WATCHFUL was already tied at the boat launch when the mallard appeared.

Ellis had been inspecting the launch ramp that morning. One section of concrete along the center line had worn smooth where trailer tires passed repeatedly. Small stones showed through the surface near the waterline.

Ellis crouched beside the worn section and ran one finger across the exposed stones.

Resurfacing before spring.

He wrote it into the notebook.

Then the mallard came around the north reed point with seven ducklings behind her.

The line broke apart once in the wake near the ramp and formed again immediately.

Ellis stood up at once.

They were heading directly toward the launch.

The cove was busy already. Two fishing boats had launched earlier that morning. A third truck was backing slowly down the gravel road with its trailer lights blinking red through the dust.

The water near the ramp churned from prop wash.

One duckling slipped sideways in the wake and disappeared briefly behind another before the line gathered together again.

Ellis stepped back from the dock edge and stayed still.

Walt had already moved toward the near piling beside the launch lane.

He did not raise a hand. Did not signal.

He simply stood there beside the water.

The driver of the third truck saw Walt and stopped backing down.

The engine shut off.

Nobody spoke.

The mallard reached the shallow corner where the ramp met the dock edge. The ducklings gathered tightly behind her, pressed together against the concrete where the water moved less roughly.

The wakes rolled past the opening of the cove one at a time.

The ducklings stayed close together while the water rocked beneath them.

Ellis checked the time.

Four minutes.

Nobody moved at the launch.

One of the ducklings drifted slightly away from the group.

The mallard made one short sound.

Immediately the duckling paddled back into line beside the others.

Then the mallard turned. The ducklings straightened behind her and followed her back around the reed point the way they had come.

The water behind them flattened slowly.

Walt stepped away from the piling.

The truck engine started again.

The launch resumed.

Ellis watched the reed point a few seconds longer before opening the field notebook.

Mallard with seven ducklings, launch cove. Ramp traffic paused four minutes. Passage completed without incident.

Then they returned to the ramp inspection. The worn concrete section measured approximately three meters long. The near piling showed a shallow crack at the waterline — not structural, but worth monitoring.

Walt checked both launch cleats.

Sound.

Ellis wrote the visitor note at the launch box before they left.

Visitors,

The boat launch is open.

Mallards are nesting in the reed beds north of the launch cove this season.

Please reduce wake near the reeds.

— The Small Rangers
Pine Lake Ranger District

Walt untied WATCHFUL from the launch dock and guided them slowly into the main channel.

When they passed the north reed point again, the water there was quiet.

The ducklings were gone.

Only a few widening rings still moved against the reeds.