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Horse lover
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« on: May 19, 2007, 08:59:03 PM » |
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“He said that he would like me to hatch it for him. He never told me where he got it or why he wanted me to hatch it. I hate the thing. I’ve never seen any like her before. She certainly isn’t a duck, but I have been watching her when she swims and she swims as though she had been swimming for years. It’s unbelievable.” Carroll said with the utmost disgust. More tears fell down Lillian’s face. She turned around and made her way toward the barn when Silvia and Alison blocked her way. “Where do you think your going?” Alison spat out. “I’m a-I’m going into the barn.” Lillian stuttered. “Oh, no your not. You are going to stay with us. Your dads about gone anyway, so you’ll have to do what we say.” Silvia snapped. Lillian quicky turned around and ran toward the barn, away from Silvia’s and Alison’s evil laughs and then came the most horrid sound. “Lillian. Come here darling, I have some bad news for you.” it was Carroll and she had absolutely no remorse in her voice. In fact, there was almost a hint of glee. “No. No I won’t come.” Lillian argued. She wouldn’t go. Her father couldn’t be gone. He was with her just last night. “Lillian. I said come here. I have to tell you something important.” Carroll called over. Lillian obediently followed but closed her eyes once she saw her father, now motionless, laying in the nest. The older duck, Nifin, waddled over to Lillian and sympathized. “I’m sorry dear, but your um....” she paused. “Well, he’s gone. I’m so sorry.” More tears filled my dazzling blue eyes until they spilt over and landed in my soft, velvety feathers. I ran over to my dead father and hugged his neck hard. “Papa, please come back. Don’t leave me papa. I promise that I’ll never go with you in public again. Please papa. Just please come back.” I sobbed. Two giant wings pulled me away from my father as they wrapped around me. “Come on child. He’s gone now. There’s nothing you can do.” it was Nifin. She raised me up and gently set me outside of the nest. “No! No, I won’t leave him!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I kicked at Nifin. “Settle down now and go to the barn. You can’t stay with your father Lillian.” Carroll commanded. Lillian stopped abruptly. They weren’t gong to let her stay. Nifin slowly set her down and Lillian just sat there, staring into space. “I think that something’s wrong with her.” Nifin whispered over to Carroll. Lillian took no notice of this. She was thinking about what the rest of her life would be like without her father. No one liked her and she was ugly. Everyone thought that she was ugly. She heard the whispers of her that were said behind her back. From that day, Lillian’s life was never the same. She had to work for her evil step-mother and was demanded to look after her two step-sisters. She was their maid. Lillian was never allowed away from the nest to go into public and she was ridiculed by all the other ducks. It had been 7 months since her father had died. Lillian was on her way to fetch some grain from the barn when she saw her sisters laughing about something. She got closer to them, but she hid herself behind a pole. She was still just a duckling and looked the same as the day her father died. “-believe that she looks the same. We’re growing our adult feathers and she still has those messed up ones.” Alison sniggered and Silvia laughed. The started to lose their velvety yellow feathers to receive smooth brown speckled feathers that shone in the light just like their mother. Lillian was used to all the ridicule so she didn’t mind it much. “Oh, and did you hear mother? There’s going to be a beautiful ball over by the swans for all eligible fowl interested in marrying the prince!” Silvia screeched. “Silvia, be quiet. We might be overheard.” Alison scolded. “Ok, come on then. We have to make sure that little Lindy is doing her chores.” Silvia suggested. “Ok, come on.” Alison confirmed and they started making their way toward the very pole Lillian was standing behind. She panicked, but then started to run over to the grains and when she was out of site, she slowed down and acted her normal self. She could hear the carried laughter of her step-sisters over by the tall blood red barn. Lillian quickly ran over to the bags of grain for the duck feed and filled the silver bucket that she carried with her to get the feed. The bucket was heavy but Lillian was strong. Lillian, afraid of being even more ridiculed by the other ducks and accidently spill the feed, went though the shadows around the farm until she got back to the nests. It had been so long ago since she had last laid in the huge nest with her father, and from that day she never got to sleep in it again. Once Jake had died, Carroll kicked Lillian out of the nest and she and her two daughters took the big nest while Lillian took the little nest. She was getting bigger, but she looked the same. Her father would be ashamed of her if he saw her now. Lillian gently put the silver bucket by the bigger nest and went over to the little pond next to the barn. No one ever swam in this pond after the farmer of this farm built a much bigger one over father from the barn. This was the very first pond Lilian had swam in. She remembered it like it was yesterday. She never forgot any memories that included her father. Lillian closed her eyes and imagined the swim with her father. Flashback: “Yay, thanks dad!” Lillian cheered as she ran over to the pond and jumped in. She immediately sunk. “Lillian!” Jake called worriedly as he waddled over to the pond and stuck his head underwater to try and see her, but she was fine. Actually she was swimming along after a frog that was frightened like crazy of her. Jake just laughed and raised his head back out of the water just as Lillian was rising out of the pond too. “That was fun papa!” Lillian called over to him as he shook his head free of water. Lillian was swimming around as if she had been swimming for years. End of flashback. Something moved in the water. Lillian reached down to look. There were many times when some duck tried to make fun of her and hid in the water to try and scare her. Lillian reached her break down into the water and slowly lowered the rest of her head. The cool crisp water covered her slim head and she opened her dazzling blue eyes. She prepared herself to bite when she saw 6 little green tadpoles swimming before her. Lillian smiled and raised her head out of the water. The little tadpoles where just at the stage where they were losing their tadpole tails. “What have you guys been up to?” Lillian asked the tadpoles. “Hi Lillian, we’re just looking around the pond for something to do. You want to play?” the smallest tadpole asked sweetly. It was Benni, the only girl of the tadpoles. “Yeah, ok guys. I don’t have anything else to do anyway. Watch out.” Lillian replied as she shook her head of all water after retrieving it from the pond. Water droplets sprayed everywhere. Lillian backed up slowly and pushed off the ground with her strong grey legs and dived into the pond, distorting the ponds smooth surface. When Lillian dived into the pond, she was graceful and beautiful, though to the ducks, she was nothing but and ugly duckling. Lillian went about 8 feet into the pond and touched the bottom, holding her breath hard. The 6 little tadpoles came down and stared at Lillian. They were all trying to think of what to play. Hey, how about we play tag? That’s always fun.” it was Danny this time, the biggest of the tadpoles. He was about as big as a gulf ball. Lillian nodded in reply. “Ok come on then lets play!” one of the tadpoles named Jenny said enthusiastically. The tadpoles shot off in all directions and Lillian shot straight up. Lillian was tagger. She shot through the surface of the water like a rocket entering space. Once Lillian rose out of the cool blue water, she immediately arched her back, took a deep breath of air and plunged into the cool water once more, shooting towards the bottom of the pond. Lillian spotted Bus, he was a really fat tadpole. Bus was just floating around at the bottom of the pond, looking at a swaying piece of seaweed. Lillian softly touched the bottom of the pond floor and careful not to disturb Bus, touched him with her beak. Bus jumped up into the air like his tale was on fire and he spun around. “Oh man.” Bus pouted as he sat on the floor of the pond. I beckoned Bus over and when pushed off after Danny. We shortly caught him, along with Jenny, Benni, Mary, and Daffodil. “Come on, lets play again!” benni shouted. “Ok, I’ll-” but suddenly Lillian stopped. She could hear her step-sister shouting for her. “I’m sorry guys, but I have to go. Maybe another time.” and with that Lillian jumped out of the pond and shook the water droplets from her velvety feathers. The water droplets flew everywhere, showering the nearby robins that were now soaked through with water. “Bye Lillian!” the small, green, tadpoles called in union as they raised their small amphibian heads out of the dark blue, icy water. “Bye guys!” Lillian called back. I’ll probably be here tomorrow, ok?” Lillian suggested as she stopped waddling away about a foot from the pond. She turned around. “Ok Lillian, that’s fine.” Benni called over to the young duckling. Lillian turned away, letting her velvety back show to the sad and tired tadpoles. Lillian walked back to the glossy red barn, only to find that her step-sisters were waiting for her. Lillian.” they said too sweetly. They were defiantly up to something. “What Silvia, Alison?” Lillian questioned as she looked at each step-sisters as she said their name. “Mother wants to talk to us about something very important, so you’ll have to stay away for the time being. I heard that she’ll be telling us something really interesting.” Silvia sniggered. She was trying to make Lillian jealous, but so far it wasn’t working. “Ok, whatever. I have some stuff to tend to anyway.”Lillian smiled politely, but in reality she wasn’t smiling at all. She absolutely despised her step-sisters. Alison’s and Silvia’s smiles wavered a bit, but they were still the same cheerful and stupid smiles that they had had on before. “Would you like something?” Lillian snapped, she was losing her patience. “Oh, no. nothing at all Lillian.” Silvia smiled sweetly. Lillian walked back to her soft, hay nest. Carroll was in the bigger of the two golden nests. ‘Lillian, what are you up to?” Carroll questioned. “Nothing.” Lillian answered. She didn’t really even listen to Carroll’s next words, she was busy taking something silver and as bright as gold from her nest. ‘Lillian, I want you to make some suburb baths for my daughters tomorrow night. We’re going out and I would like them to look their finest.” Carroll informed Lillian. Lillian barely heard Carroll. She was too busy looking at a small, 8x10 inch silver picture frame which held the picture of her younger and more relaxed father. His emerald green head shone in the light of the flashing cameras. His glossy feathers appeared to be make of the finest silk as each individual feather appeared in the photograph. Lillian at taken this small picture from the great Farmers show room, where all the pictures of all her prize farm animals were kept. There were magnificent shining gold, silver, and bronze medals for all sorts of competitions. There were blue, red, green, yellow, and many more colors of ribbons then you could count. Trophies of all sizes and colors gleamed around that magnificent room. Shining silver framed photographs shined around the room, showing prized winners of all sorts. There were gleaming pigs, glossy ducks, silky looking horses, and much more that resembled the wonderful farm animals that had lived and passed through this glorious farm. Some of the wonderful photos are those of the animals tat still lived here, getting older, but still staying the same wonderful animals that they always were. The photo Lillian carried now was of Jake. He had won ‘Best Looking Duck of the Year’ award and he still looked the same handsome duck that he had the warm night Lillian was born. A gentle tear fell down Lillian’s soft face onto the sparkling silver framed photo of her handsome, emerald green headed father. “Lillian. Lillian. Lillian!” Carroll hollered. Lillian seemed to come out of a trance. “Yes Carroll?” Lillian questioned. “Did you hear a word of what I just said?” Carroll snapped. “Um no?” was Lillian’s smart-alack remark. “You little brat. You have better listen to me next time because I wont repeat my self got that? As I was saying, I told you to go and make to hot baths for my daughters tomorrow because we have something to attend, ok?” Carroll scolded. “Yeah, fine.” Lillian replied half-heartedly. “Well, I suggest you get to bed.” Carroll demanded. Lillian quickly cover the silver photo back up and hurriedly climbed back into the small, tiny nest. Lillian stayed up for quite awhile, just thinking and wondering. It was around midnight before Lillian finally got settled and started to fall asleep, letting her eyelids slowly close over her weary eyes. “Did you hear? Carroll is still letting that thing stay with her. She’s an embarrassment to all of us.” scolded a younger duck named Daniella from far away. Lillian didn’t know what was wrong with her, but tears fell from her strong and confidant face. Lillian tried to wipe them away, but more salty tears fell in there place. “I can’t believe that Carroll is actually letting her stay with us. If it were me, I would have thrown her out the second old Jake died.” continued another duck by the name of Alice. Lillian couldn’t take all the whispers anymore. She got up, letting the tears spill freely out of her puffy, cloudy eyes. Bleary eyed and tired, Lillian made an attempt to dive into the freezing water of the little pond, but she didn’t make one of her graceful dives, but a kind of belly flop. The tadpoles were struck awake by the huge splash made by Lillian. They looked up and saw Lillian’s floating back . “Is that Lillian?” Bus inquired. “I think it is!” Jenny exclaimed as she swam through the dark blue water towards Lillian’s cold form. They finally reached her and she was still crying once they had appeared at her side. “Lillian, are you ok?” Jenny asked worriedly. Lillian didn’t reply. “Lillian, come on. Wake up!” Bus tried to awaken her. “I can’t do this anymore guys. I just can’t.” Lillian sobbed abruptly. “You can’t do what anymore Lillian?” Bus questioned. ‘I can’t stand this life anymore.” Lillian explained as she suddenly held up her head an left the chilly pond. “Lillian, wait!” Benni shouted. “Lillian didn’t even hesitate to stop at all. She kept on walking away from the barn pond when she seemed to remember something. The tears were still rolling down her face, but there was a look of longing in her eyes. Lillian turned to the nests and went ver to her small golden nest. She started to dig in it until she suddenly found something. Lillian pulled out the silver picture of her father and gently tucked it under the crook of her wing. Not one duck stirred from their dreamless sleeps as Lillian walked away from the home that she had always known. The glorious sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon when Lillian had finally met the end of the property line where her journey would start. No one here would remember her, nor would anyone care. Lillian continued on over the grassy plains that lay behind when she realized that she had never left the walls of Anne’s farm. She had never met anyone else other than the few animals that had always ridiculed her. “What am I going to do?” Lillian looked around to try and familiarize herself with her new surroundings. She was in a place that she knew nothing about. Bright green, tall bushes circled around Lillian’s small form. The sun was high in the baby blue sky now, letting it’s rays shower down on the lands before it. Lillian slowly took the silver framed picture out from under her wing and looked at it. “What would you have done? I need guidance.” Lillian questioned helplessly. Suddenly, Lillian her tear stained head. She could hear the faint sound of rushing water. Lillian gently tucked the photo back under her wing and made her way towards the sound of water. The sound of the water got louder as Lillian got closer. Running by huge blueberry bushes and getting smacked by their sticky bristles along te way, Lillian began to hear the water more clearly. The sound of each wave hitting against the land and the great splashing of huge gulps of water against another got clearer and finally, as she ran through the thinning bushes, Lillian saw a huge glistening waterfall with a glorious rainbow shining across the pool of water. Mist flew p into the air as the waterfall poured into the pool of water. The pool of water was big enough to fit the whole farm in twice! It reached out for miles, looking as though it never stopped. Lillian was so excited. She had never seen a lake so big. Sparkling trees hung over the lake, letting their reflections bounce off the surface and into the air. Lillian looked around to see if anyone else was around. Any duck that would be here would surely make fun of her and she wouldn’t be able to stand anymore ridicule.
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