Clemence the Insomniac Duckling - part 2

The photo developing service promises a 24-hour turn around and therefore has Mum drop her baking activities and waddle off to the city center at Willow Pond. Armed with an envelope full of memories, she returns home and, forgetting the pie in the oven, delves into chapters of ducklings, her heart aglow with that golden shine of motherhood.

She smiles at Max’s unruly quaff, at Paloma’s tendency to pose, at Deirdre inquisitive looks and Wilfred’s resemblance to his father. She takes out a pen and paper, and begins to chronicle the photos, putting down in writing the series of events and the dates at which they took place. There are 24 photos in the pack. The first series of seven date back to the science fair, and to Deirdre’s outstanding accomplishment. The next ten show the ducklings at play with the neighbour’s kids. The last six are a collection of portraits of each child at various times. She notes various detail down, such as Mona’s tendency to gain weight, making a mental note of portion sizes to serve her at dinner time. She also scribbles some suggestions for birthday cakes. But there’s one more photograph in the pack. It’s facing down, when all the others were organised upwards. She turns it over.

There she finds a frail and very young duckling. She immediately makes a note to return this photo to the shop jotting it down as a sorting mistake. But deep inside she recognizes those eyes, and the pain in her chest, the one she had lived with for seasons after the birth, is reignited. It’s a blurry photograph, but the mischief in the young duck’s eyes shines clearly through the lens.

She remembers taking this photo, back then still amused by Clemence’s wayward ways. That day, Doug and Mum had taken the kids out to learn to hunt. They’d chosen a secluded area of the pond for this exercise. They knew to watch out for Clemence’s distracted disposition and had therefore placed her at the head of the line. Wilfred had vehemently complained that he was the eldest and should therefore be at the head, but Mum and Dad hadn’t taken heed. They’d enjoyed a good day of hunting, and returned home at dusk to put the kids to bed. They’d all fallen asleep immediately, worn out by the day’s activities.

All except for Clemence. It’s at that moment that Irma had taken the photograph, eager to record her daughter’s willfulness, and amused at the growing resemblance with herself. That night Clemence had gone to sleep and Mum’s fears were abated. She could not have predicted what would happen next.

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.