Aspen & Ashari, a 3-year old set of identical twins, enjoy going to the duck park on Sundays after church, to feed the ducks with their Grandpa Wesley. They went to a different park from usual, because this other park has a walking trail, a train, a cascading waterfall & colorful scenery. So much more things to do.
The girls love to feed the ducks, themselves (without Grandpa's help), so Grandpa Wesley brought some old, stale bread, like on any other Sunday. When they got out of the orange Jeep, the twins knew to hold hands, like their grandfather always made them do.
Ashari saw some flying geese & said, "Look, Grandpa. Those aren't ducks."
Grandpa Wesley asked her, "How do you know that those aren't ducks?"
Aspen chimed in & said, "It's because ducks don't fly."
Grandpa was surprised. "Who told y'all that?"
The girls replied, "Because the ducks we saw were always green. We never saw them flying. Can we feed those flying things, too?"
He told them, "Let me think about it."
A hungry mallard duck walked up for some bread. Usually they run away from you. You would've thought that these ducks were raised by squirrels, since squirrels always run away from people, unless you have food that they like.
Grandpa Wesley noticed that 1 of Aspen's shoes was untied. He bent down, with his painful arthritis knee, to tie it. While he was tying her shoe, they both kept pestering & nagging him, begging him to let them feed the ducks. When he got up, he gave them each their own bag to feed every duck that passed by.
The girls asked (in unison), "Grandpa, where's your bag. You gotta feed 'em wit' us!"
Grandpa told them, "Because. It's all yours."
They got excited & exclaimed, "Ooh! We get to feed them by ourselves."
As the ducks passed by, each of them was being fed the stale, old bread. A swan was staring at them. It looked like it was DROOLING over the bread.
A teenaged boy, with a skateboard & a football, walked by & jokingly said, "That swan looks like he's wondering if there's a soup kitchen just for ducks out here. He probably can pass for the being the ugly duckling. Naw, he's too pretty for that."
Grandpa Wesley couldn't stop laughing at that joke. He told the boy that he needs a career in standup comedy, & he gave the boy a HANDSOME $100 for that joke. That boy got lucky that day because he said he found $75 on the ground earlier that morning, while cutting grass, + he got $50 for cutting the grass as a favor for his uncle.
Grandpa Wesley & the twins fed more ducks, & also some pigeons, swans, geese, pelicans & seagulls. The homeless bird outreach. The squirrels came right after & ate what the birds left behind. Their church had a lot of old bread donated from Panera Bread that day. Much more than usual.
After the bird feeding, the twins & Grandpa Wesley got tacos for lunch at Falls Park On The Reedy in Greenville, SC. Right after that, they got some ice cream. Afterwards, he let the girls have a field day with standing underneath the waterfall. It was HOT that day. The waterfall was made to be safe & no longer a risk for contracting MRSA, so that the public could safely enjoy it again. After playing underneath the waterfall, there was a small train riding around. Grandpa Wesley & the girls rode the train for the rest of the evening, until their clothes got dry.
Sadly, the day ended, & Grandpa Wesley & the twins went back home empty-handed, with no more bread. They couldn't wait for the next week. Grandpa Wesley STILL couldn't stop laughing at that boy's joke.
THE END