What`s that?" |
| At that moment, they cleared the top of some thick trees and got a glimpse of a river far below, almost lost in the undergrowth. |
| The river was shiny green. |
| "Chuck, I think that might be it. Let`s get closer." |
| As they glided down below the trees, the ducks finally saw the river of Slime. It was wide and slow, with trees and bushes all around. Below the trees it was dark and cool, almost spooky looking. The only sound was the constant croaking of frogs. Duckworth and Chuck decided the water looked to icky to land in, so they carefully set down on a small island in the middle of the shiny green water. |
| "This is the creepiest place I`ve ever been," said Chuck. "How could a river get so full of slime?" |
| "It`s not a river," said a voice from behind them. Duckworth and Chuck turned around and saw a green bullfrog sitting near them."Look around. It`s a big pond. It just looks like a river from the air because the trees hide most of it." |
| "He`s right," said Duckworth, looking around. "But how do you know what it looks like from the air?" |
| The bullfrog croaked. "Well, that`s what those seagulls that were here today said." |
| "The seagulls were here?" |
| "That`s right. They found this old plastic bucket and had it down by the water over there. I don`t know what they were doing," said the frog. |
| "A plastic bucket?" said Duckworth. "I wonder why they didn`t tell us they found the place?" |
| "I guess this means we won`t be getting our crowns," said Chuck. |
| "No, I don`t think..." |
| SPLASH! |
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