Clemence the Insomniac Duckling - part 1

It had been a proud day for the Willow family. Their youngest, Deirdre, was the first of the Willows not just to hand a project in on time, but to win third prize for it.

For the occasion, they gathered in front of the dining room mantel piece for a picture, recording: Deirdre age 7, Max age 7, Mona age 7, Philip age 7, Paloma age 7 and Wilfred age 7 – where age is counted in seasons. The photograph remained encased in the film spool for months as Mum struggled to find time to develop it. Finally, on the day their tax returns were due, she managed not just to pass by the post office, but also to drop the film off to be developed. She was eager to discover what other moments she’d captured over the months on her semi-automatic camera - or was semi-automatic a term used hunting guns? – she could never quite remember. She returned home that evening hopeful and purposeful having accomplished two missions on her to-do list.

Irma, as she’s once been called – at least till she became known as Mum to everyone, husband included – had been renowned down at Mirror Pond as the most beautiful mallard. She’d been quite the socialite, wasting away her days on the waterside in anticipation of night. She’d met Doug on one of her night swims, and though she’d been slightly inebriated at the time, she’d immediately seen in him the makings of a good, kind duck. It helped that he was handsome, in a stocky sort of way. They’d been quick to fall in love and move away from the bustle of Mirror Pond.

They’d chosen Willow Pond, where they became parents to 6 adorable ducklings, and were known, as of then, as the Willow family. Upon breaking the news of her pregnancy, Irma had been warned that only two or three of her gaggle would make it past ducklinghood. But she was infused with positivity, filled to burst with happy thoughts of a big, loud family. Doug doted on her, eager as well to see each one of their creations grow into a healthy duck.

On the day of their birth, the ducklings hatched one after the other, in sequence, programmed to come to life at a minute’s interval of one another. She remembers fondly how each egg shook, wobbled and cracked, revealing her most prized progeny. In her accounts of that day, Irma tells of the hatching of 6 eggs, citing Deirdre as the youngest and Wilfred as the oldest.