“Oh no,” Rose replied with prompt innocence. “I’m encouraging him to do his business.” Confusion was clear on her face when she added, “I don’t even know where he’d get a duck. He’s not a Labrador.”
Maybe the strange looking young woman was referring to some other sort of fowl, but either way, it didn’t really make a whole lot of sense to Rose. What a dog that wasn’t even a retriever would be doing with a water bird in the middle of the park was beyond her. But who knew what sorts of crazy things people thought of. In any case, the young woman seemed very upset by the entire thing.
“If you like,” Rose offered generously, “after he’s done, maybe we can see if he’s a guard dog. He could keep the ducks away from your endangered tree. Though I don’t know if he is, since I just found him.”
With wide eyes, she looked at the tree and added, “Is it really the only one in the city? My goodness. I would have thought you’d find something like that in a botanical garden, not a park.”