Gladstone sighed as the bus approached Duckburg. He was just getting back from a cruise trip, and he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to go back to Duckburg just yet. There wasn't anything wrong with Duckburg itself, per se. On the contrary, he loved Duckburg. It was his home, the place where he grew up. All of his friends and family were in Duckburg. But there was also something else waiting for him in Duckburg. Something not even his good luck could save him from. It was something that had been following him since high school. It was something very, very unlucky.
He watched the scenery outside the window, and a small smile came to his bill. What was he getting sad about it? There was a possibility he might not even encounter what was worrying him. The bus stopped at a bus stop near his home, and he whistled a little tune. It was a beautiful day to be out and about. He thought he might stop by the park for a little afternoon walk later. He entered his house and found that his luggage had been delivered to his house like he expected it would. Everything seemed to be in order. He opened the windows to let some fresh air in, then he headed back outside.
You know what would be great on a day like this? Ice cream. I'd love to have some ice cream right now, he thought.
He continued walking a little ways until he heard the familiar sound of ice cream truck music. The ice cream truck came into view and stopped at his location. Gladstone grinned.
"I'd like a…" He stopped grinning when he saw who was driving the ice cream truck.
"Gladstone!" A young pig woman with long, black, curly hair rushed to the ice cream serving window. She looked at him with adoring eyes. "What can I get you, sweetie? It's on the house for you, of course." She giggled a little.
Gladstone gulped and backed away a few inches. Okay. Relax. Just stay calm. It's free ice cream, isn't it? It's what you wanted…
He tugged at his collar. "Well, uh, I'd like some mint chocolate chip ice cream, if you don't mind, Miss Sadswine."
"Oh, you're always so polite. Please, call me Pebble." The pig woman went to the back of the truck and scooped out some mint chocolate chip ice cream in a cone. She attempted to hand it to him, but the ice cream slipped off the cone. It missed hitting him by an inch. Pebble's smile didn't fade for an instant. "Woops! Silly me! I'll get you some more. Hang on."
She came back with another ice cream cone except this time the entire cone slipped out of her hands. Once again, it narrowly missed hitting Gladstone.
"Ah, you know what? Maybe I don't want any ice cream, after all. Thanks, anyway." Gladstone slowly backed away and started to turn when Pebble shouted at him.
"No, wait! Here, I got it this time!" She went to the back of the truck, then carried an entire tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream to the serving window. "I'm sure the boss won't mind one missing tub." She attempted to give the tub of ice cream to Gladstone, but the tub's handle broke and the tub of ice cream fell to the ground. Luckily, however, the tub's lid remained intact. Gladstone hurriedly picked up the tub of ice cream. He faked a grin.
"Thank you, Miss Sad-, er, Pebble… I'll be heading off now," he said.
Pebble waved at him, and he gave a nervous little wave back. She got out of the truck.
"How about I join you and help you eat some of that ice cream?" She approached him, still having that same adoring look in her eyes.
"W-what?" Gladstone choked. "Oh, uh, no… I, um… Well, surely, you can't leave your truck unattended."
"Oh, it'll be fine." Pebble put her hands behind her back and swayed a little. "It's been a while since I've seen you. We should catch up."
Just then, the truck started slowly moving down the hill before picking up speed. Gladstone pointed behind her. Pebble gasped.
"Oh! Don't worry! I'll catch it!" She ran after the truck, tripping some of the way down, and finally, she was out of Gladstone's line of sight. Gladstone wiped some sweat off his brow and hurried back to his house with the tub of ice cream in his arms. He shut the door and locked it. Then, he scooped out some of the ice cream into a cone and put the rest away in the freezer. As he ate his ice cream, he shuddered.
Pebble Sadswine. She was the unluckiest person in Duckburg, perhaps even in the entire world. What's worse was that she had a crush on HIM. She made no attempt at hiding it, either. Their senior year in high school, she publicly declared her love for him. It seemed like he couldn't go a day in Duckburg without running into her at some point. He had considered, multiple times, getting a restraining order against her. But she had such terrible luck that he really didn't have it in his heart to do it. Besides that, getting a restraining order sounded like too much work.
He finished off his ice cream cone and decided to spend the rest of the day inside.
(Author's note: I do not own Duck Tales, but that should probably be pretty obvious. Pebble Sadswine is an OC I made up. Thanks for reading!)