DARK DUCK: FOWLed

CHAPTER ONE

PART 3

What We Live With

"Rise and shine, Dad; its Saturday!" His ten year old daughter's voice cried out in youthful exuberance.

"Yee-ach ... bright ... light!" Drake shielded his eyes in pain as he struggled to a seat in his bed. His stomach felt just as empty as it had been when he'd finally managed to fall asleep a few hours earlier. He didn't know what sort of exotic stomach bug he'd managed to catch, but having made the decision over a year ago to be a father, he didn't have the personal luxury of just rolling over and sleeping it off anymore.

"It's just the sun." Gosalyn explained sensibly as she pulled back on his bed covers. "Come on, dad, you promised to take me to ..."
"Yes, I did." Instantly remembering their morning's schedule, Drake jumped out of bed and hoisted Gosalyn onto his shoulders mid-stride making her laugh.
"I wouldn't miss your baseball game for the world," he told his favourite daughter, "But first, let's get some breakfast. I'm starving and you need to eat too." He carried her downstairs to the kitchen.

Drake peered into the fridge and grabbed the milk from the door out of habit. He discarded it on the table, shrugging. That's not what he wanted. Gosalyn had the cereal down from the cupboard and twisted the top off the milk while he was still looking at it.

Drake considered the cereal option that Gosalyn was having for a long moment, and then began ferreting through the fridge again. He grabbed out a bag of carrots and then devoured the lot. He went back into the fridge, found the bag of tomatoes, and finished them off. Then he demolished the green vegetable assortment, all of them raw. He dismissed the jar of pickles, and slammed the fridge door in disappointment.

All the while, Gosalyn had finished her breakfast and had been watching her dad over her empty bowl. "Dad, that's really weird."
"You don't have to tell me. I've eaten the entire contents of the vegetable crisper, and I still feel sick with hunger." He sank into the pine wood chair in front of the fridge, his elbows up and his chin in his hands.
"Try the cereal. They say ..."
He shook his head, "I couldn't touch that stuff right now."

Gosalyn considered her unhappy dad for a long moment. "What happened to you last night?"
"I don't know. Steelbeak poisoned me. It was supposed to kill me."
"And you didn't go to the hospital, of course!" Gosalyn harrumphed. "What happened then?"
"Well, I just blacked out. I woke up seconds later."

Gosalyn tapped her beak in deep thought. There was no complaint about the fact that her dad had come back home. On the other hand, she'd watched a lot of movies where this kind of stuff happened in the opening act. How to prove it though? She got up and went looking in the fridge. So far her dad had eaten only vegetables, but then, that's the kind of guy her dad was. Broccoli, he'd argued with her once, was the protein source of champions. Well, he'd eaten that already, so it was round two to Gosalyn.

"What about this?" She landed the tray of meat on the table.
Drake scrambled back from it, his chair caught on the leg of the table and toppled over with a clatter on the linoleum. "Is that past its use by date? Yuck!"

With a sniff, Gosalyn read the label. "No, it's got five days and it smells alright to me." She picked up the tray, and Drake backed further away from it, all the while Gosalyn watching him. "Huh, maybe it needs to be fresh," she mentally slapped herself; "well, du-uh!" She put the meat back in the fridge. "When you say it out lo-u-d ..." She snorted derisively.
"That's off; it should go in the bin." Drake told her.

"It's fine, for us 'normal' people. That is. Just not for you." She prodded him through his dressing gown. "Hmmm, let's see." She tapped her beak thoughtfully again. "You don't really like sunlight-."
"I was asleep; I needed time to adjust."
"-And the meat isn't fresh enough for you."
"It's off."
"You were poisoned by something that kills ordinary people, but instead you just 'blacked out'."
"I'm fine!" He insisted. "Gosalyn, please stop worrying about me."
"But most importantly, you're still hungry after eating all those vegetables." She shrugged, "It's alright, dad, after the game, we'll get it all sorted out. Besides," She giggled, "You've already eaten the pantry, so there's no point in staying here any longer."

To that, her dad could finally agree. "I'll just get dressed. You brush your teeth and get your gear into the car, Gos."
"Will do, pops." She gave him a peck on the cheek and disappeared from the kitchen before Drake had put the chair back under the table.
Gosalyn saw the clock on the telephone stand reading 8:45 and royally freaked. "No time for brushing teeth, dad!" She grabbed up her kit from beside the umbrella rack, "We've hung around talking too long!"

"Give me thirty seconds!" Drake tore out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Without another thought Gosalyn snatched up the keys and hauled her stuff out to the blue station wagon. By the time she'd chucked her sports gear into the boot her dad had rescued the keys off her and a moment later they were backing out of the driveway.

"Phew." Gosalyn sat back in the passenger seat after doing her seatbelt up, "I think I'll just make it if you drop me off at the gate and then find a park."
"Sounds like a plan." Drake answered, "I'm sorry; I thought it was a lot earlier."
"Yeah, well, time happens when you sleep." Gosalyn answered, "But it's not like you oversleep, dad, and we'll make it. Somehow you always make sure we do." She eyed the dash behind his hands on the steering wheel as he drove. "Are you speeding?"

"Gos-alyn! No! I am 'not' speeding!" He objected loudly, making her giggle.
"Love you, dad."
"Oh," he calmed down, "I love you too, hon."

A few minutes later Drake had dropped Gosalyn off and then parked the car. The sun shone down hot and bright on Drake as he climbed out of the drivers seat. He headed towards the stands, all the while considering the crisp blue of the day. Was the sun normally this bright on a morning like this or was it just the stomach bug making it seem that much brighter?

Drake was suddenly shoved sideways. It was a large pig with a tray of food and soda pop. Drake recoiled, anger rising very quickly. He clenched his fists. His stomach was howling in hunger.
"Oh, uh, excuse me." The pig turned halfway to nod back at him, before he continued lumbering on down the aisle. What ... he hadn't meant to bump into Drake?

"Da-ad!" Gosalyn's voice called urgently, distracting him from trying to figure out what really just happened there.
Gosalyn was racing across the green from her team, waving at him.

Drake went to the fencing to meet her. "You should be getting ready." Drake said to her through the chicken wire.
"I am ready!" She was, and she looked very pretty in her dark blue sports gear and hefty padding strips, her helmet in her hand. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He swallowed the last of his rage. Gosalyn had a peculiar look on her face. "Go on, go knock 'em silly. I'll be right over here, cheering you on." She raced off, and Drake glanced back at the pig, sitting, eating the massive trayload of junk food. "Yeesh. That man is on his way to a coronary." Suddenly the hunger had eased up a little.

Drake found a seat, and focused his attention on the game. He turned his head as Launchpad sat down with his own tray of food beside him. "I'm glad you made it, Launchpad."
Launchpad looked at him, practically beaming. Drake couldn't think why. But the good mood was catching, and Drake couldn't help but smile back.

"Well, the line at the food cart was ... Oh, you mean the game!" Launchpad chuckled. "Sure, it's early, but I wouldn't miss Gos's big event. If they win this one, they'll get to play Duckberg's champion team. Oh, sorry, you wanna b-ah-I mean you want some? This food is great! Better than Hungry Hippo. Definitely worth waiting in line for."

"No, thanks." Drake wondered why Launchpad was so keen on selling him on the stuff. "I still wouldn't call it food, LP." Drake plucked up his mental strength, and focused with all his might on the baseball game, ignoring the smells of grease and sugary soda pop around him.

After the game there were celebrations with more junk food and more sugary soda pop under the shade cloth that the coach had set up. Drake stood in the middle of it all. Who said western society was unhealthy? Here was a perfectly healthy activity, ruined with artificial flavours, sugars, and a huge side order of grease. But at least Drake had picked up some immunity to the smell by now.

"Howdy, neighbour." Herb came up, slapping him on the back.
"Oh, hi Herb."
"That was a great game, wasn't it, ol' buddy?"
"Oh, yes, absolutely. I think your son's quite switched on." Drake recounted the best action in his head that highlighted Tank's abilities. Herb gushed in pleasure. Drake grinned back. This was the first time in his life that he didn't mind Herb's ranting. All Drake was noticing was the warm fuzzy feeling surrounding the big-hearted salesman.

After a while, Drake detected a feeling of concern. He looked down.
"Dad?" Gosalyn looked up at him, a serious expression of concern on her face.
"Uh, we'd better be off. See you later, Herb." Drake waved goodbye at the crowd of Gosalyn's team mates and their families, and stepped out with Gosalyn. She walked to the car and he followed her.

"Right, let's go." Gosalyn dumped her baseball bat and gear in the boot and he closed it for her.

Drake entirely appreciated the fact that his daughter wanted to get down to business. He appreciated it all the more for having the characteristic himself. But even so, there were a few details he needed to be let in on, "It would be helpful, since I'm the one who's driving, to have an idea of where we might be going?"

Gosalyn opened up the passenger door, "Hamil Corp, dad; you got the employee share program, that means you get your share of their doctors too." She slammed her door behind her.

Moral/Overview: The benefits of good feelings can be maximised by sharing them with others. Also, this sort of dividend is tax free and has no strings attached.