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Waddle was a plump duck
with snow white feathers, bright orange webbed feet and bill. Waddle was
different from most of the ducks in the pond. While the other ducks moved
quickly, he walked slowly, waddling back and forth, from side to side with
each step.
One sunny winter's day,
Waddle was swimming about as usual in the pond. One side of the pond was
covered in ice, as it didn’t get as much sun as the other side. Waddle
enjoyed the warmer parts of the pond, the places where there was no ice.
He also preferred hiding among the tree limbs that hung over the water,
offering a protective shelter from the wind and bad weather.
He swam about, busily
looking for something to eat, like the occasional bug that fell into the
water, or some algae that was growing on a bent reed. He stuck his head
under the water to look around at what tasty morsels might be on the pond
bottom. He noticed some small snails clinging to the branch of a tree that
had dangled too far into the water. Using his rounded bill, he plucked a
few off and gobbled them down. Waddle loved to eat snails.
A gust of cold wind blew
through his feathers. Waddle looked up into the sky. It was filled with
dark gray clouds. They hung low and looked heavy. Waddle knew what that
meant. Snow! At first it rained, big drops falling, splattering in the
pond. He swam under the dead branches and took cover under the trunk of
the tree. Splat! Splat! Splat!
The more drops that fell,
the choppier the pond became.
After a while, the rain
turned to snow. Huge flakes fluttered down to the ground, carpeting it
with a blanket of whiteness. The snowflakes that fell into the pond,
dissolved quickly in the icy water. The snow came down for hours. Waddle
tucked his bill and head under the feathers of his wings and fell asleep.
Silence filled the air as
the wintry storm continued throughout the night. When Waddle woke up the
next morning, he felt the sunshine on his face. It’s rays filtered through
the willow tree. He opened his eyes. Everything was covered with snow. The
trees hung low because of the snow piled on their branches, the bushes
were bent over, and the pond looked black. The sunshine reflecting off the
snow nearly blinded Waddle. He turned his head and saw that his back was
covered with an inch of snow. He raised his wings and flapped them back
and forth. All the snow fell into the water.
He came out from under the
branches and swam around the pond. Everything was beautiful and clean
looking. The little ice crystals in the snow sparkled in the sunlight. He
swam around in circles for a while, happy to be alive, happy to be a duck
in the pond. |
