"Mama, I’m tired of this old pond. Can’t we go for a walk?"
     "And just where would you like to go?" quacked the mother duck in reply.
     "I seen some new places to swim in the park" the young duck told her.
     "Those are just puddles" mother explained.
     "But mama, please?" the little duck begged.
     "Okay, just for a little while" she agreed.

     All the young ducks gathered together. Mama duck told them they were going to go for a walk. All the other baby ducks quacked to their mothers; they wanted to go too. "Please, Please can we go too?" they quacked. Their mother agreed it was a good idea. There is safety in numbers you know. They waddled to the playground in a single file line. There were no children about. The rain was keeping them in the house today.

     "Oh, Look!" the young duck named Jerry exclaimed. "There is a place to swim"

     "So there is" replied Sally his sister. "Let’s go see"

     Five of the young ducks waddled quickly to the bottom of the slide. "It’s quite small" said Jerry. He splashed around in it for little bit. "Hey, how ‘bout over there?" Jerry motioned to the swing-set. It was much bigger puddle than the one by the slide. Three of the ducks waded in sat down and paddled around a while.

     "Oh! How about that one?" Sally pointed. She was right. It was a much larger place to swim. It covered the whole road.

     "Wow" all the young ducks quacked at the same time. They ran over towards the new pool. They were so excited they didn’t even stay in a line.

     "No Children" called out mother duck. "Don‘t play there. It is too dangerous. A car could come and run you over" She called to the little ducks.

     Jerry and Sally jumped in followed by their friends. "It’ll be okay" Jerry called back toward his mother. All five of the ducklings paddled around in this puddle. They quacked and paddled and splashed about. They were all having a real good time. It was a really nice puddle. They didn’t pay any attention to mama duck. Nor did they watch the road for traffic.

     "QUACK! QUACK! LOOKOUT!" Mama duck quacked and flapped her wings frantically. She spied a truck coming down the road. The little ducks were making so much noise they didn’t hear mama duck. With all the fun in splashing about they didn’t see the truck. Mama duck ran across the playground, her wings flapping "Lookout. Lookout!" She squawked loudly.

     The truck was only a few feet away. The driver wasn’t looking for ducks to be playing in the puddles.

     "Jerry, Sally.. Out of the water NOW!" Mama duck yelled. Sally looked up just in time to see the truck barreling toward them. She alerted the other ducklings who all sprung out of the water heading toward the side of the road to safety, just in the nick of time

     Mama came near flying after them across the road. The truck clipped the feathers of her tail as she barely got across. "Mama, you all right?" Sally cried as one of mama’s feathers landed right beside her.

     "Yes Yes.. Are you my dears?" Mama quacked with concern.

     They all agreed that they were fine. Mama was relieved but badly shaken. "Everyone back to the pond" mama quacked loudly. She flapped her wings and chased them back toward the safety of their pond. She was angry at the loss of her feathers as well as with them for not listening to her warning.