What the Duck?

The public schools in my area closed for the summer a week ago today, and the middle school where I sub most often finished out the year with a celebratory luncheon.  Then, before teachers scattered in various and sundry directions, each selected a rubber duck to take with them.  The admin team at the school had requested that staff members photograph the ducks in any of their summer adventures, and then send pics back for a plucky ducky slideshow to kick-off the start of the new school year.

Since my summer plans include a visit to Amherst, Massachusetts, I knew immediately what I wanted, a duck dressed simply in white.  Her name – Emily DUCKinson.

Alas, there was no such duck.  The available assortment included firefighter ducks, surfboarding ducks, princess ducks, chef ducks, sailor ducks, lifeguard ducks, and more – but no duck in white; not even a plain ol’ yellow rubber ducky that I could dress in white.
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Here’s the duck I ended up selecting -- pictured at the right.

Later, when I got home, I figured I’d search the interwebs for a duck donned in white, but my efforts resulted in nothing more than a wild goose – er, duck chase.  First, I ran a search on rubber ducks, but all I got back were options like those offered at the school.  I refined my search but I whatever it was I typed into the search field was too restrictive; all I got in return were images of solid white ducks. Finally, I fine-tuned my search and found ducks dressed in white, but nothing like what I was looking for.  I found a Marilyn Monroe duck, an Albert Einstein Duck, an Elvis Duck (Fat Elvis dressed in white), a Pope and Nun ducks, and more – but no reclusive, New Englandy duck in plain white garb.

Initial search:

Second search -- all white:

Third search -- with celebrity sightings:

I even searched “Emily Duckinson” and found this:

For now, I’ll keep looking and figure out what to do (my trip isn’t until mid-July).  Plus, I plan to contact the Emily Dickinson Museum.  I suspect they have some soul there in the role of brand licensing agent or merchandise manager who oversees the designing, manufacturing, pricing and inventory management of Dickinson-related collectibles and tchotchkes.  I’ll request they design and mass-produce an Emily DUCKinson duck -- pronto -- to fill a needed void in the world. 

Did Dickinson ever use the word "duck" in any of her poems?  I'll get to that tomorrow.