A New Beginning

Bridget Nittler

High School Freshman

February 2023

It was a warm summer day, sun rays beat down on Roxanne, a white, plastic duck. Natalie, the child who lives in this house, with greasy blonde hair and sticky popsicle leftovers all over her mouth, had forgotten about Roxanne again and left her on the front porch in the summer heat, once again not being played with. Wondering what was wrong with her, Roxanne started her own journey somewhere else, somewhere better, with a more interesting life, where she wouldn’t be forgotten about. Traveling on for days and days, at last, Roxanne found an interesting place with Golden Arches and children all around. The smell of grease and fatty foods filled her nose, her stomach growled, suddenly hungry due to the intoxicating smells. Led more by her stomach than by her brain, she wandered into the mysterious place. She was entranced by what she saw, a slew of other plastic ducks sat peacefully in a plastic toy carrier.

“What are you doing little ducky?”

A small, black haired girl asked her. The girl swooped her up and brought her to another woman, but this one was taller.

“Mommy, mommy, can I keep her?” She asked.

“Yes, of course, sweetie.”

The small family brought Roxanne home and she no longer had to yearn for love or to be played with. This is the story of how Roxanne learned a lesson that most plastic ducks are too afraid to realize: the place that you’re in might not bring you the most happiness, so you need to branch out and find one that does, maybe that place is far away, maybe it’s nearby. However, we all have one thing in common- we need to find these comforting places to be truly happy in life.