A Romeo and Juliet Story

I arrived early enough for a morning appointment in Bellefonte that I was able to spend a little time walking around Talleyrand Park. It was overcast and chilly, with dark, dramatic clouds. I arrived in light drizzle that threatened to turn into snow flurries, but a brisk breeze came by and blew all the cobwebs out, and the clouds began to give way to breaking light.

The area is alive with birds of all shapes and colors, including a large variety of mallard ducks. I happily contented myself with taking pictures of the Match Factory, the railroad tracks (no, there were no trains on this day), the endless parade of birds, the swinging bridge, and the absolutely fine reflections on the water. There is no prettier time at Talleyrand than spring!

The big spring run was lined with a host of golden daffodils, and as I followed it to its source, I came upon a pair of mallards napping in the sun. The one was a pretty standard looking wild drake, but the other bird . . . well, it was white! I thought for a second that it might be a goose rather than a duck, and I wondered at the possibilities. But eventually, they stood up and walked across the green grass together, and I noted that while the female was somewhat larger than the male, she wasn't large enough to be a goose. So a white duck it must be.

They made a beautiful study in contrasts: the female white as snow, the wild drake wearing darker shades. He was solicitous of her welfare, followed her closely, seemed to enjoy watching her waddle. When they eventually stepped down into the water, they started to do that bottoms-up maneuver that ducks do when they are foraging. Was it my imagination or did the drake seemed to be admiring her plump bottom as she displayed it to the world? ("Hoo-whee! Baby's got back!")

When I got to my computer later and downloaded the photos, I googled white mallards, and discovered that there are such things, but they are usually tame domesticated ducks, with the one I saw possibly being an American Pekin duck. It is apparently not uncommon for wild and tame ducks to mate. I thought of them thus: Juliet as the girl from town in her shining white feathers, Romeo as her wild lover from the other side of the railroad tracks. The thought charmed me.

The last glimpse I had of the pair was of their silhouettes - one light, one dark - gliding down the spring run on waters that sparkled like diamonds in the morning sun. I turned and gave them one more admiring glance before I left: she, fair Juliet, white as a dove; he, the lovestruck Romeo, hanging on her every gesture and glance. As they disappeared out of sight, I thought to myself that their story would differ in one very important way from the standard Romeo and Juliet tale.

In this story, Romeo and Juliet go on to live happily ever after. :-) The End.

And the song . . . well, I'm sure you guessed it before you got this far, didn't you? The tune to accompany this lovely couple is one of my favorite Dire Straits songs, Romeo and Juliet.

A lovestruck Romeo sings a streetsuss serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade
Says something like - You and me babe, how about it?

Juliet says - Hey it's Romeo, you nearly gimme a heart attack
He's underneath the window, she's singing - Hey la, my boyfriend's back
You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that
Anyway, what you gonna do about it?