One morning, on his way to school, Lance ran into a duck. It was right in the middle of the sidewalk, staring up at Lance with beady duck eyes. Lance stepped aside, but the duck moved in front of him, making it impossible to pass.
Then suddenly, Lance heard a voice deep inside his head. It said, "Hey, where you headed?"
Before Lance could reply, the voice continued. "You're not going to school, are you?"
"Yes I am!" replied Lance, staring back at the duck.
"You like going there?"
"No, I hate school. Especially teachers! They're always -".
"-Telling you what to do! Is that right?" interrupted the voice.
Lance nodded. The duck stepped closer. By the lake, Lance saw many more ducks, all of them watching him.
The strange voice inside Lance's head continued. "What about at home? They tell you what to do there, too, don't they? - Your mother, and your sister, Mallory? They boss you around all the time!"
"How do you know about them?" asked Lance.
"We're not just regular ducks. We're a special breed of telepathic Gypsy Ducks. We travel from town to town, playing, swimming, and making lots of noise. We only do what we want to do! If you'd like, you could join our flock!"
Lance paused for a moment, pondering the duck's tempting offer. But before he could reply, the other ducks waddled over, loudly quacking. They dropped something on the sidewalk in front of Lance. It was a clip-on duckbill!
Lance heard many friendly voices echoing inside his head. They recited in unison. "Behold our gift to you - the Magic Duckbill! It has the power to transform boy into duck! Put it on, and become one of us!"
Reverently, Lance kneeled, clipped the magic duckbill over his nose. Suddenly, he felt his whole body tingling, shrinking. He felt feathers sprouting from his skin, webs growing between his toes. A moment later, the transformation was complete. Lance waddled free from his human clothing, which was now far too big for him. The ducks gathered round. They bobbed their heads in a ritual initiation dance.
"Greetings, fellow duck!" they said.
"Quack!" replied Lance.
Right away, the ducks began indoctrinating Lance into their organization. They taught him the Gypsy Duck credo, filled his head with slogans and proverbs: "No duck stands alone! All must serve the flock! Serve the flock! SERVE THE FLOCK!" Lance repeated this so many times, that eventually, he couldn't think of anything else. Serving the flock became his entire life. Lance even forgot that he'd ever been a little boy. He was a duck now, and he always was and always would be, a duck!
Around that time, things began to change. The other ducks began to treat Lance badly, giving him orders. "Duck Lance!" they commanded, "Where are our breadcrumbs?" "Duck Lance! Go look for a pond! Don't come back until you've found one! And no honking!"
They even made Lance steal - money, jewelry, anything he could fit in his bill! But the more Lance stole, the more the ducks demanded. Nothing ever satisfied them. "Duck Lance!" they yelled, "This kind of loot won't get us off breadcrumbs! You'll have to do better!"
One morning, Lance was out picking pockets, when a man spotted him."Hey! That duck stole my wallet!" the man shouted.
"Let's get him!" someone else cried.
Frightened, Lance tried to run, but his little webbed feet could only go so fast. He tried to fly, but his wings couldn't lift him.
"Stop that duck! Stop that duck!" everyone shouted.
"QUACK!" screamed Lance. "QUACK!!!" But the other ducks never came to rescue him.
Hands reached out, grabbed Lance from all sides. They held him to the ground. He struggled, but it was no use. He couldn't move. He couldn't even breathe.
Lance woke up in a hospital bed.
His mother was beside him. A doctor was in the room as well. He stepped up to Lance, smiling gently. "Welcome back", he said.
Lance felt sore. His head ached. Rubbing his face, he realized that his bill was gone. In its place were lips - human lips.
Watching him, the doctor laughed. "You're a boy, Lance! You always were! Those ducks had you brainwashed!"
After several months of deprogramming, Lance was able to leave the hospital. He no longer honked, or bobbed his head, and only waddled slightly when he walked. He was so happy to have his old life back that he didn't even mind it when his mother and his sister bossed him around. He was even happy to go back to school.
Heading there one morning, he heard a familiar voice inside his head.
"Hey, where you headed? You're not going to school, are you?" it asked.
Turning, Lance saw the flock of Gypsy Ducks, hanging out by the woods. Lance stepped aside, but they gathered in front of him, blocking his path.
"Why don't you come with us, instead? We only do what we want to do!"
Growing angry, Lance confronted them, reciting the speech that the doctor had made him memorize. "I know all about what you do! You use mind control on innocent children, fooling them into thinking they're ducks! You promise them freedom, but you turn them into slaves! Well, I have just one thing to say to you! - I'm not interested!"
With a dramatic flourish, Lance reached into his lunchbag, tossed out some breadcrumbs. The ducks scurried about, fighting for food, quacking. Lance just stepped around them. Then, smiling triumphantly, he marched on to school.