An interesting night.

Why am I in a better mood today? Well, a number of reasons, including but certainly not limited to the passage of time, the taking of initiative, the love of loved ones, and a chocolate milkshake... however none of those are quite as narratively convenient as the thing I'm about to describe.

Around ten, or so, I was feeling pretty darned out of it, and in spite of the great quantities of work that needed doing, I decided I needed to walk. Didn't matter where, I just had to be moving, and so I did. I trudged about a mile away, but then, as it was getting rather late, I turned around and headed back. Round about eleven (I was walking in no great hurry, you see) I passed New Rochelle High School, a large, upscale affair with a small lake or large pond in front of it. Pausing for a moment to admire the view, I heard a splash from the far side. In daylight, I would be able to see what had made the noise, but it was very dark, so I had no idea what it could have been. "Perhaps I misheard," I thought. Moments later, another splash.

"Who," I asked myself, "would be in a lake at this late hour? Perhaps he has fallen in!" I started circling the lake, ready to play hero. "Or, perhaps she is appreciating the privacy of the hour..." I stopped, unwilling the play voyeur. I stared at the lake- it was still, and empty, as far as I could see. Then, a splash, and a ripple down at the other end. I agonized for a moment. "Oh, good gods, man!" I finally said to myself, "It's neither a drowning man nor a skinny-dipping woman. This is not the movies. Just go see what it is, or you'll regret it by morning." So, I started to circumnavigate the pond.

About halfway around, staring at the water, I see it, the source of the noise: a single white duck. It's swimming, and splashing, and adorable. The mystery solved, I nonetheless keep walking, as the duck is swimming in the direction I am moving, and I wanted to watch him a little longer. As we move, parallel to each other, I spy another duck, a mallard. "Well, at least he is not totally alone," I thought. Then I saw a drake. Then, a goose. Then a very small duck being led by a larger one, and as I turn onto a land bridge bisecting the water, it suddenly becomes apparent that 'not totally alone' was an understatement to an astounding degree.

Dozens of ducks, white, brown, black, and green, mingle together, interacting with a handful of geese and even a tremendous swan. There are ducklings who scatter when I get within to meters of them, and grizzled adults who are close enough to touch (but give me a warning quack to ensure that I don't). Everywhere I look, beady eyes stare back, there are literally over a hundred waterfowl flocked in this thin strip of land. Ahead of me, a mother herds her children into the water. Around me, groups scatter at my approach, and behind me they reform. Now, even if I am a city boy, I have seen ducks before, but this was like nothing I'd ever seen before. And as I passed the last of the ducks, I got an Idea. It was time to dash off... to the diner.

The diner was not my intended final destination, you see, but the closest place with an ATM on hand, and while I would not need an absurd amount of money, I would need more than the single dollar I had on hand. But before I could head off to my next stop, I noticed companions eating, and decided to reformulate my plan.

Lauren got soup, which came with crackers.

Jose got an eggs, which came with toast.

And the nice people at the next table over, why, they left a great big chunk of bread behind, which I nabbed before the busboy could get at it.

Thus, after a brief spot of tea, Jose, Lauren, Candi, Chris, and I absconded to the lake, with a few hands full of grains. And at midnight, in the dark, with nobody anywhere nearby, and no sounds except for our own conversation, and the intermittent quacks and splashes, we fed the ducks.

In a half hour it would be over, and I'd head back to my room to stay up late writing an annoying assignment, and not get nearly enough sleep, and have to deal with all the day-to-day stresses again, but at the moment, it was really perfect. Nothing better than feeding the ducks.