Just Ducky

Kristy called me as I was on the way home from work to say that Andria had called her to say she and Miss M were at the duck pond and would we like to join them? We would indeed. I met Kristy, The Quartet and our friends, and found the kids running around, glad to be free of school, schedules and teachers. It was Friday, and as JP is fond of saying on Fridays, “It’s Friday, we can stay up late.” Amen to that.

The duck pond, in Chickasaw Gardens, is our little oasis in the middle of the city, it’s our miniature Central Park, it’s a place we feel comfortable letting the kids run somewhat wild and unrestrained. Tonight, with the temperature in the low 70s, was a great night for releasing pent up energy and blowing off some steam. As the adults sat and talked about our day, C and JP explored the far east side of the pond, climbing Magnolias and meeting another boy roughly C’s age. S and Miss M, tired of throwing rocks toward ducks, tormented a dachsund that had shown up with another family. The boy C and JP had befriended had a net for catching turtles and the boys were taken with it and the idea of pulling something alive from the water. They followed this boy and his net as they traveled around the perimeter of the pond. And we let them go. The boy with the net was with his father, we assumed, who seemed like a normal enough person, although he was wearing white pants. I don’t trust men who wear white pants. But they explored the pond, staying close to the waterline, until they were finally out of sight, obscured by the oaks and pine. We adults joked about letting our kids tag along with strange men in white pants who was either the father of another boy or a man who was simply collecting children in the park. So Kristy, ever the paranoiac, and GK, who had no choice, went in pursuit of C, JP, the man in white pants and the boy with the net. And she found them on the opposite side of the lake harassing turtles and the occasional duck. Good news, the man was sane and safe.

The evening ended back at our house for burritos, birthday cake, catfights, negotiations, water and, ultimately, forced separation. Perhaps more on that tomorrow…