Great Uncle Dean said he never makes mistakes and therefore has no spare parts or extra duck heads. Uncle Dean summers in Minnesota and winters in Texas and has carved every member of the duck species, in relentless, exacting detail. I said it was nice to talk with him, and hung up the phone.

A month later I received a small package in the mail from Minnesota. Inside the box was a carefully wrapped antique, circa 1890’s, and a letter explaining its value. It was a gray, weathered duck decoy with its head broken off.

[ taxidermy ]