Ducks and Dates

“AC! Look at the ducks! Can I go feed them?” Nia asked pulling her hand out of my back pocket and twirling around to point at the ducks in the pond.

“Honey, those are geese,” or they were big ass ducks, but I wasn’t about to tell her that part. It’d make her want to play with them even more.

“So? Can I feed the geese?”

“No, Nia. That’s bad for the environment.” I grabbed her hand and kept walking. Once a week, I’d pick her up after school and the two of us would go for a walk in a park. I’d help her with her homework, we’d eat a picnic, and then I’d take her home and we’d watch a movie. It was a sort of tradition that we did because her mom, my sister, liked having one evening a week to go out late or work later.

“Fine, I guess.” She murmured and sighed loudly. I ran a hand through her short black hair in an attempt to make her feel better. She’d forget about wanting to play with the geese soon enough. Seven year olds have this habit of being easily distracted.

After a few more minutes, we stopped walking and I tossed my bag on the ground so I could lay out a blue blanket for our picnic. She tossed her own book bag as well and plopped down next to it with an ‘oof’. I smiled at her and shook my head. She pulled her shoes off and laid down on the blanket.

“Okay, what kind of homework do you have today, kiddo?” I asked sitting next to her and slipping my own feet out of my flip flops.

“Well, it’s just some math problems. We’re working on subtracting two-digit numbers. It’s super easy so it won’t take long.” She pulled the work sheet out of her bag and showed it to me. I nodded okay and handed her a pencil from the basket, knowing she wouldn’t have one.

“Have at it then. Tell me when you’re half done and I’ll give you a sandwich.” She nodded and started working. Nia was good at math, it was reading and vocabulary that got her tripped up. When Sarah, her mom, and I were in second grade, we were the exact opposite. It was one of those funny little twists of fate that always made me smile.

“Look at the size of that fucking duck!” A voice shouted from off near the pond.

“Nia, cover your ears!” I yelled and she tossed her hands on her ears. She stood up though, with ears covered, and looked at the group of men and camera crew near the lake.

The tall one kept yelling about the duck and I double covered Nia’s ears, just to make sure she wasn’t hearing this. “Look at that duck! Jesus Christ! Come here, fucking stallion duck. He’s not afraid at all. Not afraid at all. He’s not afraid at all. That’s the biggest fucking duck I’ve ever seen in my life.”

When he finally started chasing the duck, Nia looked at me with a wide smile. She wiggled her head until I wasn’t holding her anymore. “I wanna play!” She shouted and ran towards the geese and the man.

Her hands dropped from her ears and she started sprinting in the direction of the group of men and geese.

“Shit.” I whispered standing up from the blanket and quickly slipped my flip flops back on my feet. “Nia!” I yelled as I ran after her.

There were three rules my sister had for when I was watching Nia and I’m pretty sure each one was being broken right now. One, don’t let her get hurt. Running across a park in nothing but socks screamed for her to get hurt. Two, don’t let her talk to strangers. Well, right now that was self explanatory how that one was breaking. And three, don’t let her out of your sight. With the way she was running it wouldn’t be long before she was out of my sight. And if she got kidnapped or something by these crazy duck chasers, I’d never see her again.

“Nia!” I shouted again as I watch her come to a stop near the tallest man. They stood there talking as I tried to make my way over to them before she gave away information that could get her kidnapped. Right before I reached them and stopped, my flip flop slipped out from under my foot and I fell face first onto the ground.

“And this is AC.” I heard Nia’s voice and groaned. “That’s not her real name, but she doesn’t like being called an Aunt and my mommy says it rude to just call her Chloe, so we came up with AC. Get it? Aunt Chloe. AC?”

“That’s a good nickname. Does everyone call her AC or only you?”

“Only me and my mommy. You’ll have to call her Chloe.” I pushed myself off the ground and groaned in pain. There was a rock digging into my side and it felt like my leg was bleeding.

“Hi,” I said with a grimace waving at the men. The entire group of them had gathered now. The cameras were off as well, which was a comforting thought considering I’d just done a great face plant that I didn’t really need to have recorded.

“Chloe?” He extended a hand and pulled me off the ground.

“Yupp, that’s me. Thank you.” I tried to be courteous, but I still wasn’t really sure if it was safe to be here. I stood up and patted the dust off my body and checked for any injuries. I didn’t see anything, thankfully.

“AC, this is Jimmy. He doesn’t think that those are geese. He says they’re stallion ducks. ”

“Nice to meet you, Jimmy. And if they’re ducks, it’s still not safe to feed them.” There was no such thing as a stallion duck. I knew that, but I figured if it made Nia happy I wouldn’t burst her bubble. I kneeled down and checked her for injuries. She looked fine, but if she was hurt Sarah would kill me so I checked anyways.
“Why not?” This time it was Jimmy asking.

“It can cause diseases and malnutrition.” I said standing back up.

He was surprisingly attractive for a man who chased ducks and screamed vulgarities. His arms were covered in tattoos and he looked a bit intimidating. Actually, all of the guys were covered in tattoos and gave off that intimidating recent escaped convict look. I wrapped an arm around Nia’s shoulder and pulled her closer to my side. They weren’t really helping to kill the idea that they could be potential kidnappers of my niece. However, they didn’t exactly send out threatening vibes, but they weren’t the kind of men who I wanted hanging around Nia.

“I hate to be rude. But Nia and I have to leave now. She has homework to finish.” I grabbed her hand and turned to walk away, but she wouldn’t budge.

“But, I wanna stay!” I smiled apologetically at the men and kneeled down to talk to Nia. It wasn’t that I thought they were bad people, and I didn’t want them to think I instantly assumed that based on their appearance, but I still didn’t know them and I didn’t really want to be in the headline the next morning about a missing child and her aunt. Call me paranoid, but I was. It’s a maternal instinct that I picked up from Sarah.

“Remember what Mommy says about talking to strangers? She wouldn’t like if we stay. And don’t you want to finish our picnic?” I whispered softly to her, trying not to be heard by the men. Nia sighed and nodded. I knew she wanted to stay because she thought they were fun, but she probably only liked them because Jimmy and his duck chasing.

“Alright.” She murmured and I stood up. “Bye everyone! Bye Jimmy!” She waved and smiled widely at them all. I gave a small smile and the two of us walked back to our blanket.

I started putting away the few food items that were out and had Nia pack up her bag. I’d convinced her, with promises of ice-cream, that we should leave the park and head on home. It was obvious that Nia was disappointed that she didn’t get to keep talking to Jimmy, but I couldn’t really help but want to keep them away from her.

“You wanna help me fold the blanket?” I asked as she sat down on the grass and started putting on her shoes. I looked down at my feet and realized I hadn’t ever picked up the flip flop earlier when I tripped, I sighed and decided I’d just use the extra pair I kept in my car. I took off the one remaining sandal and tucked it into my bag.

“No.” She said simply not looking at me. She might have been more than a little disappointed, but I knew she’d forget about it eventually. I finished folding and packed up the blanket in silence.

“Chloe!” I heard a voice yell. I recognized it as Jimmy’s and turned. I laughed a little when I saw the white flip flop he was carrying as he ran towards Nia and I.

“Jimmy!” Nia smiled widely and pulled her bag on. I guess some people just have a way with kids because I’d never seen her so happy to see someone before. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. It was bad if he was a kidnapper, but I guess I’d have to trust her judgement.

He waved at Nia and then looked back at me. “You left your shoe by the lake.” I blushed and took the flip flop from his hand with a sheepish smile.

“Thanks. I just put my other one back in my bag.” Nia leaned against my side and smiled up at Jimmy.

“You’re nice.” She said simply and I looked at her. She used the same voice whenever she approved of one of her mom’s dates. She’d spent way too much time with me finding potential dates for her mom. “Isn’t he, AC? He brought you your shoe and everything!”

“You are nice. Not many people would’ve done that.” I placed a hand on Nia’s head, trying to non-verbally keep her from speaking.

“Yea, well you looked kind of silly walking away with one shoe on. Figured you might want it in case you weren’t going straight home.” He shrugged and I noticed a slight blush on his face as well.

“We’re going to get ice-cream. Do you want to come?” Nia spoke up and I bit my tongue, wishing I hadn’t used ice-cream as a bribery method. When she was old enough to date, she was not going to have a fun time.

“I’m busy right now.” He gestured back to his friends who were recording again by the lake. “But, maybe another time? I mean, we could set up something. Like a date or something.”

“Sure, why not?” I nodded and smiled slightly. I was getting asked on a date by a man who chased geese and I was agreeing. “Uhm, lemme write down my number. Nia, can I borrow a pencil and a sticky note?”

“Yes, ma’am!” She dropped her bag again and quickly dug out what I’d requested and handed it to me. I jotted down my number and handed it to him.

“I’ll call you sometime.”

“Okay, sounds good. Thanks for my shoe.” I smiled and grabbed my bag as I waved good-bye again. Nia picked her bag back up and smiled widely.

“Bye Jimmy! Have fun with the ducks!”