Chronicle 33

Gully, the oldest of the duckling brothers, awoke to the sound of motors buzzing. Pat was a heavy sleeper, ignoring it completely. He lay flat on his back with his wings out to his sides on the grass. The noises got louder as Biscuit, the youngest duckling, was startled by a weedwhacker trimming the overgrowth on the curb just beside him, clipping the end of his feather. He leapt up and sped over to Pat, stepping on his belly until he woke up. Gully came over and put his wings around his brothers, shoving them away from the landscapers who were closing in on their position.

“We’ve gotta find somewhere we can stay.” Gully told his baby brothers as they fled the roadside they’d been sleeping in.

“Maybe find a nice pond!?” Biscuit excitedly proposed.

“Ooh a nice pond.” Pat said warmly.

“You’re too young to remember.. but we did live in a pond before. That’s where everything went wrong. That’s where mother duck lost all our brothers and sisters.”

“No pond?” Biscuit asked with glistening eyes.

“No pond, Biscuit.” Gully answered firmly, putting a wing around his baby brother.

“What about bread?” Pat asked.

“What about bread?”

“Yeah, bread!” Biscuit flapped his wings as they walked, floating for a moment in excitement.

“Okay.” Gully appeased them, still unsure what they meant.

Finding themselves trapped between two roads, the ducklings got ready to cross. They looked both ways and waddled hard, getting to the middle of the road before a truck approached quickly. The driver slammed the brakes to allow them to cross. Other cars that came upon them did the same, giving them a chance to reach the other side unharmed. In the heart of Big City, they looked around for any signs of grass or water. As they walked the sidewalks, avoiding stompings from pedestrians, they caught for a moment across the way a goose being walked on a leash. A goose would certainly lead them somewhere fowl friendly, they thought.

“Follow that goose!” Gully shouted. Pedestrians let out an “aww” hearing the loud quack from the oldest duckling.

Once the command was made and the intention set, the city shifted around the ducklings. They passed through walls and people, though only slightly moving on their own. The changes seemed imperceptible to humans they saw. Biscuit giggled as he moved through solid matter as if it tickled him. In a moment, they were in line, oldest to youngest, just behind the human walking the goose.

Though Gully arrived slightly dizzy from the swirling motion of reality turning on itself to get them to their target, his feet wouldn’t fail. The trio waddled in perfect unison and harmony behind the lady with the goose.

“What that?” Biscuit asked when he finished giggling.

“I don’t know Bisky, but it got us here. Let’s see where the goose is headed.” Gully replied.

“Do gooses eat bread too?” Pat asked and the three shrugged.

“Geese, Patty.” Gully corrected his brother.

“They eat geese? That’s horrible!”

All the quacking caused the goose walker to turn around and check what was behind her. The boys were fully visible, but the lady just couldn’t see them. As if they were directly in her blind spot. People walking by stepped around them, but there were no “aww” sounds coming. As they followed the goose, they were imperceptible. Gully wondered if they were ghosts, but didn’t share the concern with his brothers.

Past a few roads, the ducklings arrived where they hoped the goose would lead them. They looked at the majesty that was Big City Park, with its expansive pond and sprawling grass fields. There were ducks, geese and turtles everywhere around the water. People walked around, some throwing seeds to birds, some throwing bread to ducks.

“BREAD.” Pat said as the ducklings broke from following the goose lady. His eyes locked on the bag of stale bread being torn apart for the birds.

Breaking out of their formation, the boys heard “aww” from passerbys. They marched over to the pond where the bread was being thrown, but the bag ran empty just as they pushed through the crowd of fowl. Disappointment set in as the rest of the ducks huddled around them and stared them down.

“OUTSIDERS.” a large duck announced.

Two ducks stepped away from each other to make room for the largest duck the boys had ever seen.

“You are not welcome here.” she stated.

Biscuit started happily paddling to the edge of the pond to get out. 

“Where you going, Biscuit?” Pat asked.

“She said we not welcome.”

“Just wait here.” Gully commanded his brothers then faced the big duck. “Who are you?”

“I’m Lilly, queen of Big City pond. You three are filthy. We have no need for yucky duckies.” All the ducks around chuckled.

“We have nowhere else to go.” Gully leveled with the queen.

“You have the whole world to go to.”

“We’re staying.”

The queen demanded the ducklings be removed from the Park. Adult ducks moved to grab the boys. As Pat was about to be touched, the parts of the duck getting close to him were disappearing. It yelped loudly, recoiling to assess the damage. An entire wing was missing as well as the tip of its gill. Gully recalled a car having the same thing happen to it days before, where an entire section of it vanished from existence.

Running with the ability he was realizing the trio had, Gully paddled up to the queen expecting her to start vanishing. She showed no fear and stayed still. Gully’s raised eyebrow fell. All the ducks around laughed at his strange attempt, including Biscuit and Pat.

“Guys…” Gully reminded his brothers what side they were on.

“Sorry, Gull.” they both put their heads down.

“You stupid duckling.” Queen Lilly said. She bent her head down to bite Gully. Her head never made it to him. Gully turned around to see her neck without a head, her body toppling over into the pond.

People walking around the pond screamed, seeing their favorite duck decapitated and another with a missing wing. There was no blood in the water, as if the wounds were cauterized. The humans called animal control, seeing that the three ducklings were isolated from the rest, so they must have been the culprits. When they arrived, the boys were placed in individual cages and Gully was put in an entirely separate truck. The ducklings were divided.