Rubber Ducky - practice

Rubber Ducky

A story about a timid rubber duck lost out in the great wide
world.

         The gushing of
the warm faucet water sounded like a waterfall in Rubber Ducky's
ears.  Do I even have ears? he thought.  I must, because
that water is awfully loud!  As the water pours out of the
spigot, it sends ripples throughout the tub.  To Rubber Ducky, they
may as well be tidal waves.  I think my yellow is starting to turn
a bit green.  Rubber Ducky bobs up and down on the crest of each
wave, moving further and further from the spigot.  Soon, the tidal
waves become a strong current and Rubber Ducky coasts along in the
stream, past the wash cloth; past the floating bar of soap, and
reaches the back of the tub where the current slows.  Rubber Ducky,
sighing in relief, is happy to be out of the dangerous end of the
tub.  Little Boy comes in carrying his towel over his shoulder, and a
pink bottle in his hand.  Popping open the top of the pink bottle,
Little Boy turns the bottle upside down and squeezes out a clear
liquid under the spigot.  Soon, foamy bubbles start to form.  In no
time they are the size of a mountain to Rubber Ducky.  Thankfully,
he sighs, they're on the dangerous end of the tub.
Little Boy plops his towel on the edge of the sink and sticks his
finger into the water.  Rubber Ducky and the other tub toys watch as
he swirls his finger counter clockwise in a circle.  Little Boy
starts in small, concentric circles.  It's not long before his
circles become wider and wider.  Soon, the current that Rubber Ducky
was happily milling about on changes course and heads toward the
middle of the tub.  Little Boy has created a whirlpool!  Rubber Ducky
feels butterflies stirring about in his stomach!  Do I even have a
stomach? he thinks.  I must, because I'm starting to feel a
bit queasy!

         "Little Boy!"
Mother calls.  "Are you in the tub, yet?"  Little boy runs out
the door shouting,

         "Just getting
my toy boat, Mother!"

         Wait!  Help
me, Little Boy! Rubber Ducky shouts.  Can I even, shout?
he thinks.  I don't have a throat, and my mouth doesn't open,
but oh how I wish I could shout!  Rubber Ducky draws closer and
closer to the whirlpool, but what's worse is that the mountain high
bath bubbles are also drawing closer to the whirlpool!  Rubber Ducky
will soon be covered in them!  How will I see?  What if I crash
into something and get hurt?  Soon the whirlpool snatches up
Rubber Ducky.  He's spinning around and around.  The butterflies
in my stomach, if I have one, are really fluttering now! As he
comes halfway around the circle, facing toward the dangerous end,
Rubber Ducky can see the bubble mountains drawing closer and closer.
With all the spinning, Rubber Ducky is getting very dizzy.  Soon, he
doesn't know which way is the dangerous end, and which is the safe
end.  Then, a huge bubble mountain appears before him; the largest
one he's ever seen.  I'd shut my eyes, if only I had eyelids!
The bubble mountain touches the end of his beak, and Rubber Ducky
holds his breath.  Just then, a sailboat crashes on top of the bubble
mountain and squashes it flat.  The force of the splash sends Rubber
Ducky toward the safe end of the tub.  When he stops spinning and
slows down, he sees Little Boy sitting in the tub.  Mother comes in
and turns off the spigot.  Rubber Ducky sighs a huge sigh of relief,
now that all is well.  The sailboat floats toward Rubber Ducky and
gently nudges him aside.  Little Boy picks up Rubber Ducky and places
him in the captain's seat on the sailboat.  Before his mother
begins to scrub Little Boy clean, Rubber Ducky goes for a calm ride
around the tub.

         "Mother? Are
we still going to the lake tomorrow?"

         "As long as it
doesn't rain Little Boy."  Little Boy smiles happily, and
continues sailing the boat around the tub with Captain Rubber Ducky
at the helm.

         After his bath,
Little Boy takes Rubber Ducky out of the water and gently sets him on
the edge of the tub next to the soap.  Rubber Ducky is very glad for
this.  Up there he can safely watch the water lower and get pulled
into the little whirlpool that helps it go down the drain.  The final
gurgling sputter of the water sends shivers down Rubber Ducky's
spine.  Do I even have a spine? he thinks.  I must, because
that sound gives me the willies.  Mother has finished drying off
Little Boy, and now Little Boy picks up Rubber Ducky and dries him
off.

         "Good Night
Rubber Ducky." Little Boy says. Mother shuts off the bathroom light
as they leave, but leaves the bathroom door open.  Rubber Ducky is
glad for this.  He isn't afraid of the dark, but feels more
comfortable with being able to see the nightlight coming in from the
hallway.

         The following
morning Rubber Ducky is awakened by Mother, who has come into the
bathroom to get towels from the closet.  "Little Boy, are you awake
yet?" calls Mother into the hallway.  Rubber Ducky hears Little
Boy's bedroom door open.

         "Yes, Mother."

         "Are you
wearing your swim trunks under your slacks, like I told you?'

         "Yes, Mother.
May I bring some toys with me to the lake."

         "Of course,
Little Boy."  With a cheer, Little Boy comes rushing into the
bathroom.

         "I want to
bring Rubber Ducky.  He's never swum in a real lake before."
Mother seemed a bit worried by this, but Little Boy pleaded with her
to let him bring Rubber Ducky to the lake.

         "All right, he
can come with us.  Be careful with him, and keep an eye on him."

         "Yes, Mother."

         "Now come
along, Little Boy.  Father has breakfast ready."

         After a hearty
breakfast, Father and Mother loaded up the car, and Little Boy
gathered up Rubber Ducky and all his other toys and they headed out
for the lake.  It was a long drive to the lake, and Little Boy was
getting anxious.  When they pulled up to the lake, Little Boy burst
out of the car and ran to the shore.

         "Little Boy!"
called his Father, "Stay out of the water until we come down with
you."

         "Okay,
Father!"  Little Boy looked out over the big lake.  Closest to him
was a long wooden dock for jumping off, and a ladder to climb back on
and jump again.  Out in the middle of a lake was a raft that you
could swim out to and lay on.  Far on the other side of a lake was
another dock with a small red house and two canoes tied to the dock.
Beyond that, the lake disappeared around a wooded corner.  Little Boy
excitedly ran back to the car, straight past his Mother and Father,
and climbed into the backseat.  Reaching for his towel he pulled it
up and flung it over his shoulder.  Underneath the towel was Rubber
Ducky, who'd been taking a nap.  "Come on Rubber Ducky! Come swim
in the lake with me!" said Little Boy.

         Rubber Ducky was
feeling a little queasy from the entire running Little Boy did from
the car to the lake.  Then when Rubber Ducky saw the lake, he felt
very nervous.  He'd never been swimming in anything other than a
bathtub.  Rubber Ducky didn't know the first thing about swimming
in a lake.  Little Boy and Father went into the water.  Father held
onto Little Boy, and Little Boy held on tight to Rubber Ducky.  When
Father let go of Little Boy, Little boy gently lowered Rubber Ducky
into the water.  Chills ran up Rubber Ducky's spine, if I even
have a spine; the water was much, much colder than Rubber Ducky
was used to.  He soon forgot about the temperature and began looking
all around him.  Above him was the bright blue sky, which he'd only
seen from the bathroom window.  There are even clouds in the sky,
more so than I've ever seen before.  And trees!  Many, many more
than I've seen from the little bathroom window!  For the only
tree visible from the bathroom window was a very old willow tree.  At
the lake, Rubber Ducky could see many different kinds of trees!

         Beneath him,
Rubber Ducky could see the water and the fish swimming in it.  There
was even another Rubber Ducky swimming upside down in the water!  He
was very surprised at this, having never seen his own reflection
before.  But, as the upside down Rubber Ducky seemed to be ignoring
him, Rubber Ducky ignored it and marveled at all that surrounded him.

         Father soon
waded out into the water and helped Little Boy swim out to the dock.
Rubber Ducky watched from close to the shore.  He was too afraid to
go out into the deep water.  Rubber Ducky was content to watch Little
Boy and Father jump off the raft, swim, and splash each other.  While
Little Boy and Father swam about, Rubber Ducky bobbed about in the
shallow end of the nice calm, cool lake.  Tiny fish swam about
underneath him.  Rubber Ducky tried to talk to them, but they either
could not hear him or were busy doing fish things.

         As the afternoon
of fun continued neither Father, Mother, Little Boy or Rubber Ducky
noticed the sky growing quickly dark.  Soon a loud, crashing noise
burst over their heads.  Mother shouted for Father and Little Boy to
swim back and get out of the water.  Before they could reach the
dock's ladder, rain fell heavy and sudden out of the dark gray
clouds.  Little Boy and Father quickly climbed up the ladder.  Mother
gathered their clothes and blankets.  Then came the loud, crashing
sound of thunder once again, proceeded by a bolt of ribbon lightning.
Mother became very nervous and was pushing Little Boy toward the
car.  Father was right behind them.  Rubber Ducky tried to shout out
loudly, "Little Boy! Wait!  Don't leave me here alone!" But
neither Little Boy, Mother nor Father could here his cry for help.
Rubber Ducky watched helplessly as the family climbed into the car
and quickly drove away.

         They've
forgotten me.  Rubber Ducky thought.  But before he could feel
very sorry for himself, a huge wind began to blow.  The calm lake
suddenly was very wavy.  Rubber Ducky tried to stay near the shore,
but the wind and the waves were much worse than anything he'd ever
experienced in the bathtub.  The waves rocked him side to side and up
and down.  More than once he was tossed sideways then upright again.
As he got further away from the dock and the shore, he was capsized
completely.  What if I breathe in water?  What if I drown? Do I
even have lungs?  The only thing Rubber Ducky could see is the
murky water of the lake, and the occasional fish swimming below him.
He thought of calling to them for help, but did not want to risk
swallowing any lake water.  The wind blew even stronger, and a huge
wave tossed Rubber Ducky right side up again.  As he bobbed around on
the huge waves, Rubber Ducky was spinning around in circles.  He
looked all around him as he spun, but could not see the dock or the
shore.  Even the Red house with the canoes tied to the other dock was
gone from sight.  Rubber Ducky was not only in danger and forgotten,
he was lost and did not know how to get back to where he had been, in
case Little Boy were to come looking for him.

         The wind
continued to blow fiercely.  Lightning and Thunder split and
shattered the clouds.  The pelting rain slowly began to die down, and
as the wind slowed, Rubber Ducky tried to turn himself away from the
direction of the current.  It was mighty strong, and Rubber Ducky
struggled hard.  Soon, the wind and current steered him around a
bend.  Once clear of the bend, he could see that he was in a tiny
cove where the water stopped and lapped against another shore.
Rubber Ducky breathed in deep, if I even have lungs to breath
with, and pushed his body toward the shore with all his might.
Just as he was growing weak, a strong final blast of wind pushed him
out of the current and into another one that pushed him straight on
to the shore.  Rubber Ducky was so exhausted from the whole ordeal
that he quickly fell asleep.

         Hours later,
Rubber Ducky awakes because he is being jostled.  His eyes open, and
he jumps, startled, as he soars about three feet off the ground.  I'm
flying! Rubber Ducky thinks.  But I don't have wings!  Do I?
Just then, Rubber Ducky comes to a stop at the foot of a man wearing
a red and black flannel shirt and a pair of black rubber boots.
"Good Dog.  What cha' got there?" asks the man.  Rubber Ducky
then falls suddenly to the ground.  Rubber Ducky rolls and sees a
large black and white dog as it reaches down to sniff him. Rubber
Ducky is suddenly very afraid.  The dog had found him in the water,
and carried him in his mouth to his master's feet.  As the man
picked him up, Rubber Ducky relaxed. 

If the dog had
wanted to chew me to bits, he'd have done it already, I suppose.
The man looked Rubber Ducky over, even turning him upside down.

         "Well, I'll
be...look-y here, will ya' boy?" and the man shows the dog the
bottom of Rubber Ducky.  "Let's take him home and get him cleaned
up, huh?"  With that the man carries the Rubber Ducky back to his
house.  The dog follows closely behind him.

         The man walks a
long way back to his home.  Rubber Ducky is surprised to see that the
man and the dog live in the red house with the dock and the rope
swing that he saw when he and Little Boy first got to the lake.  The
man kicks off his boots, and the dog runs ahead into another part of
the house.  "Honey, I'm home.  Guess what I found?"

         "I'm in the
kitchen, Dear."  Dear heads into the kitchen and finds Honey at the
sink washing her hands.  She turns as she wipes her hands on her
apron.  Dear holds up Rubber Ducky.  "It's a Rubber Ducky.  Where
did you find it?"

         "All the way
on the other side of the lake.  But that's not the only interesting
thing about it."  Dear hands Rubber Ducky to Honey.  "Look on the
bottom."

         "Oh my!
It's--" Just then, a little girl comes rushing into the room
from the outdoors.

         "A Rubber
Ducky!" screams the little girl.  "Is it for me?" she asks
looking at her parents.

         "No, I'm
afraid not." says her father.  "It belongs to--"

         "Young lady!
Look what you did to my kitchen floor."  Rubber Ducky could see
that the little girl had tracked mud into the house.  "What were
you doing?"

         "Making mud
pies."  Young Lady says.

         "Well,
straight off to the bath for you!"

         "Can I play
with the Rubber Ducky in the tub?" Young Lady asks her Mother.
Honey looks at Dear.  Dear says,

         "All right.
But just for tonight."  Young Lady's face lights up and she grabs
Rubber Ducky from her mother's outstretched hand.

         "Thanks,
Daddy!" she calls as she runs back to her room, tracking mud to
even more parts of the house.  Honey sighs and Dear goes to get the
mop while Honey heads into the bathroom to start the tub water.

         Young Lady kicks
off her shoes and shoves them under her bed.  Instead of getting out
some clean pajamas for bed, she introduces Rubber Ducky to every toy
in the room.  Rubber Ducky thinks, I do miss Little Boy terribly.
But perhaps I could be happy here with Young Lady and her family.  As
long as their dog doesn't carry me around anymore, that is.

         "Young Lady,
you're bath is ready, now!" calls her mother.  Young Lady quickly
grabs a pair of pajamas from her bureau and runs into the bathroom
with Rubber Ducky in hand.  Looking around at the bathroom, Rubber
Ducky sees a very large window.  Young Lady sets him down into the
tub water.  Ah, just the right temperature.  And I can see out the
window; there are trees with squirrels and orange leaves, a sky,
clouds, and--oh--an airplane is going by!  My new home is just as
nice as my old one with Little Boy.  But, mentioning Little Boy's
name made Rubber Ducky very sad.

         He wasn't sad
for long, though. Young Lady climbs into the bathtub, and immediately
begins playing with him.  She even has a boat that he can sail on!
Rubber Ducky sailed around the tub for what seemed like forever.  He
had so much fun sailing, and meeting Young Lady's other tub toys,
that he didn't want it to end.

         When bath time
was over, and Young Lady had dried off and put on her pajamas she and
her mother wiped up the water off the floor, and headed out.  As her
mother turns out the light, Young Lady asks, "Mom?  Can't I keep
the Rubber Ducky?"

         "No, that
wouldn't be right.  It doesn't belong to us."  And Honey shut
the door behind them as they left.  Rubber Ducky could still hear
their voices, but couldn't tell what they were saying.  As Rubber
Ducky settled down to a good night's sleep, the orange glow from
the bathroom nightlight cast a peaceful glow over the tub.  Rubber
Ducky yawns very big, and falls right to sleep.

         The next
morning, Young Lady and her father, dear, come into the bathroom to
brush their teeth after breakfast.  As Young Lady finishes and drinks
from her rinse cup, she asks her father "Can't I please keep the
Rubber Ducky?"

         "Young Lady,
your mother and I have already talked to you about this.  It's not
your Rubber Ducky.  Now stop worrying about it, and let's go get
your lunch ready for school."  Young Lady looked sadly at Rubber
Ducky.  Then, as Dear was leaving the bathroom, she grabs Rubber
Ducky off the tub shelf and stuffs him into her back pants pocket. 

Rubber Ducky
couldn't see anything in Young Lady's pocket.  But he did hear
her parents helping her get ready for school.  Just as the school bus
pulled up to the house, Honey and dear walked out to their car, so
Honey could say goodbye to Dear as he left for work.  "Come on,
Young Lady the school bus is waiting for you."  Rubber Ducky could
tell that she was running, and heard her mother tell her goodbye.
Then, several voices he'd never heard before were all around him,
and very loud.  Young Lady takes Rubber Ducky out of her pocket and
sits down at her seat in the school bus.  "I won't let them take
you away.  You can hide at school in my desk.  It's not a bathtub,
but we can still have fun."  For now, though, Young Lady stuffed
Rubber Ducky in her book bag.

         When Young Lady
arrived at School she hurried off the bus and into her classroom.
She took out her schoolbooks, her homework and Rubber Ducky, who she
quickly stuffed inside her desk before anyone could see him.

         Throughout the
day, she couldn't stop thinking about Rubber Ducky.  She wondered
if he would be safe in her desk.  She wondered if he'd be
comfortable in there, since it wasn't a bathtub.  Was he afraid of
the dark?  Mostly, she worried that something might happen to him, or
that someone else would find him.  What if her teacher cleaned out
her desk after school?  Would she take the Rubber Ducky?

         Young Lady
worried about Rubber Ducky so much that she couldn't stop thinking
about him, to concentrate on anything else.  She didn't get her
seatwork done at school; she got hit in the head by a dodge ball in
gym class, and at lunch she was just nibbling at her PBJ.  "What's
the matter?" asked Young Lady's friend.  Young Lady had been
staring at her fruit snacks for five minutes and hadn't eaten a
single one of them.  "Don't you like fruit snacks anymore?"

         "Oh it's not
that.  I'm just can't stop thinking about--" Young Lady caught
herself in time, but was afraid she'd already said too much.

         "About what?"
asked her friend?

         "Can you keep
a secret?  I've got a Rubber Ducky in my desk."

         "Why?"

         "I'm hiding
it from my parents."

         "Okay."

         "My dog found
it yesterday, and I wanted to keep it, but my parents said I couldn't
so I brought it to school so they can't find it."

         "You're
gonna get in trouble."

         "You're not
gonna tell, are you?"

         "No, but your
parents will wonder what happened to your ducky."

         "I'll say,
'I don't know'."

         "They won't
believe that.  You should say your dog ate it."

         "Yeah!  He
eats weird stuff all the time.  Thanks! I owe you one!"

         "Can I have
the ducky?"

         "Huh?"

         "I want the
ducky; just for tonight."

         "Why?"

         "I want to
take it home, and play with it in my tub."

         "I don't
know...."

         "Please! I've
never had one before; I'll bring it back tomorrow, promise!"
Young Lady wasn't sure she wanted to give the Rubber Ducky to her
friend.  What if she forgot to bring it back?  What if she never
brought it back?  "If you don't let me take it home, I'm not
gonna be your friend anymore!"  Young Lady was really upset.  She
felt like she was going to cry.  She didn't want her friend to be
mad at her, so after school, she gave her the ducky to take home for
one night.

         The school bus
pulled up to a blue house with a yellow door on a quiet neighborhood
street.  When the doors of the bus opened wide, Young Lady's friend
jumped off the bus and ran up her sidewalk to the yellow door.  Her
mother was outside planting tulips near the porch.  Her brother was
playing basketball in the driveway.  Throwing open the door Young
Lady's friend tore up the stairs and down the hall to the bathroom.
While running, she unzipped her book bag and pulled out the rubber
ducky.  She throws open wide the bathroom door only to see her
father at the sink washing her hands.  "Welcome Home, Precious."

         "Hi Daddy."
Precious says shortly.  She rushes over to the tub, stops up the
drain and turns on the bath water.  As some water begins to pool near
the drain, she places the rubber ducky in the water.  Then, her
father comes up behind her, turns off the water, and unstops the
drain.

         "You can't
take a bath right now Precious; Grammy's coming over in a bit to
see you."

         "But Daddy--"

         "Sorry
Precious.  Your mother wants you to go put on that dress she got you
for your birthday."

         "Daddy--"
But her daddy just leads her out of the bathroom.

         Finally, some
piece and quiet.  That school was terribly noisy.  Ah, back in a
bathtub.  If only it were Little Boy's bathtub.  I wish he were
here.

         Across
town, Little Boy was sitting on his swing set outside.  Instead of
swinging, however, he was swaying back and forth and thinking of
Rubber Ducky.  He halted his swing and began drawing Rubber Ducky in
the sand with his sneaker.  His father was grilling some burgers and
hot dogs on their deck.  Little Boy could here his father and mother
talking.  "He's still upset about losing his Rubber Ducky at the
lake the other day." Little Boy's mother says.

         "I told him
we'd get him another one, but he says he doesn't want another
one."

         "Maybe
spending the night at his friend's house this weekend will cheer
him up."

         "I sure hope
so." Little Boy's father says with a sigh as he flips the
burgers.  That night, Little Boy ate only half his dinner and went to
bed right when his parents told him to.  Little Boy's parents were
very worried about him.  They were going to keep him at home instead
of spending the night at his friend's house the next night, but
Little Boy really wanted to go and his parents thought it would cheer
him up.

         The next day
while playing at his friend's house, Little Boy had a lot of fun.
He and his friend played basketball, went walking in the woods,
skipped rocks across a pond, and were filthy dirty all over by the
end of the day.  Little Boy had such a great day that he'd
forgotten about how upset he was about losing Rubber Ducky.  That is,
until his friend's mother saw how dirty they were when they came
into the house for dinner.

"Land sakes
boys! You're filthy."

         "You two need
a bath more than anybody I've ever seen." Friend's father said.

         "I want to
take a bath, too.  Please, Daddy!"

         "No, Precious.
You can have one after dinner.  Little Boy, you're first.  Son,
Take him in to the bathroom and get him a towel." Friend's mother
said.  The two boys hurried down the hallway to get Little Boy in the
tub; neither one of them wanted to eat a cold dinner.  As his friend
rummaged about in the closet for a towel and washcloth, Little Boy
began to look around the bathroom.  Suddenly, as he looked in the
tub, he saw something that made his eyes light up with excitement!

         "Rubber
Ducky!" Little Boy shouted.  He grabbed Rubber Ducky and began to
jump up and down with joy.

         "What're you
so excited about? It's just my sister's Rubber Ducky."

         "No, it's my
Rubber Ducky!  I lost it last week at the lake, but now I've got it
back."

         "My sister
brought that home from school--"

         "But, it's
mine!  See." Little Boy shows Friend the bottom of Rubber Ducky
where his name is written in black marker: Little Boy.  That
night, Little Boy and Rubber Ducky had the best bath either one of
them had been a part of.

THE
END