"Got a light?" The gruff voice startled Alice out of her own mind. She blinked at the stranger seated on the other end of the park bench.
He looked at her expectantly.
"What? Oh um, yes of course" She fumbled in her bag and produced a box of matches.
The man raised his eyebrows but leaned into the lit match anyway.
As Alice extinguished the match her eyes returned once more to the ducks in the lake in front of her.
"Do you like ducks?" the man asked as he followed her gaze.
Alice sighed. Why couldn't people just leave her alone? "Not particularly," she answered shortly.
There was a pause.
"Then why do you come and stare at them every day during your lunch break?" the man challenged.
Alice frowned and turned to him.
The man continued, "I come here every day to eat my lunch. I usually sit across on that bench," he motioned to a bench that had a 'WET PAINT' sign on it, "and you always sit here by yourself, eat your sandwich and watch the ducks."
"Don't you have better things to do with your time than watch a stranger eat her lunch?" Alice scowled at him.
"I've always just wondered why you found the ducks so interesting" the man shrugged. "My name's Matthew by the way."
Alice looked back at the ducks and didn't offer her name.
There was another extended silence.
"Well, back to work for me." Matthew stood up. "Thanks for the light." He tipped his hat and wandered away whistling quietly.
As Alice walked the path to the lake the next day she thought about the man from the day before. She briefly considered going to eat elsewhere, but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction on scaring her off. And there was also a part of her that wondered if he'd be there again today.
When she got to the park, she stopped and stared at the same WET PAINT sign now attached to her bench. Obviously they were repainting them all, one at a time. She sighed and looked to where the man named Matthew sat on his freshly painted bench. Chewing her lip slightly she made her way towards him.
"May I join you?"
Matthew looked up and smiled. His eyes trailed to the bench she usually sat on and observing the sign on it, nodded. "Be my guest."
Alice sat stiffly. Unwrapping her sandwich her eyes found the ducks in the lake.
Matthew watched as she bit into her lunch, her eyes glued to the ducks. "Did you know some ducks sleep with one eye open?"
Alice was once again pulled from her quiet reflection. "What?"
"I looked it up, last night. I was trying to work out why you might find ducks so fascinating."
"Why don't you try minding your own business?" As soon as the words left Alice's mouth she regretted saying them. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not really a small talk kind of person."
Matthew paused, "Well then what would you like to talk about?"
Alice stared at him.
"I'd like to get to know you. Tell me, how can I do that?"
Alice frowned, then turned and settled her gaze back onto the ducks.
There was an awkward silence as Matthew internally cursed himself. Was he being too pushy and foreward?
"I find them calming," Alice finally mumbled, so quietly Matthew could hardly make out what she was saying.
"Hey?"
"The ducks, they calm me."
"Oh?"
"Their behaviour, its almost ritualistic. I can always count on them to be doing the same things." She took a deep breath and continued. "When everything else is continuously changing, I can watch them and know that one thing, at least, stays the same." Her cheeks flushed as she finished. It was a long speech from her, and she felt as if she'd just bared a part of her soul to a total stranger on a park bench. She held her breath waiting for Matthew to laugh or scoff at her and walk away, but he just nodded his head.
"They always seem so calm gliding over the top of the pond, but I know that underneath the water, their little feet are paddling madly to keep them afloat." Matthew paused. "Sometimes life can seem like that too."
Alice stared at him, slightly taken aback.
"And they always make me laugh when they waddle along out of the water. They look so clumsy" he laughed and looked sideways at Alice, who smiled shyly back at him. Maybe small talk wasn't all bad.
The next morning as Alice prepared her lunch, she thought about Matthew and wondered what would happen at lunchtime today. She popped a spare Anzac biscuit into her lunch, just in case.
When lunch time came she approached the park with some trepidation, but to her secret delight, there he was, sat on her bench, with his back to her. Smiling slightly she slipped into the seat next to him.
"I wasn't sure where you would sit today," she confessed, "I uh, brought you something." She offered him the biscuit tentatively.
"Thank you" Matthew smiled at her as he gently took the biscuit and bit into it with enjoyment. "Did you bake these yourself?"
"It's the only thing I can successfully bake" she laughed.
"I had to come back and see you."
Alice's heart leapt. "And why is that?"
"You didn't tell me your name," Matthew grinned.
The blush reached Alice's ears as she realised her oversight. "Alice, My name is Alice."
"Well Alice, These Anzac cookies are delicious. I can bring you one of my gingernuts tomorrow. And them maybe we could swap recipes. Or you could… come over and teach me how to make them?" Matthew looked over at her with a hopeful smile.
Alice felt her heart start to race and her face flushed. "Like as a date?"
Matthew shrugged. "If you like?"
Alice looked at the ducks for a moment, then turned her face back to Matthew. "You know what? I think I do like." She smiled at him and they both went back to quietly observing the ducks.