By Ann von Dehsen, March 4, 2021 — Recently, I saw a bucket of pussy willows at Whole Foods. Seeing these stalks always gives me the hope that Spring is not far behind. But I cannot look at a pussy willow without thinking of Darren, an adorable and affectionate four-year-old boy who was in my class for kids with developmental delays. Darren was born very prematurely, resulting in mostly fine and gross motor delays. He also had impaired vision, somewhat corrected by large coke bottle glasses. Not surprisingly, Darren was a diminutive figure, easily passing for a two-year-old, but Darren and his father shared the love of fashion, both dressing in pleated, felted trousers with silk shirts and a gold chain. Darren loved to point out his dress-up shoes as he jumped across the rug to me each morning. In contrast to his tiny stature, Darren had a very unusually deep voice, along with high language skills for a four-year-old, and used these skills to command respect from his peers.
When Spring was about to erupt, I brought in some pussy willows and asked the kids if they knew what they were. Complete silence until Darren said, “Uh, those are duke-a-das.” When I said, “Well, really they are called pussy willows,” he said, “No, they are called duke-a-das.” Well after a few rounds of going back and forth with, “They’re pussy willows,” “No, duke-a-das,” Darren finally walked up to me and again, whispered in my ear, “You can call them pussy willows, but I’m going to call them duke-a-das.” And so, we did. We told his father about this and his father thought it was hysterical. He told us that most likely Darren had never seen a pussy willow before and also he had never ever heard Darren call anything “duke-a-das.” So now, Darren is probably about 30 years old, and I wonder if he ever sees a pussy willow and calls them “duke-a-das.” I hope he does. In the meantime, I wish you all a happy duke-a-da season.