2: Bugs and Ducky-5
549 Words
HIS MIND FLASHBACKED to the sixth of May. He had been up since the crack of dawn. The day before, he received an order to ‘look after a whale-hugger’ which he only accepted under duress. His siblings teased him mercilessly about the benign assignment, much to his chagrin.
By 07:00, he was ready to handle the whale-hugger. He was instructed to be in the mess hall of the Townsville Camp by 08:00. On approach, he was surprised to see Bonita with one of the Navy’s public affairs officer. He remembered thinking: This is interesting.
The public affairs media spinner turned just in time.
‘Here he is, right on time.’
Bonita was open-mouthed with surprise.
He was grinning.
The PA guy made the introduction, unaware they knew each other.
‘Dr Rudd, this is Lieutenant Commander Cameron.’ They shook hands and nodded politely to each other. ‘I better leave you to it then,’ said the guy, who couldn’t wait to get back to his office.
‘If you wanted to see me again, you could have just asked me yesterday,’ Duck joked. He noticed she looked cute when she was aghast and embarrassed at the same time.
‘Sorry, I didn’t know they were going to ask you.’
‘So, I thought you were a chef.’
‘Cooking is a hobby. I was on leave from my job; today’s my first day back.’ She didn’t explain she was just getting into the groove of writing her post-graduate thesis. Returning to work was another two months away. ‘Emily’s my godmother, so when she needed help, I couldn’t refuse.’
‘Right,’ he said and went on a charm offensive. ‘What is it you want us to do?’
He couldn’t help falling in like with her, especially when she rolled her eyes. He was amused.
She cautiously said, ‘We need to find a quiet place for a Q and A. Then, at some point, we have to do a dive so you can demonstrate what you guys do.’
‘Ok,’ he replied, ‘I can arrange that. But first, we have to have breakfast.’ He glanced around the mess hall. ‘Not here, though. Let’s go.’
Duck offered to drive. Seated in his Jeep, he asked out of the blue, ‘Was I ever mean to you in high school?’
She raised an eyebrow.
‘No, what made you ask?’
Looking straight ahead, watching for non-existent traffic and readying to turn on the ignition, he replied, ‘You’re kinda aloof.’
She laughed softly.
‘No, you saved me from bullies once.’
He turned to gaze at her, and recognition flashed in his eyes.
‘You’re Bugs Bunny!’ he said, pointing a finger at her excitedly.
She rolled her eyes.
‘I told you I had buck teeth. Thank God for braces.’ Then she added, ‘And you were Duck. I remember your sister climbing the pool fence and shouting at the top of her lungs, ‘DUCK, I’m off!’’
They had a chuckle at the recollection.
‘Does she still call you Duck?’
‘The family calls me that.’
‘Why?’
‘Apparently, I paddle in the water and waddle on land.’
‘You don’t waddle on land,’ she said.
He considered her smiling face. The longer he looked at her, the more beautiful she became.
She self-consciously looked out the window.
‘I think we gotta move on, I need to complete this project.’
Over breakfast, she told him she joined the high school swim team in Year Nine when he was in Year Twelve and was Team Captain. That he comforted her when she burst into tears having been relentlessly teased about her buck teeth, he made sure she never got teased again. She also told him that the whole school had a crush on him.
‘Now that’s a lie,’ he said. ‘My brother Banjo is the ladies’ man.’
‘Same difference,’ she said.
*
- Writer
