"A duck in my backpack"

Okay, here is my story from today. Last night one of my students called and said she wanted to bring some food over for us to eat lunch together today. She said she would bring some famous food from her hometown. Today she was very excited in class and said that she and a couple of friends (other students of mine) would meet me after class.

After class I met them in the hall. “I have brought a duck!” She said, patting her bag, “I have a duck in my backpack!” As I stare at her in amazement, my thoughts start flying.

A duck. She has a duck in her backpack. I should start a list of sentences I never expect to hear. She has had a duck in her backpack for 4 hours of class! I’ve seen big slabs of meat sitting out on the side of the road, left in the open air all day, and my first thought is, “Oh God, don’t let us die!” I try to picture the duck that she is cradling in her backpack. Does it still have the head and feet? Will we have to pluck the feathers off? Who knows.

We rode the bus back to the main campus and she talked about duck all the way. Picture the scene in Forest Gump related to shrimp. No, not quite that much, but it was still funny. When we stopped at a restaurant to get rice, she pulled out the duck to show me. “See, it is sealed so no air gets in. It can keep for eight hours.” Okay, I feel better about that. Plus, I find out the duck is already cooked. We just have to bring it back to the apartment to chop it up. We pull out the cleaver and my students set to work. In the end several plates are piled with duck meat (and duck bones and neck and head – but no feet or feathers!) The meat was really good, and I don’t think I’ll die. I also don’t think I’ll forget her standing in the door of the classroom saying, “I have a duck! I have a duck in my backpack!”