Duck at Central Park Pond

Last Spring I sat on the descending stone steps leaving into the pond in Central Park, beneath the Bethesda Fountain. I leaned against the cold stone perch and observed the simplicity of life when your only cares are paddling your orange webbed feet to the next tourist willing to share their meal. I thought about the animal as an equal for a moment and wondered what he was thinking. In fact, I wonder how animals think. Perhaps he thinks in quacks.