Raising Harley

By Mary Tomasi Dubois

Michelle finds something unusual in the yard - a duck egg. When she can't find who it might belong to, she decides to hatch it herself.

She calls the fuzzy bundle Harley, in memory of the motorcycle rides her dad use to take her on.

Soon, they must move and Harley must go, but the new condo is on a golf course so Harley can live there. The problem now is, Mom is falling in love with Will.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary Tomasi Dubois
• Release date: Apr 10, 2009
• ISBN: 9781452392714

Mary Tomasi Dubois

Mary Tomasi-Dubois' goal in writing her stories is to capture the imagination of young readers and to develope an interesting story for adults to enjoy as well. Mary's hope is that they will then get involved in a discussion of the plot, writing style, historical events, etc.; much as a book club might.Mary Tomasi-Dubois is a native of Cleveland Ohio, but has lived in California since the age of three. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, and a long and varied career.Being a teenager in the fifties allowed Mary to achieve some firsts for that era—the first girl admitted in her junior high and high school’s drafting classes as well as the first girl in her college’s architectural classes. This lead to being the first women hired as an electro/mechanical drafter at Lockheed in the early 60’s, during the Race to Space frenzy.Throughout her early career, Mary worked as an architectural drafter, tooling drafter, electro/mechanical drafter, printed circuit designer, and CADD manager at the dawn of the computer age in Silicon Valley.Mary later went back to school to obtain certification in one of her passions, interior design, and now has a successful Interior & Reality Enhancement business. She combined her talents to teach drafting for interior design students at UC Santa Cruz Extension for 15 years.In 1987, Mary joined forces with her husband, Paul, to expand their company, Tomasi-Dubois & Associates, Security Consulting and Engineering, and with the addition of an engineer, began designing large-scale integrated security systems for some of the nation’s fortune 100 companies. Today, the company enjoys the prestige of the greatest form of marketing—‘word of mouth’ recommendations.As a child, Mary loved making up stories about fairies, pirates, and times past in exotic lands, and she loved telling them to her stuffed animals and dolls. As an adult, her interest in ancient history, metaphysics, and more recently quantum physics, has inspired her to weave these topics into another of her passions, writing stories.Mary currently teaches a Young Writer's Workshop and is host of access channel KCAT's Word Sleuth - Detective of All Things Written, where she interviews local authors, publishers (including Mark Coker of Smashwords), librarians or anyone connected with the written word.

Book preview

RAISING HARLEY ©

by

Mary Tomasi-Dubois

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2009 Mary Tomasi Dubois

Discover other titles by Mary Tomasi Dubois at

Smashwords.com

The Mariner’s Secret at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1408

Danger in the Jeweled City at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1414

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your iuse only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

To Karen, Michelle, Joseph, and Christopher.

My thanks to Jan Ewers and Pat Lang for their time in reading and editing this book, and to Karen for telling me the true story of Harley.

CHAPTER 1: What Did Michelle Find?

What have you found? Joseph asked, as Christopher came running alongside to see what Michelle and Mom were looking at.

It was an early spring morning, and Michelle Jones and her brothers were helping their mom, Karen, do yard chores.

There had been an especially heavy rain the night before, with lightning and high winds. The yard was filled with debris, and Michelle even found Chester’s dog dish from next door. It lay amongst a pile of fallen palm fronds, upside down, so that only the letters TER could be seen.

When Michelle bent over to pick it up, she found one perfect, large white egg resting in the now warm grass. It had been protected by Chester’s dish. As she picked it up and began wiping it clean, her mom came over and they both checked for cracks. It was in perfect shape.

It wasn’t unusual to find all sorts of interesting stuff in your yard the morning after such a storm. And it was always fun to find out to whom the various things might belong.

This isn’t an ordinary chicken egg, Mom said. This is a duck egg. We’ll have to see who might be raising ducks and return the egg to its mother. In the mean time, we’ll keep it warm and safe.

So, Christopher emptied his rollerblade box. Michelle donated an old flannel nightgown. And Joseph looked through the garage for an old desk lamp. Mom said, Good—now let’s put the flannel gown in the box. Michelle carefully laid the egg in the middle of the flannel nest, they set the box on a work table next to the kitchen stove, then Joseph placed the lamp next to the box and adjusted it to shine directly over the egg.

Fine, Mom said. Now, let’s see if we can find that little orphaned egg’s home. And as she headed into the house, she said she’d call the neighbors. I’ll get the word out that we’ve found a duck egg in our yard and see if anyone has heard of someone raising ducks nearby.

The children decided they could cover more ground by splitting up. You take our side of the street Chris, Michelle directed, and you take the other side Joe. I’m going inside to make a sign, then I’ll take it to McDougle’s store and see if they’ll post it. Michelle created a colorful 8 ½ X 11 sign on her computer using her desktop publishing software—it read:

BEAUTIFUL DUCK EGG FOUND!

LOOKING FOR OWNER

PLEASE CALL: 555-4012

That afternoon, because everyone had gotten so wrapped up in trying to reunite the little egg with its mother, they were exhausted—and a little sad. The Jones children had knocked on every door for two blocks, but to no avail. In fact, they were so exhausted they didn’t even have their usual lively conversation at lunch.

While clearing the table with her mom, Michelle asked what was to happen with the egg if they couldn’t find its mother. Let’s not worry about that now, dear, everything will be OK. You’ll see, she said. We’ll keep it safe and warm ’til we do.

But Michelle couldn’t stop worrying. After all, she was twelve, well almost twelve, and in little over a year she’d be 13—a teenager well on her way to becoming an adult. And anyway, it was she who had found the egg in the first place, so shouldn’t she be the one to take responsibility for it?

CHAPTER 2: The New Family Member

Every morning, the first thing the Jones children did when they walked into the kitchen was check on the egg. Michelle was the most concerned and she’d give a long, slow sigh. She knew that with each passing day their chances for finding the little egg’s mother would be more and more difficult. Mom watched the children as she prepared breakfast, feeling a little sad too, because the first thing she did when she walked into the kitchen each morning was check the egg.

Then one morning, Michelle, who was the first one up, was tying her robe and yawning on her way into the kitchen. She looked into the box and saw the egg moving. A little crack had formed and it was getting bigger and bigger. As she bent down to get a better look, she heard pecking noises from inside the egg. Then, suddenly, one small cHonk of shell fell—then another, larger one. Right there, before her eyes, stood a wet, bulging-eyed duckling!

Cheep, Cheep, it said—trying to stand. Well, hello little one, Michelle said. Welcome to the world. And she stood there looking at the little duck who had finally gained enough strength in his tiny legs to stand. The wet feathers were already starting to dry as Michelle said, I’ll bet you’re hungry. Hmmm, what would a little duck like to eat?

Michelle walked to the refrigerator and took out the hamburger meat her mom had bought for the family’s weekend barbecue. Here, Harley, she found herself calling him. (Harley motorcycles had been her dad’s favorite. A melancholy smile came over Michelle’s face as she remembered her turn to ride around the block with Dad on his Harley. She could even remember the smell of his leather jacket as she tightly clutched her arms around him.)

The little duck’s cries brought her back to reality and she extended her hand to offer him a little bit of the meat on the tip of her finger. Cheep, cheep, Harley said thanking her, and gobbled up his meal. Cheep, cheep, he said again—I want more.

Mom and the boys walked into the kitchen, rubbing their sleepy eyes to the site of Michelle and the fuzzy yellow mass now standing in the box.

Well, what have we got here? Mom said, smiling.

Wow, a baby duck. Wow! Chris had never seen a duckling that had just popped out of its shell before. Joseph bent down and scratched the little ducks head.

Oh, please Mom—can we keep him, asked Michelle.

Yes, I guess we’ll have to. No one has responded to the sign you posted. None of us have been able to find his mother, so I guess we’re his family now.

Oh, thanks Mom, Michelle said as she threw her arms around her mother’s neck and gave her a big kiss on the cheek.

But, Michelle… Mom started in that familiar motherly tone the children were use to when she was about to get serious. There are a few rules that’ll have to be followed—you too boys. Or we’ll just have to take him right down to the petting zoo.

OK, Mom, Michelle said as she bent over the table, scratching Harley’s little head, too.

Boys?

Rules - I heard, Mom, said Joseph.

Chris. What about you? Mom asked.

Gee, Mom—he’s not my duck. Christopher didn’t think