The Average Family

This story was written for a contest, which has since been pulled here on WDC. The idea was to look at the ports of fellow authors and use the titles of their stories within your own. I think I used a lot more items in their port than was necessary. See notes after story

An Average Family of Silly Ducks swam around at the water's edge while waiting for the Night Kingdom to finally go to sleep. The next day they were ready to begin their New School Initiative, but first they had to wait for the Morning Chorus.

It barely turned from dead of night to early dawn, when the ducks began to hear the robins and other birds chirping their merry song and their Storm Song. Next they heard the splish, splashing of the frogs that just graduated from being tadpoles. Practicing their new found skill, they kept taking a Leap of Faith trying to jump from lily pad to lily pad without falling off. The frogs kept croaking under their breaths until finally one of them yelled Obdurately, "but I Like Spiders."

Finally it was time to begin waddling to school. They did as they were told and left their Time Traps at home in the pond amongst the cattails and yellow flowers. They waddled along the path of flat earth, in their duck line, exactly as they had been taught. They knew that there were many, many choices, but they didn't want to get into any trouble, so even when they heard a lot of clucking and peeping over on the other side of the hill, they chose to stay with the Panarchy

Their parents told them later that night that the fuss that arose from the chicken family wasn't because Sanctus Claus came for a visit, but because one of chicks didn't choose to stay with the warmth of the coop and became a frozen chicken.

Once school was over and they were back home with their parents, they shared what the teachers told them. The teachers said that the way for them to not have poetry unread would be to Write about what you know

Their last words before falling asleep were "Am I? a silly duck?
335wds

The bold words are titles from the port of:Richard Dates

My title came from the title of one of his stories
"An Average Family"  [13+] Some of his stories are not hidden from view, but the ones still available are these:
"Obdurate"  [E]
"I Like Spiders"  [E]
"Panarchy"  [E]
"Time Traps"  [E]
"Storm Song"  [E]
"Many, Many Choices"  [E]
"Frozen Chicken"  [ASR]