Sitting Duck Makes Last Stand

koan · Post by **koan** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:59 pm

Sitting Duck Makes Last Stand

Couldn't resist creating a thread to go with my avatar.

Perhaps we can write this story together.

A long time ago, in an ethernet far away, Sitting Duck waddled up to a terminal and boarded a bus to nowhere. It wasn't very far to go but, still, it felt like a wild adventure. Sometimes you just know that something is going to change. Something had to change.

(feel free to create the conflict or crisis)

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:00 am

If something didn't change quickly he was sure he would end up like his cousin Sitting Bull....

koan · Post by **koan** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:22 am

They were still trying to remove the pickle... but that's another story.

The bus wheels gripped the road as Sitting Duck started his journey away. No one came to see him off. He had $20 in his backpack but he felt rich. Already, he knew the taste of his next coffee would be earthier and more enjoyable because he would be free. Even so, memories tried to edge their way in as quickly as he could shake them off.

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:11 am

The memories of those tender years snuggled under his mothers wing, haunted him. He knew there was no going back, he had to plough on, in search of the one thing he yearned for more than life itself. Suddenly, he was jolted from his dreams by a ......

along-for-the-ride · Post by **along-for-the-ride** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:43 pm

ThePheasant;712873 wrote: The memories of those tender years snuggled under his mothers wing, haunted him. He knew there was no going back, he had to plough on, in search of the one thing he yearned for more than life itself. Suddenly, he was jolted from his dreams by a ......

...shout fron the bus driver."Life is s highway.....we're gonna ride it all night long."

The other passangers laughed nervously, but the duck smiled. "Just so we go south....that's all I care about right now," he thought.

koan · Post by **koan** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:53 pm

And it soon came to pass that Sitting Duck forgot that he ever lived off the bus. Once in awhile, someone would leave, and he would get a new neighbour, and the cushion of the seat sank lower and lower as time went by. Some of the people would start looking towards the back of the bus all shifty eyed from time to time and they learned to share the toilet of which there was only one for many people. Sitting Duck recalled this to be unusual but couldn't remember how things used to be.

Until. The bus screeched to a halt and the driver, a wild-eyed, hairy man, leaped from his seat and stormed to the back of the bus next to where Sitting Duck watched, enthralled. He swung open the bathroom door, bravely smelled the air, then looked with accusing eyes towards the residents. One step. Two steps. He turned and narrowed his gaze to Sitting Duck, who always seemed to have that easy target look about him.

"Off the bus!" he snarled. Sitting Duck sputtered, attempting to defend against an unknown accusation. The driver hauled him up the aisle and deposited him outside the hydraulic door with little grace. A chubby finger pointed at a sign in the window. A red circle with a line through a tubular device that seemed to be on fire. The door closed, leaving Sitting Duck in the dust and bright sunlight, still puzzling over why the driver thought he looked like a cigarette.

Pheasy · Post by **Pheasy** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:53 am

Sitting Duck stood and watched the bus as it disappeared into the horizon. The accusation of looking like a cigarette playing on his mind. Through-out his traumatic, yet short years of existence, he had become accustomed to being accused of many things, but never of being a cigarette before. What did this latest accusation mean? Was his mother right all along, was he really an alien after all? An alien that can take on many forms? Did he in fact look like a cigarette to these earthlings? Sitting duck sighed, picked up his backpack, and headed slowly towards the darkening horizon. He must carry on. He must find the answers he seeks.

As he walked, his mind drifted from one thought to another. It was only after a few moments of scuffing along the dusty road, that he realised he was not alone. Someone or something was following him .....

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:26 am

....he was sure of it. The quietness around him seemed to grow even quieter. The night suddenly encompassing him in complete darkness. His heart started to race. He didn't know whether to stop and see what was behind him or to start running. But where to run to? He couldn't see anything ahead of him. Before he could decide what to do.................

watermark · Post by **watermark** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:31 pm

he felt a soft breeze blowing through the down of his coat and remembered that he was on a quest in a loving universe . Turning to look behind him, he slowed his waddle enough to hear the breeze whisper through the night air, "yoooouu are a beauuuuuutifuuuuul duuuuuuck, remmmmeeeemmberrrr thiiiiiiiiiisssss". He looked around for the thing that made such a wondrous statement, full of expectancy. When he couldn't locate the source of this incredible voice, duck waddled onward down the road, or path, he wasn't sure which it was at the moment, but his heart quickened once again and he stopped suddenly, there, in the middle of the road, er, path, looking down upon his weary paddles, tired and crusty from the journey. He realized he had taken a wrong turn. Duck thought of something just then, no, not the thorn stuck in his flipper, it was something else...

koan · Post by **koan** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:01 pm

...what did it mean when two bright lights were approaching and getting bigger.

The answer occured to him as a car screeched to a halt right in front of him. A man dressed in black jumped from his seat and slammed the door.

"What kind of damned fool stands in the middle of the road? That's freakin' foul!" Insulted and irate, Duck pointed at the man and insisted he "take that back!" The man paused for a moment, did a bit of a double take, then consulted with another person in the back seat. "I can't do that", he said. Duck didn't back down. Encouraged by the effect he seemed to have had, and spurred on by his weary state, he continued

"It's never to late to stop yourself from making a mistake, Buster." Duck rose taller as the man stuttered slightly and again nervously consulted the passenger. After a moment, he opened the door and removed a case from the car. He held it out towards Sitting Duck and placed it at his feet.

"We were taking it back. Thought there was trouble so we just detoured a little." The man scanned the trees lining the road and quickly returned to the car. Duck was caught off guard and curious. He reached for the case as the car's engine roared to life then did a U-turn and sped out of sight.

The case was unlocked... he opened it.

Chookie · Post by **Chookie** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:28 pm

.....you might hear something to your advantage...........

koan · Post by **koan** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:35 pm

Now, not many people were aware of this but Sitting Duck was a master codebreaker. Trained by the military and abandoned as 'expendable' when he was quite young. He instantly recognised the substitution of "u" for "o" and knew that the key at the bottom of the case would open a lock on the dock. The word "foor" was obviously "roof" backwards and there was some advantage to be found if he made it to "here."

There was only one way to find a dock and that was to follow the river. Being rather good in the water, it wasn't long before Duck found what he was looking for.

An old warehouse with a crickety door beckoned to him when he arrived. He looked left and right then slid the key in. It clicked. He climbed the stairs, every footstep echoing, until he reached a trap door leading to the roof. It was dark out and he didn't know what he was looking for. Scanning the horizon, he noticed an old billboard in the distance that was advertising Advantage cigarettes. Silhouetted in front of it was an odd vent that looked like a swan neck. Sitting Duck slowly approached. He looked inside and found another case. Locked. Feeling along the neck of the vent he discovered the key jammed into a joint and examined his prize...

Stacks of cash!! There must have been about a million dollars in there!!

Fear swept over Sitting Duck. He suddenly had that familiar feeling of being a walking target again.

Chookie · Post by **Chookie** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:58 pm

............the Roasted Aardvark with Anchovy garnish.

But that isn't the problem just now. That money you saw in the vent on the foor is counterfeit - all of it. It came directly from Fort Knox. None of it has ever left federal custody, yet it's all fake. Somebody highly placed in government wants the US dollar to collapse. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to find the culprit. This hologram will self-destruct in 10 seconds.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:28 pm

Sitting Duck frantically searched his pockets for an escape but he was all out of Black Holes.....

watermark · Post by **watermark** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 8:05 pm

, white lights, dead ends, phony balonie. Duck knew he was all out of every damn excuse. There was no other reason for this. He was just, plain and simple, framed. He had read about this in a mystery magazine before. They always incriminated the innocent one and, yep... gulp... se la vie, unfortunately he was it. While duck never thought muchof money he did know that this paddy wack held a small key to happiness. He also knew where he had come from- muddy banks, brown waters, trash strewn by freckly farts- he was a proud duck. This was NOT about money, he concluded. With a feathered fling of his right wing he sent the conterfeit money sailing through the broken warehouse window. He watched it as it slammed into the billboard, knocking out the the syllables cig and ar. This left the word advantagette. In ducks mind this was just another a revelation, a peculiar incident, if he did think so himself. The ugly suitcase continued in its downward arc, grazing the woman in the trench coat. She had made a mad dash downstairs to the dock, awaiting her get-away boat, and wondering if she had made the right decision she obviously thought she was a fool. She looked up then, stunned, while duck caught a glimpse of her...

watermark · Post by **watermark** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:06 pm

...didn't think he had enough real money to make it to Casablanca. He realized he didn't even have enough money to go to Paris. He was at a loss. Was he to follow Lauren? Why was he reminded of Sam? He looked down at his watch and noticed it was half past two. Dark and cold now, he felt the hungry in his belly. He then remembered he hadn't eated for two days. Absolutely nothing was right.

He shuddered then. From the bean of his golden beak to the web of his shank, he shook. He shook and shook and shook.

"What am I supposed to do now?" An extra shuddee moved through his tail feathers and caused a side to side vibration. Why is this all so confusing? he wondered.

Who was this Lauren woman--- really? Someone close to his heart or a con artist? He felt a bit sick now at the thought he had been deceived by love. He absentmindedly billed himself in the breast to scratch an itch. "Ouch!", he said out loud, to noone in particular, "that hurt!"

Hmmm... his mind wandered over the day's events-- the banishment from the bus, the lonely yet invigorating walk, the strange and dishonest passenger of that car-- and now this. Alas, Duck had no time to mull over the events of the day because at that very moment, in the thick of this incredibly ponderous night, Duck...

koan · Post by **koan** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:41 pm

...realised how badly he needed to pee.

Waddling into the bushes, he disappeared from sight just as an alien spaceship arrived and captured a nearby man who seemed stuck in a film from the past. When Sitting Duck emerged he forgot all about Casablanca and the holographic female that had seemed so real. Must have been the side effects of the tractor beam blast.

He needed to get somewhere warm. He looked around and saw a bicycle lying against the warehouse. He'd seen a frog ride one of those before and knew he was much more adept than a frog so he hopped on the bike and started pedalling south. Shortly after he departed, the car he'd met pulled up to the docks. The two men got out and searched the area. One of them discovered the briefcase floating in the water. Empty.

"It's the damn duck. If we don't get that money back, someone is going to die... and it sure as **** isn't gonna be me."

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:21 am

Sure, you people can sit here and amuse yourselves with duck prose and entertain yourselves all day for all I care but you had better wake up and smell the coffee ! Someone needs a reality check because the plight of the duck is no laughing matter.

This whole thread just makes me ill.

Tater Tazz · Post by **Tater Tazz** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:27 am

But the duck kept peddling the bike down the road to get to the store. On his way there he stopped at a liquer store.

Tater Tazz · Post by **Tater Tazz** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:31 am

While at the store, The duck ran into......................

koan · Post by **koan** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:16 pm

"I hate soap opera nowadays." A nurse came in and switched of the television in the hospital room. "That's quite the whack job you ended up with, gave you some codeine." She stood beside the bed looking down at Sitting Duck and seemed like an angel. Codeine! No wonder he felt like he was flying.

"Where am I?" The chance of him having arrived at Nowhere was slim but he held his breath.

"Just past Georgia," she replied. Damn, he'd heard that was a pretty state but he didn't get a chance to see it. Nevertheless, there was a mission here and Sitting Duck had miraculously gotten closer to his goal. Somewhere a cabana waited for him. Maybe when he got to Florida he'd start up his own little business, making umbrellas for those fancy drinks.

Chookie · Post by **Chookie** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:27 pm

Unfortunatley, the reply "Just past Georgia" had not specified which direction "past Georgia", indeed, it had not even specified which Georgia. What Sd did not know at this time, was that the Georgia in question was nowhere near Florida. It wasn't even in the USA. SD was currently "just past Georgia" inasmuch he was in holding facility in Yerevan.

koan · Post by **koan** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 5:33 pm

Chookie;719676 wrote: Unfortunatley, the reply "Just past Georgia" had not specified which direction "past Georgia", indeed, it had not even specified which Georgia. What Sd did not know at this time, was that the Georgia in question was nowhere near Florida. It wasn't even in the USA. SD was currently "just past Georgia" inasmuch he was in holding facility in Yerevan.

As he walked out of the hospital, still high from the meds, Sitting Duck wandered down the street to the tune of The Blue Danube issuing from the grand opera house. Where to go from here. He was too chicken to go to Turkey and he didn't think they'd have those little umbrella things there either. Something like the smell of napalm in the morning was drifting up from the direction of Iraq... It was looking like he was going to have fly somewhere but not on an empty stomach.

Heading for the restaurant district, he noticed a man in a white apron and chefs hat sharpening some knives by the back door. The man looked at him funny so Sitting Duck made like pantyhose and ran. Finally finding a park that seemed a little more quiet he sat down with some bread crumbs and pondered the meaning of life.

koan · Post by **koan** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:55 pm

I must admit, I have no clue how any of your contributions to this thread help to explain the duck in my avatar.

I've been desperately trying to keep this about a duck with hitmen chasing after him... so please, you'll have to finish it off. I'm quite lost as to how Sitting Duck from a small village came to know a trenchcoated flasher and has this sordid history with Georgia a person or place he's never "been to".

You have me fascinated... please reveal your great story plan.

koan · Post by **koan** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:10 pm

And that somehow means that the entire story is about Georgia?

Where'd the bullet holes come from in the wall behind him?

koan · Post by **koan** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:20 pm

I'd also like to point out that in your justification you fail to notice that he got over the Georgia thing by the end of the paragraph.

koan · Post by **koan** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:37 pm

I don't luv you.

For various reasons you are now on my ignore list.

Buh bye

koan/Fedalia

koan · Post by **koan** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 11:05 pm

Morning came and found our hero sitting in a chair by the side of a pool, sipping a drink and noticing that it was sadly missing an umbrella. Life can't be perfect.

To his amazement two figures arrived, dressed in dark suits. The men from that car! It seemed like a dream it was so long ago. He wondered if he should offer them a drink. ZING! ZING! Sitting Duck looked at the wall beside him and saw two holes.

The mosquitoes must fly really fast around here.

ZING!

Oh, dear... he looked down and saw a small dart in his side. Everything started going black.

************

"Sorry about the restraints. But you've got one hell of a right wing." Duck looked at the man seated before him and wondered what the Republicans had to do with all of this. In the corner of the room sat the cute duck from last night.

"Traitor!" he yelled.

"Who are you talking to?" asked the man in the tweed jacket.

"That... backstabbing little duck over there. Do I look sad enough now??" Sitting Duck spat at the corner.

"There's no one there."

It was hard to believe but eventually Sitting Duck had to accept that all of the people from the last while had been a product of his imagination. It became easy to ignore them even though they never quite went away.

Tater Tazz · Post by **Tater Tazz** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:21 am

Duck thought to himself about that night. He remembered seeing a beutiful duck, but alas, she was way to young. The two men in black, went to there car. then duck was left alone once again. So, duck decided too...................

watermark · Post by **watermark** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:34 pm

look for a few grubs and then find a cozy spot to rest. The problem was he could not find anything but parched soil. Where was he?

Just moments before, he had been having the stiches removed from his breast, where the bullet lodged while flying over that lake above Georgia. It was a frozen lake, sure, but what happened to it?

He must have been transported through the galaxy to this... this desert. His mind was playing tricks on him again, Damn it! he quaked to himself. Why must I be so crazy? Ah ha!

That was it, he knew, he was trapped in Koan's make believe world, used as a cheap meaningless avatar, a pawn for...

koan · Post by **koan** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:37 pm

oops changed my avatar... here's the picture :p

Attached files

summerishere · Post by **summerishere** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:26 am

:wah: hey... great story, although there does seem to be a few holes in it..?? :-3

however - some seem to have taken it too seriously....

Who's that that you're ignoring, koan...??

koan · Post by **koan** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:52 am

no idea how you made sense of it at all!

a huge number of posts have been deleted.

summerishere · Post by **summerishere** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:24 pm

koan;726713 wrote: no idea how you made sense of it at all!

a huge number of posts have been deleted.

I didn't, make sense of it I mean..... it's not really supposed to make sense is it?? :-3

...why have some posts been deleted??