Day 10: The Duck Pond

Every day he passed the duck pond. It was in the park between his wife’s job in the hospital, and his job at the bank. He used to always take the scenic route into work with her, through the park and past the pond, dropping her off at the edge of the fence, then briskly racing back through the paths so as not to be late for work. On dry afternoons they would take lunch together and eat it opposite the ducks.

He always packed a sandwich with chicken and lettuce, an apple, a small yogurt, and of course some seeds for the ducks. It gave him endless amounts of pleasure, watching the little things waddle to him, collect their food and scramble back to the safety of the water. Springtime was always his favourite, when the baby ducklings would scarcely step onto the grass at first, but after a few weeks would grow and warm to him enough to take food inches from his feet.

Most people didn’t understand his obsession. His colleagues were continually confused to find he had once again abandoned the offer of lunch in the break-room to eat his sandwich outside in the cold.

Even at winter, when the pond was frozen over and the ducks were in some far-off place, he would sit by the bench and wait. A sadness on his face as he tucked into his sandwich, the duck pond as empty as the space on the bench beside him.

////

This is the second time it was quarter to midnight and I had been busy all day. I rushed through this story, and I could have given it more time and eased people into it a bit more. I think the twist at the end is weak because you can see it coming, but this project isn't about perfection, it's about getting myself to write new things, generate new ideas and giving myself time to write and improve.

I wanted to edit this a little before posting it on the blog, but I want to get my backlog of short Instagram stories up tonight, and I think there is a value in preserving a first draft, or at least looking at something you created in ten minutes and imagining what you could produce if you had more time.

This was Day 10 of my NaNoWriMo project where I am writing a new short story every day in November! Originally all of these were posted to instagram, but the 300 word limit was a little confining so I've come here to post everything I've written and a little bit more!