Little Ted was racing his friend Jacob along a path. His coat was open and billowing out behind him and his hat had almost fallen off his head.
“Whee” Little Ted said “Whee. I’m fast. I’m faster than... a plane or a rabbit or my Mummy.”
“Well I’m not sure about the plane or the rabbit but you’re definitely faster than me today” puffed his Mummy as she caught up with them. “Now boys, we’re almost at the end of the path so look out for traffic as we’ll have to cross the road.”
When they got to the end, the boys waited patiently holding hands until there were no cars or other vehicles coming.
“Alright boys, straight across now, no hesitating, no deviating and no dilly dallying.”
At the other side of the road, the path continued as they went into the park and they headed towards to the duck pond.
“Come on Jacob, I’ll race you to the pond” Little Ted said “First one there gets to feed the ducks” and he set off running down the hill. Unfortunately Little Ted was running so fast that he tripped and fell over. Luckily he wasn’t hurt but his hat finally fell off and he got mud on his trousers. Oh dear. But Little Ted picked himself up and carried on chasing after his friend.
“I won, I won” shouted Jacob. “Can we feed the ducks now?”
Little Ted had been to this park before but it was the first time Jacob had been there, so Little Ted started to tell him all about the ducks.
“The duck with the green heads are the boy ducks and the brown ones are the girl ducks. And the big white ones aren’t really ducks and are called swans, but you need to be careful and don’t go too close to them because they can be quite grumpy. Did you bring any food for the ducks?” Little Ted asked his Mummy.
“Only a little. The park-keeper says the ducks are getting fat and not to feed them too much” and she handed Little Ted and Jacob each a small tub filled with grapes and peas. They stood at the side of the pond and threw the food towards the ducks in the water who gobbled it up.
“Look Mummy that duck is swimming upside down.”
“I think he’s looking for more food underneath the water. Maybe he missed a bit that you threw in or he’s looking for a pond weed pudding to go with it.”
As his Mummy was talking, one of the ducks got out the pond and started to approach Little Ted. As the duck got closer, Little Ted started backing away.
“Stop ducky stop! I don’t have any food left.”
“Shoo” said his Mummy and she waved her hands until the duck waddled off back to the pond. Little Ted and Jacob started to copy the duck and waddled along with their arms at their sides, hands sticking out and rocking from foot to foot. They could only take short steps which gave his Mummy an idea.
“That seems to have slowed you both down. Let’s see if you can keep it up all the way back. And why don’t you try to Quack at the same time, like happy little ducks following your Mummy home.”
The End