Two days ago, driving home, I passed a Mallard drake standing very near the road, beside what appeared to be a hen. I stopped to check. Indeed, the bird curled on the ground was a cold, stiff Mallard hen. I assumed she had been hit by a car, tossed or moving to the boulevard and dying there. The drake flew at my approach. One day later, a grandson and his mother drove past that spot. The body of the hen remained, the drake again standing nearby. Later that same day, I drove by. The hen was gone, but the drake Mallard continued to stand on the spot of the hen's death, well more than 24 hours after her death.
about the writer
jim williams
The man suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another crawled to officers in surrender Sunday after they located him in the woods near his home, ending a massive, nearly two-day search that put the entire state on edge.
