1830. April 20, 2009: Alexandria Virginia, Waterfront Park:
It was a rainy afternoon in Alexandria Virginia. Waterfront Park was normally crowded with business women out walking their dogs. Small children, (delighted with their after-school freedom) run screaming to the edge of the Potomac and hurled stones across…hoping to skip them all the way to Maryland! Elderly men sometimes walk around with lost looks on their faces…and every once in awhile…my contact would walk to the water and stare across for a few minutes before going on his way.
The rain had driven the usual cast of characters indoors. That was fine for me; I don’t fare well with the dogs and children. My contact hadn’t shown up at the park for quite sometime. I decided to wait a bit longer before diving into the Potomac and swimming back to my nest.
I kept a close eye on the steel mountain a few blocks away. Hoping to conceal my spying, I began nibbling the grass. (Waterfront Park has GREAT grass by the way!) My contact walks out of that mountain everyday when the sun gets low in the sky. I can’t imagine what goes on inside the mountain, but it must be some sort of torture.
An awful light shines out of the windows. (The humans call these “fluorescents.”) Men look like zombies when they walk in, and look even worse as they walk out. Their eyes are bloodshot, their clothes wrinkled and disheveled, and their smiles are nowhere to be found.
I volunteered for this position because it’s my hope that one day we animals can rescue our brother…our “contact,” from the torture of this place. It’s dreadful to see him in the afternoons…looking like all the other zombies. I can’t smell the wind on him any longer. I’m getting frantic! I may need backup…
I stopped nibbling the grass and decided to go. As I turned toward the Potomic, I saw him. He was looking downcast (as always) and heading to his car. It looked like he was heading home. He opened the door and got in…but then he stopped. (My heart leapt into my throat!)
He slowly climbed out of his car and shut the door. Something was stirring…the fog was clearing from his blue eyes. The corpse-like mannerisms faded off, and I caught a hint of the wild winds coming from his direction!
He walked towards the water. I quacked and plodded away from him (as any normal duck would) and scampered off to a nearby bush to get a better look. What I saw was a glorious thing.
He breathed in deeply…the sweet smells of late April were augmented by the light rain and he caught every one of them. The beauty of the fading sunlight over the Potomac cleared away the haze from his eyes, and he stood there…taking in the sights and smells created for him by the Creator.
Yes…my fellow animals…for five minutes…our contact was alive!
Posted by shotgunwildatheart 
