The other day, I was surrounded by some neighbor ladies who demanded to know what was happening to “their” duck. For a moment, I was at a loss, and then I realized that they were referring to Ludlow the yellow rubber ducky. In the past I have written about some of his adventures. Ludlow’s biggest problem is that he does not want to be yellow. He wants to be different colors so he can fit in with holidays. Christmas is his “biggie”, and he wants to be green or red to fit in. He would even take orange (which is not far from yellow) for Halloween. People, including even Santa Claus, have told him that he is a yellow rubber ducky, and he “should get used to it”.
Ludlow, who was manufactured in an all-female factory, refused to accept that he should get used to it. However, at the point in this story Ludlow was not worried about color. He was just very happy that he had been released from a toy chest. His original owner, the little blonde girl, had grown up to be a very pretty blonde lady, had married and now had a little blonde girl of her own. The latter had found Ludlow in the toy chest, squealed with delight, and put him on her bed stand. Ludlow was content, but the old urge to be a different color was coming to the fore.
Just then, the little Blonde girl came rushing into the room and cried, “Oh, Ludlow we are going on a cruise”. Ludlow had no idea what a cruise was, but if his owner was happy, it must be something good. It might even be a place where he could find a way to turn himself green or red. Nothing occurred for a couple of days, but then one morning Ludlow found himself being stuffed into a suitcase.
The next day, he was taken out of the suitcase and found himself in another bedroom. Ludlow, didn’t think that the new bedroom was much different than the previous one. Just then, the room began to move, although Ludlow did not know why, but he thought that perhaps this was different and that an opportunity to change color might happen yet.
The room moved for a couple of days – and Ludlow still did not know why. The little blonde girl came in and said, “Ludlow, I am going to show you the ship.”
She then walked him around the ship. Ludlow was not impressed since he did not see anything that would give him an opportunity to change color. He didn’t see any other rubber duckies either so he accepted that he was just along for the ride. Then, the little blonde girl took him out on deck and showed him the ocean. Ludlow was amazed. He had never seen so much water even when he was frozen in the Canadian river and Rudolph the red nosed reindeer rescued him (another story).
The little blonde girl placed Ludlow on a railing while she tied her shoe. Just then a wave hit the ship and tilted it. Ludlow was able to see that directly below a man was painting a railing green. He thought if this ship tilts again perhaps I can fall into that green paint can and be ready for Christmas when it comes. Sure enough that is exactly what happened, and Ludlow landed with a splash in the paint can. The painter was not happy with this as the paint splashed all over him. He was angry, picked Ludlow up and threw him out into the ocean. When Ludlow saw where he was, he thought that perhaps he should “have gotten used to it”. The water felt different to him, and what was worse it seemed to be taking the green paint off him.
As Ludlow floated in what seemed to be an extreme expanse of water, he noticed that he was going up and down very fast. He had floated for some time and the ship had disappeared. He looked up and saw what sea faring people would call a rogue wave headed toward him. It was immense and very tall. It caught up with him and lifted him to the very top!
Poor Ludlow!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com