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who found their way by having lost it
by Fabrice Schomberg
Due to a turbulent wind and early spring,
two sole ducks found themselves floating in a pond
after straying off the usual track of their annual migratory routes.
Whilst each of their flocks had long carried on their journey, in the pursuit of convenience, the two had leeway to land where a seasonal lake had formed in a valley between two hills.
Floating in this receding, mud-bottomed pool, they shared a brief moment of calmness and confusion, comforted by each other’s presence. It was reassuring to nestle, side by side on the shallow clear waters.
This then brought clarity to their whereabouts, as even though they were the only ones of their kind to have landed in this pond, they were, in fact, a similar species of duck from the same region. The patch of water they had stumbled upon was coincidentally one they had already shared as hatchlings, yet each had come from a different side of the lake. Perhaps this was the reason why they hadn’t had the opportunity to meet before this chanced outcome.
Astonished by that fact, they swiftly settled in with ease, as both were familiar with the same habitats and accustomed to a similar ambiance. It seemed as if only two great forces could have had them meet, since they unwittingly had crossed each other’s paths frequently on parallel migration routes and on numerous occasions, but had been unaware of taking similar yet variant directions.
Circumstances had carefully manoeuvred their paths never to interlace until that day. The impact of this unavoidable collision resembled the gravitational pull of two parallel universes. Soft as it may be, every touch could shake even the firmest of grounds until these two forces were aleatorically and naturally drawn together in harmony.
It could however have been likability that meant they ended up in the same lake. If so, perhaps their encounter could somehow have been foreseen or calculated as to why they had lost their way in the first place, only to have found each other in familiar surroundings.
Either way, be it luck, chance or likability, both enjoyed each other's presence for a near full day in a pleasant habitat, that to them was not just a puddle of mud on a big oblique ball, but where they had finally met.
But like every new start, this one too had its departure point and, as migrating birds, both had obligations to move on. Their long-departed flocks had gone and they too had to part to catch up with what they had missed.
The thought of residing side by side and remaining within that picturesque locale did occur to them. However, this is why species that periodically relocate are called migratory and those that stay, sedentary.
Bearing in mind their renewed migratory stop and shared experience, each duck then in turn flapped away, perhaps to meet again.
They were just two migratory birds, whose cyclical, yearly pursuit of a habitat had been brought on by an early spring. A sudden change of wind had caused a confusion, carving their routes together with a little help of
likeable chanced luck.
edited by Janet Cartlidge, copyright © 2007 Fabrice Schomberg
