Santa's Rubber Duck & The Christmas That Went With A Real Splash

Although he would much rather have preferred an ordinairy duck, one Christmas Santa received a present of a rubber duck ! He thought that it was a bit unusual, when his gift underneathe the Christmas tree squeaked but when the rubber duck opened it's beak, he absolutely freaked ! As Santa unwrapped it, and put his new rubber duck onto the floor, he thought at first, that he'd snapped it. The rubber duck waddled, then flapped it's wings and paddled towards the door ! The Christmas fairy could hardly believe her eyes - she was usually the one in the grotto who flies ! So having a duck around was quite a surprise ! Although she waved her magic wand to scare off the rubber duck, some of the magic splattered and did a trick on its "Cluck !". The gnomes rushed outside to catch the rubber duck, skidding along the footpath, splattering everyone with muddy muck ! The rubber duck, of course, thought that this was great, until he skidded, colliding into the gate. He needed a bath, but had no soap - without any foam or shower gel, how could a rubber duck soak ?! The snowman watched as the mucky duck jumped into the lake, it's loud squawks kept everyone awake ! Slowly, at first, then somewhat quicker, the rubber duck wobbled on the riverside, then glided in much slicker. He accidentally fell over, once or twice, bending his beak upon the thick ice. As in he splashed, "WHALLOP !", something crashed. When the rubber duck quacked, the ice cracked - it seems that a lifebelt was all that Christmas lacked. He bought a new costume, just to go skinny - dipping. He flapped his feet so much that he soon was completely flipping ! The rubber duck's favourite technique was front crawl, because doing backstroke, the almost crashed into a wall ! A dragonfly on a lilly pad watched and waited as the rubber duck, off he skated. The rubber duck flapped his wings, somersaulting over a log, just like a frog, enjoying Summer's somethings. Because of Santa's Christmas magic, the rubber duck could fly and swim faster than a dolphin, the waves that it made in the pond as he dived in were gigantic ! Usually, no great fan of fishing on the pond, the rubber duck still enjoyed snorkelling (he thought underwater, deep sea diving was grand !). The duck sang, swimmingly, taking a dip he was in seventh Heaven, seemingly. "Rub - a - dub - dub, I love a quick scrub, a river is better than a bath tub ... it's far better to get a back scrub in the shrub !". Bubbles flew through the air, as the rubber washed, water splashed everywhere ! The rubber duck had never had this much fun ... Although there wasn't a loofa in sight, he had no towel, so he had to dry out in sunlight. Finally, Santa came to fish the rubber duck out, it took three gnomes, with their fishing rods, and a net to pull it out ! In fact, the gnomes themselves almost fell in, as well. The rubber duck was still shivering with in the cold, he wobbled on the ice so much, he was difficult to hold ! Luckily, Santa had a bird book which showed clearly how to catch a duck (an afternoon was all it took !). Santa put the soggy rubber duck by the fireside, to recover from his swim in the stormy weather. In the warm, eating mince pies, is a much better place to be, though he often drops the odd feather ! Nowadays, Santa keeps the rubber duck on the mantlepiece (except on Fridays, when he takes a bath and the duck gets some watery release as Santa washes off the week's dirty grease !).

© Jacqueline Richards 2008