Duckworth and the Smith Island Cats

 

     Gooba the cat lay in the warm sun and slowly licked his paw. The paw wasn’t really dirty, but Gooba, being a cat, liked to lick it anyway. He felt it made him look busy and important. The other animals on Pickle Creek, however, were not so sure.

"Why are you licking that thing?" asked Cheesy Quacker. "You walk on it!"

Gooba stopped licking and looked at Cheesy.

"If I ever need advice on how to be clean, you can be sure I wouldn’t take it from a duck," he replied. "At least I don’t sit around in dirty ponds."

"No," said Cheesy, "you just eat fish that used to live in those dirty ponds."

Gooba frowned. "Shouldn’t you be off waddling somewhere?"

"Not really," said Cheesy. "Duckworth and the others are listening to Froggy tell one of his tall tales. I couldn’t stand to listen to another one, so I came here."

"Lucky me," grumbled Gooba. Then he had an idea.

"You know, Cheesy, you’re one of the smarter ducks around here. I wonder if I could ask a slight favor."

Cheesy shrugged. "You can ask all you like. That doesn’t mean I’ll do it."

Gooba smiled. "Ah, yes. You are a smart duck. I knew it. Well, here’s the favor. I have a cousin named Gumbo who borrowed my favorite red collar last year, then moved away. I need you to get it and bring it back."

"And why would I do that?" asked Cheesy. He didn’t trust Gooba.

"Because my twin brother lives on Smith Island, a place where people put out bowls of cat food every day. There is so much that even the ducks eat it. You would have all the food you could eat."

"I’ve got a better idea," said Cheesy. "I’ll get you your collar without even going to Smith Island and you give me half of your cat food for a week."

Gooba considered this idea. "Make it five days and we’ve got a deal. But how will you get the collar without going to Smith Island?"

"Easy. I’ll get Duckworth to do it."

"So then the king of the frogs said ‘Froggy, you are the greatest frog ever. How would you like to be a prince?’ Well, I said ‘No thanks, king. I’ve got to get back to Pickle Creek. And that’s the story of how I saved the king of the frogs from the French Restaurant."

"Wow, that’s a great story, Phineas," said Chuck. Danielle and Chuck smiled, but they knew that Phineas’s stories, though very entertaining, were greatly exaggerated. Phineas, or Froggy as he was sometimes called, had a bad memory and a good imagination.

As the animals left the old bumpy log, they saw Cheesy approach.

"Danielle, Chuck, Duckworth. I need to talk to you. We have to help Gooba out."

"Gooba?" said Duckworth. "I thought you didn’t like Gooba."

"Oh, no," said Cheesy. "He’s a fine cat, as far as cats go. Besides, he needs to get his collar back. It’s an old family treasure. Gooba was very attached to it."

So Cheesy told them the whole story, except for the part about Gooba giving him half his cat food. They all agreed to go to Smith Island.

"I’ve landed in the marshes a few times," said Duckworth, "but I’ve never been in the main town."

"Oh, you’ll love it," said Cheesy. "People put cat food out and ducks can have all they want."

"That sounds great," said Duckworth. "Let’s go."

"Unfortunately, I have a sore wing, so I’ll have to let the rest of you have all that cat food," said Cheesy sadly. "Have a good time!"

Duckworth, Chuck and Danielle arrived over Smith Island later that day. Below then were several low and marshy islands with ponds and streams running between them. In some places, it was hard to tell where the water ended and the land began. White crab boats moved in and out of the harbor at Ewell, leaving long straight ripples behind them that sparkled in he sun. The harbor itself was full of scattered piers and wooden buildings.

The ducks splashed down near the boat launch by the restaurant and walked ashore to look around. They walked between two high stacks of wire crab traps and stepped over old fishing lines and floats.

"It’s a good thing Buster isn’t here," said Duckworth. "He wouldn’t last a minute."

"Hey," said Danielle. " There are some cats."

Over by a fence were about 10 cats of various colors and sizes. Some were sleeping and some were just sitting. They looked at the ducks for a moment, them went about their business.

Duckworth, Danielle, and Chuck explored the town, being careful to not get run over by all the golf carts everyone seemed to be driving. Just as Cheesy had said, cats were everywhere. Cats slept on steps, sprawled on the piers, strolled in the streets, or just sat around.

"I never saw so many cats," said Chuck. "How will we find Gumbo?"

"Well, we’ll just look for a black cat with a red collar," said Duckworth.

"I’m hungry," said Danielle. "There’s one of those bowls of cat food Cheesy told us about. Let’s get a snack."

The ducks waddled over to a porch where Danielle had seen the bowl of cat food, but just as they got close, about 15 cats appeared. The cats surrounded the bowl and growled at the ducks. Seeing all the teeth and claws, the ducks backed away.

The same thing happened at two more houses, and Duckworth, Danielle and Chuck were getting discouraged. (and hungry) Finally, Duckworth noticed two Canvasback ducks sitting under a shade tree. The ducks looked very comfortable, as if they had been on the island a long time. Duckworth thought he’d get some local advice.

"Howdy," said the ducks, after Duckworth had introduced himself. "I’m Tyler and this is my brother Evans. We’ve been here all our lives."

"Well, not under this tree," said Evans, "but we have been on the island."

"So how do you get to the food when there’s so many cats around?" asked Duckworth.

Tyler laughed. "Oh, the cats aren’t a problem. You just go where there’s not so many and you wait until they’re not looking. Try the next street over. Once you get away from Ruke’s and the Smith Island Center, there’s not so many cats and there’s more food."

"Anyway," said Tyler "most cats are usually too lazy to go after you. They sleep all day and roam around at night."

"Do you know a black cat named Gumbo?" asked Duckworth.

Evans looked insulted. "Do I look like the kind of duck that would be friends with a cat?"

A big tour boat from Crisfield had just docked at the end of the street and the ducks saw a line of people straggle off and begin to walk into town. More golf carts zipped around the streets.

The street behind the church was so quiet it looked like no one lived there. Tree branches hung over front yards that seemed to be sleeping in the sticky heat. Soon, Duckworth, Chuck, and Danielle found a big bowl of cat food on a porch and there were no cats around, so they waddled over and gobbled it up.

"Say, this stuff isn’t bad," said Chuck.

"No," said Danielle, "but it’s a little dry."

"Yes," said Duckworth Maybe a bowl of water would be...."

Duckworth stopped and turned around. Behind them were three cats; one brown, one black, and one white. The ducks were between the cats and the food bowl.

For a few seconds, no one moved. Each duck faced a cat and each cat was looking at the food bowl. Then the cats moved a little to one side so they could get between the ducks and get to the food. Duckworth, Danielle and Chuck also moved, blocking the way. The three cats moved to the other side and the ducks moved once again to block the way. This went on for some time as the cats and ducks moved back and forth as if they were in a game of checkers. The ducks looked at the cats’ teeth and the cats looked at the ducks’ long bills. Finally, the black cat spoke.

"You ducks had better get away from our food," he growled.

Duckworth looked the cat in the eye. The ducks were bigger than the cats, and could fly away if they had to.

"We’re almost finished. Wait your turn."

The black cat stretched out his neck to make himself look bigger. When he did, the ducks could see he was wearing a red collar.

"Are you Gumbo?" Duckworth asked.

The black cat stepped back. "How do you know my name?"

"We’re friends of your brother Gooba. We’re here to bring him his collar back."

Gumbo reached up and felt his collar.

"What will you give me for it?" he asked slyly.

"We’ll leave the food bowl and you can have the rest," said Duckworth. They were pretty much finished anyway

"Fine," said Gumbo, taking off his collar. "By the way, is Gooba still as lazy as ever?"

Duckworth laughed. "If anything, he’s worse. I’ve seen him go for a whole day without moving."

Gumbo laughed, which was a scary sight, since it showed his teeth. "Well, tell him I said hello and if he ever gets off his rear end, he should come visit Smith Island."

"Thanks, Gumbo; we’ll tell him."

Just then, here was a flash of light and the startled animals turned to see two of the people from the tour boat standing nearby and smiling. One of them had a camera.

"Aw, isn’t that cute, Mabel? The ducks and the cats are playing together."

"That’s so nice," the woman said. "This place is sure friendly; even the animals."

"It looks like we better go. So long, Gumbo."

"So long, ducks," Gumbo replied. "If you ever want to come back, I guess that would be all right."

Duckworth, Danielle and Chuck rose in the air and flew over the harbor, over the marshes, and headed back to Pickle Creek just as the sun was starting to set.

When Duckworth, Danielle and Chuck arrived back home, they were surprised to see Cheesy eating from Gooba’s bowl. It seemed as if all the ducks were suddenly eating cat food. Duckworth found Gooba snoozing by the patio and dropped the collar next to him. Gooba opened one eye, saw the collar and jumped up.

"You got it! How did you ever find Gumbo? And how did you ever get him to give up the collar?"

Duckworth smiled. "Oh, we just sort of bowled him over."