Miracle's unfortunate accident and resuscitation

Unfortunately, it turned out that L'il Survivor was quacking out the death knell of Whitey, whose carcass was found picked clean by a predator.  The human set out a Hav-a-Heart trap to catch the lethal offender.  Soon  L'il Survivor fully fletched her wings and flew away with her daddy, Mr. Alpha Interloper. 

Meanwhile, TanBrow appeared after a long disappearance quacking up a storm in the front garden.  The human rose to see what all the commotion was about and saw TanBrow proudly proclaiming the birth of her seven new ducklings.  All were fuzzy yellow except one which was black.  It wasn't long before a scrawny calico cat ate one of the ducklings.  And then there were six. 

The human caught four ducklings and put them in a cage with fresh fodder, a bowl of water and another of baby scratch.  Two ducklings were too fast and ran through the fence onto the next block.  By the time the human returned from searching the next block and the adjoining empty field, the ducklings had made their way back to the nest.  With the help of a young friend, the last two were caught and placed safely into the cage with their siblings.

The human wanted to catch TanBrow and keep her with her babies.  But TanBrow had other plans.  She had become a master of escape, which attests to her survival to this day.  TanBrow can either fly over low fences, lift the poultry netting up and slip under it, throw her weight against the fence until the staples fall out, our leap onto the top and crush the fencing until it is low enough to fly over.  She can squeeze through larger holes in the fence and remember exactly where the larger holes are located.  When all else fails, she can lay low in silence, and camouflage herself into the underbrush.  TanBrow held escape as a higher priority than mothering her baby ducklings.

Every morning, the human let the ducklings out of the cage to peck and scratch in the nursery fold.  The human build a ramp of stone and mud up to the bank of the pond, and kept the pond filled to the top to facilitate the ducklings' exit.  The six siblings all rushed in a crowd this way and that, chirping now for their mother, and now for for some juicy insects.  Every day they seemed to grow ten percent bigger.  There was no specific leader of the group.  If one turned to go another way, they all turned to go with him.  They cuddled together for warmth and companionship.  Sometimes they even walked over each other at rest.  They had a good life.  The only thing lacking was the attention of their mother.

The seasons were changing and hot weather turned rapidly into cold.  The human put an electrically warmed rock into their cage and closed the cage in at night with cardboard and empty feed bags.  The ducklings really liked the warm rock.  That corner soon became the most frequented part of the cage.  Every night when the human drove them all back into the cage, they complied happily to go back to the warm rock.

About a week after their birth, the human left to go to a meeting.  The ducklings all decided to go for a swim.  The water was a lot colder than they had expected.  The cold water robbed them of their energy.  They were unable to leap our of the water onto the bank.  They chirped frantically for help but no one came, not their mother nor any human.  One by one, they gave up the ghost, legs blue, body temperature down, too cold to breathe. 

The human came home from the meeting to see lifeless ducklings floating in the pool.  She ran for rags and lifted the six freezing ducklings out of the icy water to dry them off.  She began CPR on the ducklings, quickly changing wet rags to dry ones and placing the swaddled ducklings on the warm rock.  One seemed to move and look at the human..  This one was wrapped and placed inside the human's clothing right over her heart.  The human felt this one making tiny movements in her clothes as she pumped away on the chests of the other five ducklings blowing little puffs of air into their nostrils.  Again and again the human changed their damp rags and continued chest percussion.  Their limp bodies and half-closed eyes never moved again.  The human was mortified. 

The one in her chest was starting to quietly chirp.  It was so weak, it was unable to stand up.  After a while in her shirt, and another while on the hot rock, the one survivor could barely hold up its head.  After some intensive care, the little yellow duckling was able to wiggle out of the swaddling cloths and stand up and chirp.  Considering the miracle of its resuscitation, this duck got named, Miracle.