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who had found their way by having lost it
by Fabrice Schomberg
Due 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 above this diminishing puddle of clear mud, they shared a brief moment of calmness and confusion, comforting by each other's presence, finding it assuring whilst nesting side by side.
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 of 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 sides of the lake. Perhaps this was the reason why they hadn't had the opportunity to meet each other before this chanced outcome.
Astonished by that fact, they swiftly habituated themselves with ease, as both were familiar with the same habitats and formed from a similar ambiance. It seemed as if only two great forces could have had them meet, since they un-wittingly had crossed each others paths frequently on parallel migration routes and on numerous occasions, had been unaware of taking similar yet variant directions.
Perhaps this was the reason that they had never met beforehand on the Northern nesting grounds. though not due hills staged side by side as there were none up there, yet due to a circumstance that had carefully manoeuvred their paths never to interlace, until an unavoidable collision with an impact that 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 could naturally be drawn in harmony.
It could however have been likability that found them ending up to end 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 a familiar one.
Either way, be it luck, chance or likability, both enjoyed each others 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.
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 else they had missed apart from each other.
The thought of residing side by side and remaining in that picturesque scenery did occur to them, however, it is for this reason that species that periodically migrate are called migratory and those who don't are entitled residents.
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, and a sudden early jump of spring had altered their habitual yearly cycle in pursuit of a habitat, and a sudden change of wind had caused a confusion, carving their routes together with a little help of
likable chanced luck.
edited by Janet Cartlidge, copyright © 2007 Fabrice Schomberg
