Montgomery pickles esq A (true) duck tale

A Story by fran fearn

A story of a very brave duck

Hello Dear Friends. It was a lovely Spring morning in 1916 in a small village called Hickery Nook in the well kept garden of Miss Cheery a kindly middle aged woman.----------- So it starts-------

The birds were singing and all the little creatures were going about their business as usual. At 10am precisely Miss Cheery came out with lots of food for the various animals and birds which she did every day. In the middle of the garden was a large pond where two lovely ducks Mr and Mrs Pickles lived, If you looked very carefully you could see a nest in the corner of the pond with 3 eggs, one small, one medium and one rather large one. The small and medium- sized eggs lay there very still but the larger one moved about during the day. Mrs Pickles called her husband over and said "It is about time we thought of names for our 3 ducklings my dear" "Mr Pickles said" Yes We will have to think about it today." Later on in the afternoon they came to a decision. The small one if a girl was to be called Tina if a boy Tom, the medium one Susie or Sam and the larger one Milly or Montgomery. This decided they settled down to enjoy some peace and quiet for a few days. Miss Cheery was very excited about the prospect of the new arrivals as she loved all creatures and this was the first time she would have ducklings in her garden.

On the day the ducklings hatched a flurry of creatures arrived to have a glimpse at the cute new additions and Mr and Mrs Pickles were very proud .As expected the smallest egg turned out to be a girl so she was named Tina, the medium also a girl named Susie, the largest egg a boy so as planned he was named Montgomery. Miss Cheery came out to congratulate the couple and all in the garden were very very happy. As time went by the two girls were very well behaved and always obeyed their doting parents and although Montgomery was never cheeky, he liked adventure and got into many a scrape. He would venture out into other gardens and play amongst the bushes and rocky areas carefully avoiding the attention of Sid the large cat from two doors down.

One afternoon as he was playing Montgomery noticed planes flying overhead and wondered what they were."There is a war on" said Mr Pickles "They are probably taking troops over or going to fight in Europe" "I hope they keep safe" Montgomery said with a sigh of sympathy. That evening he waddled to the side of the house and noticed a newspaper on the floor with some brass ornaments and cleaning polish laid on it as Miss Cheery was intending to clean them after tea. He looked down and saw a request in Capital letters asking for Pidgeons to volunteer to take messages to the troops abroad. it read ATTENTION ALL PIGEONS .WE ARE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS TO HELP TAKE MESSAGES TO OUR BRAVE TROOPS IF INTERESTED PLEASE FLY TO Pidgeon headquarters 6 George st, Dover, Kent. Montgomery went back to the pond, but during the night he couldn't stop thinking about the request. The next day he went to his parents and told them about the advert and said he would like to apply."Don't be silly" said Mr Pickles "you are a duck not a pidgeon they would never let you join." But by this time Montgomery was determined to go and wasn't going to be put off by anyone as he considered himself to be as capable as any pidgeon. He packed a small rucksack slung it on his back said cheerio to his parents and all in the garden and flew towards Dover. When he arrived at the address on the advert he noticed a line of pidgeons who were all shapes, colours and sizes waiting in a queue as he landed and joined the queue he heard a few sniggers and comments coming from the other birds which he knew were aimed at him. This didn't put him off and he proudly took his turn to go into General Flutters office "Hello young man" said the General" what can I do for you today"? "I've come about the request for volunteers" piped up Montgomery" I want to deliver messages to the troops."That is very good of you but The job is strictly for Pigeons I'm afraid"."Oh no" said Montgomery "Please don't turn me away I so want to help and I can do it" . The General was just about to call Private Wing to let Montgomery out when he had second thoughts and said "I tell you what I'll do I'll let you be an assistant to the pidgeons and at least you'll be doing your bit that’s the best I can offer you"."Okay" a disappointed Monty replied as that was better than nothing.

In the volunteers accommodation Montgomery had to feed the pigeons and see to their every need. Some were very snooty and quite mean to the duck and saw him as inferior and told him he'd never be allowed to go out on a mission with them. However, one day all the volunteers bar one were out delivering important messages, the one left was a fairly friendly pigeon named Speedy as he could fly very fast and had recently returned from a mission. Suddenly Private Wing came running into the room holding a piece of paper "This is an urgent message" he said "You will have to deliver it Speedy some troops are in a very dangerous situation and need to be warned"."I will" replied Speedy" but I am quite tired as I have only just returned and I could do with backup"."There is nobody else available at the moment said Private Wing".A voice in the corner said" I could do it if you want"?."I don't think so the other two said with amusement". A few minutes later General Flutter entered the room and demanded Speedy go straight away to avoid disaster."Montgomery wants to come with me" said Speedy."Well that isn't normal procedure "retorted the General "But I will make an exception if he just keeps you company and follows your orders".Speedy and Private Wing looked at each other gleefully. Montgomery was very pleased and got ready to go immediately. Speedy looked at the note to get the position of the troops, then tied the message onto himself and they flew off towards France.

As it was quite a windy day, the journey across the channel was not very pleasant but the two carried on boldly as they knew the importance of the mission. Once above land they could see fighting going on and realised it wouldn't be easy to get through it suddenly a stray bullet caught Speedy on the wing and the two had to land luckily near some bushes and rocks."This is terrible" said Speedy" I won't be able to deliver the message"."Dont worry" said Montgomery" I will take it at least I'll try, you hide in the bushes and I'll get help for you as soon as I can"."Please be careful" replied Speedy "You have never done it before and it is very dangerous". Montgomery carefully tied the message onto himself and off he went in the direction of the troops. All along the way he had to avoid being hit and he could have easily been injured or killed I am going to do this he thought to himself so many lives are at risk if I don't. After some time he spied men packing their kit as if to move on and some already lined up."STOP" he cried" I have a very important message for you" At that moment a tall well spoken man came forward and said" I am Captain Goodwill pass me the message please".Montgomery passed the paper straight to the Captain who then sighed and said" Thank goodness you got here when you did We would have all been killed if we'd moved to where we were going it is a trap.I must admit It is unusual to have a message delivered by a duck".Montgomery explained and heard a loud cheer coming from the men.By this time he was feeling really proud of himself but more importantly happy all the men were safe."Can you arrange for medical help to be sent to Speedy the pidgeon as he was hit on the wing said Montgomery I will tell you where he is hiding"."Certainly" replied Captain Goodwill.

Montgomery stayed with the troops overnight as he was quite tired, he slept well and the next morning he set off for Dover once again avoiding danger. On returning he had to explain what had happened and to his surprise all the pigeons who were there cheered him and said although they had never seen a duck deliver messages before he had been brave and done a very good job. General Flutter asked to talk with him and congratulated him for his efforts and said he would be able to go out with other pigeons when needed. A few days later Speedy was helped back by a medical team and recovered within a couple of weeks. He and Montgomery became very good friends and were often seen flying together delivering messages. As time went by Montgomery proved to be the bravest messenger of the group and duley awarded a medal at a ceremony attended by his parents, sisters and a tearful Miss Cheery and to this day there is if you look very closely my dear friends there is a small plaque somewhere in Kent dedicated to MONTGOMERY PICKLES ESQ a brave duck who saved many a man. To this day in the garden in Hickery Nook of Miss Cheery now owned by her niece Miss Sweet there is a family of ducks named Pickles who will happily tell you the tale of their renowned ancestor Montgomery.