Amelia Fielden

Once Upon a Time

An ordinary commuting morning at Wollongong station. Seated on a bench, and idly flicking through my texts, I look up to see—a few metres down from me—a very large, dark brown duck. Standing like a realistic sculpture in the middle of the platform.

     What? There’s no water, not even any grass, near here.
     Should I do something? Call somebody?
     Just hope it doesn’t fly onto the tracks…

While these thoughts are jumbling through my head, the duck settles down on the concrete, legs tucked neatly under its feathers. And stays there.

Five, then ten, minutes pass. The Sydney-bound train glides into the station. I stand up, preparing to board. Other passengers partly block my view. But to the right I catch a glimpse of a strapping, youngish man, with a very large, dark brown, duck tucked under his left arm.

He steps onto the next carriage. And is gone.

somewhat lacking
in imagination,
I write from life—
but this duck experience
might inspire a fairy tale

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About the Author

Amelia Fielden is Australian. She is a professional Japanese translator and a keen writer of traditional Japanese forms of poetry in English. Her most recent collection is These Purple Years (Ginninderra Press, 2018).

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