Written by Justin
The humans were originally going to build a rocket to the moon, but because of this event, they changed their plans to a trip to California.
I’m Justin—Justin Case. (Ha, ha, pause for comedic laughter.) I live in Texas and am about to move to California.
You got that right. I’m their lab rat, or in this case, lab duck. But first, let me tell you how I got chosen to be here. I was in the park, hopping here and there, destroying fun family picnic days, until this group of funky-looking humans came to grab me.
Without question, I let it slide. I wanted to see what they were going to do. Now, I had to pray that they weren’t gangsters wanting to recruit me.
They plopped me in their car and drove me to some headquarters. They strapped me into a capsule of some sort with a camera sitting in front of me.
I tried to knock it over, concerned they would show my big fat duck bill to the whole world, but alas, the straps on me were far too tight. Guess I just had to suck it up and be a man. A duck man.
There was some rumbling, but in no time, it stopped. The door automatically opened, and there it was—California—before my eyes. I figured when we arrived at headquarters a while ago, they sent me on a spaceship to California.
Wait a minute, hey, I’m the first duck that went to space! And I survived! I wanted to go out and explore the big city, but even more funky-looking humans picked me up. We went to a factory and placed me in a snug box.
They put me in a giant truck with other boxes. It was a bumpy ride, but at least I returned all in one piece. I then arrived at a lovely farm, or that’s what it seemed like to me right now.
They picked me up, and I used this opportunity to take a sneaky peek over the fence to see what was going on over there.
One of the humans yelled something for no reason, and another human, who seemed to be the farmer of the farm, walked out of the house. They did a weird arm wrestle, shaking their hands up and down rapidly. It quickly ended with no winner, and then they were yapping about something, something about me.
I knew that because he seemed to say my name. The human who took me there also said a human-sounding word called Nate a lot. (Did I say that right?)
I heard humans say things like I, be, the, and much more, but this was a new human word, and I can’t figure out why. Sometimes, I just don’t get living things like them. The human whose hands I was in gave me to the farmer, who gave the other human a few greenish paper-like rectangles.
The farmer raised his hand and swung it left and right while the weird human drove away. I’ve seen a bunch of humans do that, which is called “waving,” I think.
The farmer then carried me over to a pond with more animals looking like me, only with longer necks and whiter feathers. I’m guessing he was trying to have me meet all the other animals. In this case, geese. I was shuffling over there where all the geese were whispering and giggling.
“Have you heard of the new animal?” asked one of the geese. She was pretty loud about it, too. Megaphone-like even. “I heard he’s one of those Wood Ducks. You like those types, right Samantha?”
I was taken back by surprise, and I have to admit, I was pretty flattered, too.
Samantha shook her head. “Yes, yes, I heard. But I’m more interested in Peacocks. They’re just absolutely dashing!”
Look, I’m not lying, but I absolutely have zero interest in this Samantha person. But I had to get along with her to make my new owner happy, so why not just be like them? I then went to the puddle beside the geese, splashing in the water.
“Blegh! He’s getting foreign water all over us!” screamed Samantha.
See what I mean by having no interest?
“Oh my gosh, he’s just taking a bath,” snarled the loud one.
“Now you’re defending that- that thing? Ugh, This is why no one likes you, Carol,” snapped back Samantha.
“Oh, hoho, you got that right, I’m loved instead-”
“No one loves you either,” scoffed a goose. “Besides, there are plenty of ponds here, except the one beside us- we own it, not him.”
“Why can’t he just join the other ducks?” asked a goose.
“I know, right? Oh wait, maybe he doesn’t even know who he even is!” honked Carol.
More and more harsh words shot and jabbed at me like daggers. That worms for brains Carol didn’t even act like I was right beside them because I was! I began to lose my temper slowly with each word spoken.
“WHERE EVEN IS THE MUTE BUTTON ON YOU, YOU UNEVOLVED VELOCIRAPTOR?” I finally snapped.
All the geese gasped, but Carol, heh, gasped so hard she began to gag.
“Kthfkctkthk-ktk-” Carol couldn’t cough out a single word. Her eyes bulged, her neck twisted into a distorted, misshapen zigzag. I felt like showing no remorse for her. Besides, she was the one who bullied me. But this was getting concerning and a bit disturbing.
“Uh- hey, Carol?” I began to say. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said, but-”
I was interrupted by a whoosh! From Carol swinging her neck up and down. As she continued to gag, little by little, I began to see a megaphone part in her mouth.
Pthlpthtsplat! Carol coughed up the megaphone piece.
“Hey, Duck,” Carol said quietly. “You helped me get that piece out of my throat. I’ve been trying to get it out for weeks. The farmers even scheduled surgery for me to get it out, which would be months to come, but you made me get it out quicker. I don’t know what to say, I- uh- thank you, w-what do I owe you, y’know, to uh, return the favor?”
“What? I said such a mean thing, though!” I exclaimed.
“Who cares? I said worse. Besides, that was a pretty cool comeback.” Carol chuckled, followed by multiple nods of agreement from the geese. How about we throw a welcome party, like what we geese should have done when we first saw you?”
“You’ll invite all the other ducks, though, right?”
An awkward silence pierced the air. “Uh, about that,” Samantha tried to grin. “You’re the first and only duck here. That part about you going with the “other ducks” was just an excuse to make up more insults for you,”
I have to admit, that was a little offending even when she didn’t even mean it, but they’re way nicer to me now, so I just shrugged it off.
“Bah, who cares about all that touchy-feely stuff? I wanna throw that party already!”
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So, I’ve been gone for a while (sorry!) I’ve been busy with schoolwork, so this chapter was a bit delayed. Anyway, YAY, NEW CHARACTER POV!
His name’s Justin Case. Fun fact: when making this character, I was about to name him Justin Time, but I changed it for no reason at all, heheheh! I promise the next chapter will NOT be taking long since school’s almost out, and I’ll have less work to do.
Peace out, y’all!
– sublimeorange942
