When I was in first or second grade, a girl named Grace Cummings wanted to be my friend.
Back then, around Easter time, taxidermied ducklings were dyed pink and blue, stapled to a piece of cardboard, and sold at the ten cent store.
But I wanted a real duck, not a taxidermied duck. Grace said she had one at home and was going to give it to me.
Every day I'd ask her, before class started, "Did you bring the duck today?"
"No, I forgot. I'll bring it tomorrow."
This went on for weeks, maybe months. That duck would have fed a family of five by the time I realized Grace was never going to give me the promised duck.
Scarred me for life.
7 comments:
Your friend was a dirty duck double crosser to do that! I'd have flipped if I learned that my anticipated pet not only wasn't coming but was killed and eaten. Geez.
Grace was a wicked carrot-dangler. I knew kids like that. I got even with them and drew caricatures of them in high school art class.
See, now, I'm thinking Grace got pretty scarred up, too. Impulsively offering something she couldn't possibly deliver on and you had the little girl balls to actually REMEMBER and demand it.
I am, however, sorry for your loss. :)
This story is so sad (and funny). Kids are so weird--almost as weird as adults sometimes. In grammar school I remember going over to Mia Sakia's house for the first time. I saw a tiny wooden dachshund on her dresser. It had a chain around its neck with a red plastic heart. I had to have it. I asked her if she was tired of it. She gave it to me. Then I saw 3 little seashells that her dad had brought back from Japan. I asked her if she was tired of them. She gave them to me. POOR MIA. Later I was shocked when she told me that she hadn't liked me very much when we first met. But I still have the dachshund--I liked it SO MUCH.
I have a friend I like to tease by saying "if you die before I do can I have this frog planter?" She just rolls her eyes. BUT NOW I can say "are you tired of this feather boa?"
Thanks for a great line Linda!
So interesting to me how you all just KNOW this type. Mean jean, have any of those cartoons around these days?
booda baby, I think you're right. She was one of those kids you grow up with who falls off the radar. Something wrong there, that she so valiantly kept promising it. There was never a baby duck. She lived in an apartment.
Linda! Great story! LOOT!
people can be so mean and scary! why do we have to learn about them the hard way?
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