Jasmine Green Rescues A Duckling Called Button
Page 6
“I’m going to give Button a bronchodilator and an anti-inflammatory through the inhaler,” said Mom. “You hold him on your lap, Jasmine, while I administer it. This will help keep his airways clear.” She puffed the inhaler into the air around Button’s face. “I’ll give some to Betty and Jake, too. And I’m going to give them all a broad-spectrum antibiotic, to prevent secondary infections. We’ll need to keep a close eye on them for a couple of weeks, to check for delayed reactions.”
“Shall we keep Betty and Button in here together?” asked Jasmine.
“Yes, that would be ideal,” said Mom. “It’s nice and peaceful, and they won’t be disturbed. Button will need a bath to wash the toxins from his feathers. You can bring the baby bathtub out here. They’ll need a lot of fresh drinking water, and we must be alert for any signs of breathing problems. But I think they’ll be OK.”
She stroked the duck’s feathers. “Well done, Button, for warning Jasmine about the fire so quickly.”
When Dad came in twenty minutes later, Button was already waddling around the cowshed, exploring his new surroundings.
“Here they are,” said Dad, smiling at Jasmine and Tom. “The heroes of the hour. The firefighters couldn’t stop singing your praises. Massively impressed, they were, that you had the presence of mind to hose the walls.”
“You hosed the walls?” said Mom, frowning. “You didn’t go into the barn, did you?”
“Didn’t they tell you?” said Dad. “They brought all the sheep and lambs out.”
Mom’s face went rigid as she stared at Jasmine. “You did what?”
“Well, who did you think got the sheep out?” said Dad.
“I thought you did, of course.”
“I was down in the Thirteen Acres. By the time I got here, these two had already done it. I just rounded them up and put them in the field.”
Seeing the look on Mom’s face, Jasmine changed the subject. “Have they put the fire out now?” she asked Dad.
Dad nodded. “All done, thank goodness. And all the animals saved, thanks to you two.”
“I can’t believe you ran into a burning barn,” said Mom. “You could have been killed.”
“But if we hadn’t done it,” said Jasmine, “the sheep would have been killed. And we’re fine, aren’t we?”
Mom shook her head in despair as they heard a car coming up the driveway. “That will be Ben’s mom with Manu,” she said, and went into the yard.
“Do they know how the fire started?” Tom asked Dad.
“They think the heat lamp in Button’s pen set fire to the straw. They found the lamp on the ground. Probably a rat chewed through the cable.”
Jasmine shivered. “Thank goodness Button got out. He’d have been burned to death.”
Ella appeared in the doorway, a book in her hand. “Why are there fire engines here?” she asked. “Has something happened?”
Running footsteps sounded outside and Manu pushed past Ella into the cowshed.
“I can’t believe I missed it. It’s so unfair. The one exciting thing that’s happened in my whole life and I wasn’t here. And now they’ve put the fire out and ruined it all. Ben’s really angry, too.”
“The fire engines are still here,” said Dad. “If you’re lucky, they might let you have a look inside.”
Manu’s face lit up. “Cool!” He rushed out the door. “Ben! Come and see the fire engines!”
Button flapped up onto Jasmine’s lap. She laid her cheek against his silky feathers. They smelled of smoke.
“I reckon he’s cleverer than the average duck, that mallard,” said Dad.
“He’s the real hero,” said Jasmine. “If he hadn’t escaped and warned me and Tom, we wouldn’t have known about the fire until it was too late.” She shuddered. “Imagine, those poor, poor sheep.”
“He’s had a lot of adventures,” said Tom, “considering he’s not even fully grown yet.”
Jasmine counted on her fingers. “Orphaned on the nest, the only survivor out of nine eggs, made friends with a lamb, got thrown on the floor by Bella Bradley, saved the sheep from a fire, and ran into a burning barn to rescue his friend.”
“I think that’s quite enough excitement for one young duck,” said Dad. “A quiet life for you from now on, eh, Button?”
Jasmine smiled at Button. He looked at her and gently nibbled her hair.
“Oh, I think Button will have plenty more adventures in the future,” Jasmine said. “I can’t wait to see what he does next.”
What do you have in an animal rescue kit?
It’s always useful to carry a bottle of water. You can use it to clean wounds and also give the animal a drink if it’s dehydrated. If you find a sick or injured animal, the best thing to do is to keep it warm and take it to a vet or a wildlife rescue organization. I’m lucky because my mom is a vet! If you need to look after an animal yourself, you could keep some rehydration mix in your house, and also animal feeding bottles with teats of different sizes. A syringe is good, too. If an animal is too weak to suck from a bottle, you can drip the formula into the side of its mouth with the syringe. It’s good to have a supply of cardboard boxes, where a sick animal can be kept safe and warm, and some old towels to use for bedding. A heating pad or hot water bottle is useful, too, as sick or injured animals need to be kept warm. But every animal is different, so you’ll need to ask an expert on the best way to care for any animal you find. The internet is really helpful for finding people in your neighborhood with experience looking after different animals. Ask an adult to help!
How can I help animals in my neighborhood?
The best thing to do is to make sure your neighborhood is as animal-friendly as possible. If you see litter lying around, pick it up and dispose of it safely. Animals can get caught up in netting or suffocate in plastic bags. If you have a yard, keep part of it wildlife-friendly, with long grass, wildflowers, and undergrowth where birds, butterflies, insects, and small mammals can flourish. Perhaps you could have a birdbath or hang up bird feeders where wild birds can come and feed. And if you’re able to have a pond, they are wonderful wildlife habitats.
How many animals do you have now?
I have my two cats, Toffee and Marmite, my pig, Truffle, and now Button the duck! He’s a mallard drake, and he’s extremely handsome. His mother was a wild duck, but I hatched Button in an incubator and I was the first person he saw when he hatched, so he thought I was his mom! That meant he was too tame to go back and live in the wild, so now he lives on the farm with my dad’s chickens. Sometimes I think Button believes he’s the king of the chickens!
Helen Peters is the author of numerous books for young readers that feature heroic girls saving the day on farms. She grew up on an old-fashioned farm in England, surrounded by family, animals, and mud. Helen Peters lives in London.
Ellie Snowdon is a children’s author-illustrator from a tiny village in South Wales. She received her MA in children’s book illustration at Cambridge School of Art. Ellie Snowdon lives in Cambridge, England.
Text copyright © 2017 by Helen Peters
Illustrations copyright © 2017, 2020 by Ellie Snowdon
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First U.S. electronic edition 2020
First published by Nosy Crow (U.K.) 2017
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number pending
The illustrations in this book were done in pencil with a digital wash overlay.
Walker Books US
a division of
Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
www.walkerbooksus.com
A JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION
en Rescues A Duckling Called Button