duck

Just before you are born, you go to the little plastic wading pool, with extra water jets installed, and pick a duck. There are swarms of little floating plastic ducks, clumping, whirling, and eddying in the wading pool, and you just pick one.

It is natural to feel a swell of hopeful expectation as you grab your duck--it could be an extraordinary one, with the special marking on its belly designating you as someone charged to be a notable persona among zillions of plain-bellied ducks. Well, of course you aren’t going to be a duck, regardless (unless you are a duck,) but an extraordinary duck selection means you’ll be launched with an extra spark of zest, charisma, or dynamism--the sort of person whom plain-bellied duck pickers admire, and say things about like: It would be great to be able to sing like that! or where does she get her great ideas?

A lot of people who pick a fancy duck may end up sort of half-wishing they’d picked a plain duck. And, odds are, you did pick a plain duck. It’s exceedingly rare not to. As for me, I am still not clear on whether the magic markings on the bottom of the ducks, and the subsequent “significance” they convey, may not be just a red herring. This is a definition for red herring: A red herring is an idiom referring to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance.

Now that I am becoming slightly more hip to sleight of hand, as Gabe’s primary test audience, I am learning to look toward that which I am being distracted away from. Still, as far as ducks go, it’s clear I picked a plain-bellied duck. Now...just what is the item of significance away from which my attention has been diverted? When I find it, I may have to attach an electronic beeper to it.