08 February 2007

A duck walks into a bar...

Often, in the getting to know you email pass-alongs, there is a question of What is Your Favorite Sound? I have never had a satisfying answer to that. Leading an unusual lifestyle...get your mind out of the gutter...my responses have been the sounds of the racetrack or fireworks.

Now, I have finally come up with a satisfying answer. It is a duck. Now, it is not the normal quack, quack, quack that you hear. There is a sound that the mallard makes that makes me laugh right out loud every single time. It is as if he has just been told the Best Joke Ever. If a duck can guffaw, it sounds just like that.

Our neighbor has become Dr. Dolittle. She has llamas, peacocks (not a sound I like to hear, they sound like a woman shrieking) and now ducks. If you spend any time outside, you will usually hear the cacophony of the animals. But the one that stands out is the duck. It is probably reminiscent of my childhood as well, being a lake kid. Ducks were often pets when I was younger.

There is just an instant mental image I get at the sound: A group of ducks telling jokes while playing poker and drinking beer. Oh wait, isn't that what dogs do?

...and he orders a drink. When the drink arrives, he tells the bartender: "Just put it on my bill."

Quack, quack, quack.

No comments: