Think Of The Ducklings

Barley, a dog, investigates a low garden wall decorated with a chaotic array of childrens’ building blocks and, behing them, varied rubber ducks.

A few months after I shared Barley’s first encounter with the duck wall, I happened to be walking past when the homeowner was present, and complimented her on the ever-changing array of items she and her husband keep on display. She told me a tragic story: The members of the duck wall I had previously photographed got stolen! Apparently, they noticed some weirdo had been hanging around looking at them, and the one day they all vanished and the weirdo has since not been seen around. It seems impossible to me that there is any commercial value to loose rubber ducks, so the thief must just be an enthusiast. Fortunately, this hasn’t deterred the duck hosts from trying to add a bit of color, so a new batch of toys has since appeared, and will continue to do so.