Leir spent more time than he expected to sitting on the bench, watching the ducks. He'd seen ducks before, but these ones were huge. They were at least twice the size of regular pond ducks back home. Mentally noting the differences between his familiar ducks and these foreign ones, Leir sat there for fourteen minutes comparing the different hues of beige and brown in their feathers, their larger bodies and beaks, and their larger webbed feet too. He could only compare the females because no male specimens were available. The ducks drew him in because they appeared so familiar upon first glance, but then the differences slowly disturbed him.
It made him think of his ex-girlfriend. They had been so in love in the beginning, but after many months and a few years, everything had changed. What he thought he knew about her turned out mostly wrong. The little things that he initially adored turned into the things that drove him crazy. And her seemingly deep love for him also turned viciously sour. When they broke it off the only thing he could think about was to get as far away from her, and as far away from all the ashen memories as possible. So he bought himself a plane ticket to a remote country, a land where the sun never sleeps in the summertime, and a place where he could be alone to regain his sense of self: Iceland.
So there he sat, thousands of miles away, watching Icelandic ducks that reminded him of Amy. He felt pathetic. Getting up, he chose to walk back to the heart of the downtown, rather than away as was his original plan. He decided he wanted to lose himself amongst strangers rather than be isolated that day. There were always tourists in the downtown, and with World Cup soccer in full swing, any of the pubs would provide him the distraction he so desperately sought.
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