Astral flights around a mall aren't the most interesting, except when I spot a 50-something jogger huff and puff and then decide to park it in front of the J.C. Penney. She was messing with her i-Pod, her Blackberry, her pedometer and her shoestrings -- looking totally frustrated until she saw a duck approach.
You see, this J.C. Penney store and its striped concrete skirt bumped up to a retention pond populated by ducks and a few errant seagulls. Being only a whisker past 7 a.m., there were no shoppers around -- just some loud belly-rumblings from webbed-feet quackers hoping for tidbits of French toast or French fries.
This particular duck was not to be denied. It seemed to cock its head when it heard Eddie Vedder's voice float out of the i-Pod's earbuds...something about Society....and then Alison Krauss singing Down To The River To Pray (river, retention pond -- I don't think it'd matter much to Alison).
Like I said, the jogger just sort of parked it right there on the grass, folded her arms around her knees and stared back at the duck. I heard her thinking about how she'd bring some bread next time as a way of saying thanks -- thanks because a moment like this was way better than a pedometer reading could ever be.
But at least she snapped a picture. It will never make it on the cover of National Geographic. But she left with a memory of the morning.
