Duck
20 Apr 2022Today’s prompt: “Share that embarrassing story your relatives always tell about you.”
Your brother is in town for a visit, along with his twin daughters, and your parents dredged up all your childhood toys that they must’ve been holding on to for just such an occasion. One of your nieces just ran into the living room pulling a plastic duck on wheels attached to a string. The duck quacks every time the wheels make a full rotation.
“I remember that duck!” your Aunt Joyce laughs. “Isn’t that the duck that [insert-your-name-here] insisted on pulling all the way through the mall?”
“That’s the one,” your mom says. “I tried to pick it up a couple times to stop the quacking, and they just started screaming. They pulled that thing all the way from Mervyn’s to J.C. Penney.”
“Do you have a video of it?” your younger cousin Becka asks.
“Oh, no, we couldn’t afford a Camcorder back then,” your mom says.
“Don’t you feel a little weird keeping that toy around, given that they died in that fight with a horse-sized duck?” your brother asks.
Silence envelops the room, except for the quacks coming from the plastic duck on wheels.
“It’s still a really cute toy,” your Aunt Joyce says.