I was sitting with some friends the other day when one of them asked how my rubber ducky was. I said “What rubber ducky?” She said, “You know the one you wrote about a couple of years go at Christmas for your grandkids or something.” I then realized that she was referring to a trilogy I wrote about Ludlow the yellow rubber ducky who belonged to a little blonde girl. Ludlow’s problem was that he did not want to be yellow as that was too common among rubber duckies. What he wanted was to be different colors like red or green for Christmas.
He had succeeded at times, and Rudolph had even taken him to Santa’s workshop where he tried to get in paint lines to change his color. However, the few times that he did succeed the little girl’s mother would always clean off the new color. Even today Ludlow wanted to be a different color as Christmas was approaching. However, he had fewer and fewer chances since little girls do not stay little.The result was that he sat mostly on a shelf. He had had a fling with a lady rubber ducky who thought he was soo handsome, particularly one time when he had managed to become green. However, she had been appropriated by the little blonde girl’s younger sister and he rarely saw her.
So poor Ludlow sat on the shelf wondering if he would ever be able to become red or green. If he could, perhaps the little blonde girl (who was now big), would put him under her tree which would be very nice. As mentioned, the little blonde girl had grown up. She was not only a very attractive young lady, but she had gone to college and was now a rocket scientist. In fact, she was such a good rocket scientist that NASA hired her. When she went off to work at the NASA site, she saw Ludlow on the shelf and decided to take him along with her for luck. So now Ludlow sat on a shelf in her apartment.
Ludlow thought that he was not any better off as he was still on a shelf with no chance to become red or green. Then one day the young lady came in with another rocket scientist and heard her exclaim that she was now an astronaut and was going to spend six months aboard the space station. Now Ludlow was really despondent. He would probably be alone for six months. He decided to concentrate his thoughts on his owner suggesting that she take him to the space station. Who knows, he might find a way in space to become a Christmas color.
Apparently his wish was heard, as his pretty blonde rocket scientist picked him up one day and put him in her duffle bag. Not long after he heard a mighty roar and he realized that he was in a rocket to the space station. When they arrived, a spot had to be found where he would not float around. One was eventually found where he could see what was happening in the space station. One day, he heard his rocket scientist friend say that she was going outside to fix something which had come loose. Ludlow saw his chance as he had found that he was coming loose from where he had been placed. All he had to do was float out of his place when she came by and attach himself to some Velcro on her suit and go out into space with her. He hoped that there might be some space people out there who could change his color.
Luck was with Ludlow. He timed his approach just right and stuck to her suit. Unfortunately, as soon as they got outside she bumped against something and Ludlow was sent into space. He was not certain that he liked outer space as it was colder than the North Pole, and he didn’t see any space people. He wondered if he was doomed to float forever among the stars.
Is he? Poor Ludlow!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
