Frederick: The Saga Continues

Remember Frederick, the duck whom freelance writer Michele Huneven rescued from a poultry shop in Chinatown?

In a recent Food section story (“The Great Escape,” June 4), Huneven recounted her five months with Frederick, from her Christmas Eve purchase of him with two other ducks (who became Christmas dinner), to her first attempt to release him (he couldn’t walk or swim or shake off water), to his time in her backyard, where he learned to walk and splash and quack, until she and a friend released him at a private lake in Pasadena.

The story of Frederick so captivated Michelle Krzmarzick’s third-grade class at El Rodeo School in Beverly Hills that they decided to rewrite the story of Frederick with their own endings. There are themes in these endings: Frederick learning to fly; Frederick becoming a movie star (this is Beverly Hills); Frederick being reunited with his mother.

Here are some excerpts, with original artwork.

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Frederick’s Life of stardom

Frederick had to go into the world and start making some of “the green stuff.” Frederick wanted to be a movie star. One day Frederick just walked away from home. Frederick set his heart on being a star and to be very successful at it too. It took a lot of work to be in his first movie.

. . . He starred in another movie called “The Duck That Once was Man.” . . . He did a live play called “The Duck of Dreams.” The play was about how he made it as a star.

Frederick had a great life but had to move on to a better place. He died in his sleep. He was an old and sick duck and now he is happy.

--SAMANTHA KALLIS

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The Ending of Frederick the Duck

The two girls were thinking what to do with Frederick the duck because he was quacking all day long. . . . They went to a park. . . . Right there the girls discovered a teacher that shows ducks how to fly. Can you imagine? Just there was the duck teacher!

. . . After some lessons, Frederick learned how to fly. The two girls, who were best friends, wanted to go to the Grand Canyon. Since Frederick knew how to fly the two girls decided to ride on his back. . . . When they landed, after 6 1/2 hours of flying through strong winds, they saw a place like Hollywood. There was this person named Frank who was looking for movie stars or animal movie stars, and there was Frederick! . . . Frank asked Frederick if he would star in a movie called “Duckie.” Frederick was delighted. All his life he’d been waiting for this moment. He said bye to the girls and thanked them.

The girls returned to Los Angeles on Southwest Airlines and Frederick is now filming in Buenos Aires his fourth movie.

--CYRIL HEFFESSE

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Frederick’s Movie Life

One day something funny happened to Frederick. He began to fly. So every day for one month he practiced flying. Thirty-two days later he flew out of the house, and when a director saw him he jumped up and caught Frederick.

You are going to play Duckman in my new movie Super Duck. So that is how Frederick began his movie career.

. . . In Count Dracula he played the bat that Dracula can turn into. He was so good that the producer of Batman and Robin fired Batman and made it Duckman and Robin.

He was also good at ballet so they changed Swan lake into Duck lake, and of course he played the duck.

One day someone ducknapped Frederick and killed him so they gave him a nice funeral, and he went to heaven.

--BEN COUSINEAU

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Funny Frederick

The next morning, the owner of Frederick said, “I have to let him free. Hmmm, how do I do that? Oh, I’ve got it!” yelled the owner. “I’ll send him to someone who can teach him to fly!”

. . . The owner went to Frederick and whispered, “This man that I’m sending you to will take truly marvelous care of you.” . . . It worked! Now he was free!

--SAVANNAH HOFFMAN

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Frederick’s Song Career

One day the owner took Frederick on the truck. They went to Green Bay. In Green Bay, Frederick became the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. One day Frederick was playing against the Chicago Bears. He threw the ball and the ball took him into the air.

While Frederick was in the air, he made up a song called “Fly Like a Ducky.” As he landed he saw the king. Frederick sang the song to the king. After Frederick was done singing, he became the palace pet.

--BRIAN GABBAY

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Frederick the Duck

Frederick was free and his owner put Frederick in the pond. He jumped in like he was free. He splashed around the water. He felt sad leaving the owner with no pets. When the owner was walking home, Frederick followed him home. He was a smart duck. When he got to the owner’s house he went to the cage. The owner saw Frederick in his cage. He was so happy. . . .

The next day they went to China Town and the owner got a whole family for Frederick. He went to the vet and now he is with his family and he is free.

--JUSTIN RAANAN

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Chapter 2 Good-Bye

. . . We thought he’d enjoy the lake so we took him there. He immediately jumped in! He splashed and splashed. He had a marvelous time, then we said good-bye and left. A few days later, he missed his mother. He wondered where she was.

A week passed. Frederick had been sad for that whole week. Then he heard a Quack Quack. It was his mother. Someone else had set her free too!!!

They were happy for the rest of their lives.

--VERONIKA SHULMAN

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Duck Marines

The owner put Frederick in a car, got in and was off to the lake. On the way they saw a duck. The owner decided to let Frederick go where the duck was because the owner thought they might become friends. . . . “Hi mother!” exclaimed Frederick. “Well hi Frederick!” his mother said joyfully.

. . . The next day Frederick’s owner read the Ducky times . . . about a fox who was a terrorist and planned to launch 15 V6 rockets to the city. She saw something in the article that said “Ducks needed.” She decided to see Frederick at the duck nest.

. . . Since the ducks were dealing with a poisonous chemical that can melt you she decided to make a special suit along with a powerful weapon. . . . Then the owner decided to build some vehicles because Frederick can’t fly. . . . She put the ducks in the vehicles, set auto-pilot to go the foxes’ hideout, started the jet engine, and they were on their way to save the city.

. . . The ducks all got past the fox troopers and were prepared to flame the fox boss. The fox boss put a spell on the ducks that disables them from quacking. Frederick remembered that he could peck things. . . . Frederick pecked at the fox boss and the fox boss lost his balance and fell into the lava pit.

--AARON RIVERA-DAVIS