Emily Tyndall The Uglier Duckling 5/16/06

word count: 987

Once upon a pond swam the ugly duckling Nelly. She wasn’t always ugly. Before she began swim school, Nelly was the most darling little duckling she knew. Mommy and Daddy always talked about Nelly. “Nelly squawked her first quack today honey!” “Did you see Nelly wobble her first waddle?” “Nelly is such a darling little duckling!”

Those days were full of glory. Unfortunately, Nelly began swim school and that’s where her trouble started.

Nobody at swim school noticed how darling Nelly was. Instead, Madame Mummsicakes quacked, “Nelly, stop squawking!” “Nelly, save your wading and waddling for after class!” and even, “Nelly is such a disruptive little duckling.”

Nelly decided she must have lost her darling-ness. “What’s the opposite of darling?” She asked her Daddy.

“I suppose the opposite of darling is ugly. Why?”

“Oh…nevermind.” Nelly knew the problem. She was ugly!

So Nelly, the ugly duckling, went to school every day. She tried not to squawk too loud or wade during swim lessons. She tried her hardest not to be a disruptive little duckling…but sometimes it was too hard…especially when Pirt and Fleeb said, “Hey Nelly, are you sure you’re not a rabbit? You’re feather looks an awful lot like a rabbit ear!” Nelly splashed them both for being so mean.

Madame Mummsicakes scolded, “Nelly, no splashing!” She made Nelly sit on the grass and write a report while everyone else practiced dives.

After school, Nelly waded through waterlilies looking for snail snacks. “Nobody likes me,” she thought, “not even I like me.” Suddenly, her rump bumped something.

“Watch where you’re waddling!” Exclaimed the something as it popped out of the water.

Nelly’s eyes filled with tears. Then, she noticed the strangeness of the “something”. Was it a monster...an explorer...a duckling? YES!!! An uglier duckling!

Nelly knew this was her chance to impress Pirt and Fleeb. She flitted to the clubhouse. “Have you `lings ever seen a duckling with giant lily-pad-sized feet?! Well, there’s one hiding in our pond right now! The ugly lily-paddler! He’s the ugliest duckling at Joey Pond!”

“Lily-paddler!” Everyone laughed.

Nelly laughed too!

Then they said, “Yeah, well, you’re the second ugliest!”

Nelly stopped laughing. “Oh yeah...well...” but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Well what?” They laughed.

“I have to go.” Nelly muttered and flapped home.

At home, Daddy quacked, “Time for bed my darling little duckling.”

“Daddy I am not a darling little duckling!”

“Don’t be silly!” He replied.

“I’ll be silly if I want to!” Nelly cried and she stormed to bed.

The next day at school, Madame Mummsicakes announced, “Class, please welcome Wam, our nice newbie from Nibley!”

It was the Uglier Duckling! He looked different without his mask or back pack...but the big floppy feet definitely looked the same!

Pirt leaned over and whispered, “Hey Nelly! You wanna be in our club?”

“Really?” She must have really impressed Pirt and Fleeb yesterday after all.

“Yeah, just go tell the uglier duckling, Wam, that his flippers are so big they don’t fit in our pond!” Pirt laughed.

Fleeb chortled, “Yeah yeah, so he has to go find a bigger pond! Haha!”

“Oh no,” Nelly thought, “I would feel especially ugly if someone said that to me...but this is my only chance to have some friends.”

Nelly didn’t think it was a good idea at all, but she didn’t see any other choice. She scribbled a note for Wam. Unfortunately, Madame Mummsicakes noticed Nelly passing the note. “Nelly, would you like to share your note with the whole class?”

“No” thought Nelly, but she swam to the front of the class anyway. “Here goes nothing,” she thought and then she read the note out loud:

“Wam, You have the gigantickest flippers at Joey Pond!”

The whole class was silent. Pirt and Fleeb couldn’t believe she had done it. Even Madame Mummsicakes didn’t know what to say. Nelly felt terrible inside--uglier than ever before! “What have I done?!” She thought.

“Thanks!” Wam chirped.

Everyone gasped.

Wam continued, “They used to be pretty small but now they’re perfect for deep pond diving!”

Madame Mummsicakes patted Wam on the head, “I’m sure they are real diving doozies...which reminds me, tomorrow is Dive and Tell. Everyone double up into diving duos and remember: flapping flippers make deeper dippers! Duck Luck!”

Wam swam to Nelly, “Will you be my diving double?”

Nelly knew Pirt and Fleeb would never be her friend if she doubled up with the uglier duckling himself! “No thanks.” she replied looking around for a different double. Everyone else had already doubled up! Nelly slowly turned back to Wam and forced a smile, “Well, ok.”

Wam let Nelly dive first. He was very helpful, but Nelly splashed around too much to notice. Wam shouted “Great dive Nelly! What did you find?!”

Nelly mumbled, “It’s just a boot.”

“No it’s not! It’s a, uh, a chef’s hat!” Wam put it on his head and began cooking up a can of worms.

Nelly wanted to laugh—but instead she folded her wings and looked away. “Your turn.”

Dive after dive, Nelly resisted...but Wam changed the ugly junk from the pond into something fun!

On Nelly’s last turn, she splashed and splished about. She pulled out a red vase and could resist no longer. Nelly placed the vase on her head and danced around, “All bow for the princess of Queenland, the darling little duckling herself...NELLY!”

Wam bowed to the princess, “Your Highness.”

She plucked a cattail and pointed it at Wam, “You may rise.”

“May I speak Your Highness?”

“Yes you may.”

“You should definitely wear that for Dive and Tell tomorrow!”

Nelly smiled a genuine smile. Then she put back on her serious face, “and I order you to be the chef...you do make a killer can of worms!” They both laughed.

That night, Daddy called, “Where’s my darling little duckling?”

Nelly grinned, “She’s right here!!!”