OVER THE YEARS
By
Ashleigh Anpilova
Jethro recalls that he's leaned so much from Ducky over the years.
An established relationship story.
Written: August 2009. Word count: 500.
Over the years Duck and I've been together, I've learned a lot from him; a hell of lot - far more than I learned in school.
You see Duck likes to share what he knows. He likes to talk and tell stories, most of which are true. I'm not sure the kids, except Palmer maybe, think they are; reckon they think Ducky makes them up, but most of them are true. Admittedly not all. It wasn't Duck who fell asleep in a field of poison ivy with a young girl. That's just his way of, I won't say 'hiding' because he doesn't, being circumspect, maybe.
But it's not just his stories I've leaned - and most of those I know backwards - it's other stuff too. Good stuff, useful stuff. I had a pretty good education, the school I went to had a good record, good teachers who were strict, and not many kids left without graduating. But you know, they can only teach you so much, whereas Duck . . . Well, I'm not sure there is a limit on what he can teach.
And it’s not just factual stuff, stuff about the world, history, literature, art, and everything else he goes on about, that he's shared with me and taught me. Not at all. In fact that was probably, when it comes down to it, the least important thing. I can survive without knowing how many concertos Mozart wrote - yeah, I do know.
No, the most important thing he taught me, and he did so by sharing himself with me, was how to be happy again. How to love again. How to really love again. How to care for one person and be content to be with them. I never thought I'd find the kind of love I had with Shannon again; that rarely happens once in a lifetime, let along twice. In fact I was so sure I wouldn't, I didn't even try. But I was wrong.
Because Duck showed me. He showed me how to love; how to love him and how to love myself. And he didn't do it in any grand fashion, he didn't give me lessons, he didn't even talk to me about love, he just did it by being Ducky. He loved me, he showed me, he told me, he went on day after day week after week month after month year after year being Ducky; loving me and just being himself. It doesn't sound much, does it?
The years since I met him have gone by so fast. I can hardly believe it's been more than twenty years since we met, and more than ten since we first became lovers. We're both retired now; I got out when Duck did, I didn't want to stay without him. So we now get to share even more time together; days are less frenetic, we don't get called out in the middle of the night. It's good.
Just like together Duck and I are good. We always have been.
Feedback is always appreciated
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