Swimming

By Linda McKenney

Stopped at the traffic light, I notice a pond-like puddle with two Mallard ducks swimming in the muddy water.

Migrating north, in the early stage of pregnancy, she’s feeling the exhaustion of a thousand-mile flight. Looking to her mate, he zeroes in on this small but adequate body of water. He swoops downward. She follows. They have much further to go, but for now this puddle provides respite.

Circling in it, it seems much larger. One green head dips, checking for food, while the other’s mottled, brown body surveys for nesting possibilities.

A horn ends my reverie, sending the ducks skyward.