Ducks on the Pond

Just before I came down with a bad cold, I spend some time last Wednesday afternoon observing some new neighbors near the place where Mariah and I are currently staying. You were already going to think I am going to yak about some interesting people here, but no. Honestly, this is one of those things in life where you get to experience that phrase, “the best things in life are free”.  Since there wasn’t anything decent to watch on TV, I decided to pay them a brief, yet amazing visit.  C’mon, now. How often have you actually watched a flock of ducks, anyway? 

There is a pond across the walkway that can easily be seen from my window. They have made the annual dreary winter season seem less bearable.  On an overcast Sunday after  being dropped off from church, I was taking out the trash to the dumpster and these three ducks just literally walked up to me as if they were a duck posse or something. GoodFeathers? The Duckfather, perhaps? Did I do something in error and left them with “the bill” (sorry!)?  That moment was so intriquing I took a picture with my camera phone  and walked off.  So I grabbed a few slices of bread that wasn’t being used as Mariah’s “bait” and walked outside near the pond.  I gazed at these little quackers carrying on with daily grind, swimming with one another and maybe hoping not to see their kinfolk Daffy or Donald in the near future. Lord know these ducks don’t want to get spoiled like they are.  For around five minutes, I didn’t think about anything else except watching those ducks. I tossed them a piece of bread, and all of a sudden the whole flock just came out of the water and flew their wings up toward me.  They were waddling themselves silly as I tossed them some more food, quacking almost in vocal harmony at my approval.  Loves Park Duck Choir? Nah, just happy to see me, I guess. I’d hate to see those folks from Duck Dynasty come by and try to make these ducks look more dumb before shooting them.  I already have a special duck call of my own!

Back to the ducks here.  I got to watch them consume the pieces of bread that I fed them, moving their necks back and forth until they swallowed it. I eventually ran out of bread to feed these guys, so I came back a few minutes later with a fresh bag of microwave popcorn.  I also noticed that I had myself a little competition from someone on the second floor, who was also passing out bread pieces to the ducks.  She eventually ran out of food and retracted back into her room, so I took advantage of that situation and passed out the popcorn. They did come around to it. Doing so, I came to a revelation: These ducks basically have had simplified life. Like their fellow winged bretheren, ducks will never need to try to impress anyone or anything about who they are or make an attempt to improve on what human beings like us can take for granted, such as shelter, clothing or food.  You rarely ever see a duck by itself, whether in a marsh, by a pond or even in a city park. Daffy may never get over being the number one spoiled duck in the world, but it’s in common their nature to hang with one another. 

This is something that one can realize when compared to how we are living these days, right? So I’m living in a motel room with a roommate that has temper-tantrums and could be the next coming of Oscar Madison (see The Odd Couple and you’d get the idea). Yes, I currently don’t have my own transportation nor do I have a respectable income to boast about. However, I’m still a special person through the eyes of a duck.