Three white ducklings sit next to the river bank behind their mother. They have fresh feathers and infantile attitudes.

The young man is affected by these ducklings with equal inspiration and dejection. He sits with a girl he became acquainted with a month ago and sees her as a prospect for romance.

He thinks about what the future holds for these ducklings and beholds the condition of youth.

The woman sees cute ducklings and only cute ducklings and their presence makes her feel good.

They enjoy each others company but tension still tends to rise when they are alone together. She thinks he is funny and so does he but he does not think she is funny. He thinks she is very pretty and she finds him tall and good looking but she does not find herself attractive.

He wishes she would care more for herself but fears that if she did she wouldn’t be interested in him.

She wishes he was more assertive.

He thinks all these things but she does not.

“I love baby animals” she says.

“Yeah the ducklings are pretty cool, I wish we could pet them”

He wishes many other things in this moment. He mostly wishes he could find the confidence to put his arm around her.

He thinks that this girl is not right for him and wonders if the girl that is exists.

He wonders if humans are really wired to have life partners and hopes so dearly.

The husbandless mother duck raises her children by herself. This is the way of ducks. Their sole unconscious collective goal is the continuation of their species and they continue to breed and survive in their environment.

The man thinks about this quietly and becomes sad from too much wondering.

“Do you want to get something to drink?”

He secretly fears sleeping with her because he’s afraid it won’t be so good as he thought and he’ll still be missing something.

They get up from the bench and walk up the dewy short grass to the sidewalk path towards the street that the bar is on. “What will you have to drink?”, he asks.

“Vodka lemonade”

“Ahh you’re gonna be hungover tomorrow morning if you drink sugar”

She has to drink sugar because she can’t take the taste of alcohol by itself.

They bump eachother slightly and subtly as they walk and this raises his hopes.