7. ferdinand
It was a Friday evening and I was picking up dinner from a sushi place on my way home from the shops. I turned the engine off, locked the door and when I walked through the next one my sushi was waiting for me inside. I told the young man playing host, “Michelle” when he asked for my name. He turned around, searched for the matching carry-out bag, turned back around and handed it to me.
He printed a paper, I signed my name and walked out the door. As I was walking back to my car, I gazed up at the other cars, checking my 360 surroundings like a curious woman always does. That’s when I saw them. Just sitting there like ducks in a row... on the windshield of the jeep in the next lane over. One by one with their vibrant yellow bodies and orange beaks. Yes, I’m talking about the kind kids use in the bathtub - those little rubber duckies! Just sitting in the window pane! Looking out at me!
Now, I know what you’re thinking. What’s the big deal? But this wasn’t the first time I’d seen this. No this was the second time in less than 24 hours. I’m far enough on my deep dive into the human psyche and the context in which it exists, to know... there’s no such thing as coincidences. And this was a brand new one. I looked down and up again, clearing the fog from my eyes and still, they were there. How peculiar, I thought.
I wracked my mind for the significations. Rubber duckies and a jeep. Rubber duckies and a jeep. A few things arrive but nothing makes sense. I think I’ll hang on to this one and let it reveal its meaning over time. I unlock the car, hop in the passenger seat and head home. As the roads winded between tree lined roads, I couldn’t release the impression of what I had seen, as I traveled through the green. But still, no conclusions were drawn.
It wasn’t until a few days later that I saw yet another, rubber ducky lined jeep. I thought, it couldn’t be! But it was! Three times, now! It was at this point I acknlowedged I was getting signs from another galaxy. A world I didn’t quite understand, at least not yet, was begininng to interfere with mine. I was getting seedlings from another timeline. Past, present, future, what could’ve been — I did not know. But the transmission was picked up like so.
I didn’t obsess over it. In fact, most times I’d forget it even happened and then it’d happen again. In parking lots, while driving, all over town. And I’d think — what could they be saying? What are they trying to tell me? Finally, on the seventh occurence I decided to google it “rubber duckies and jeeps.”
So if that’s that then who’s Ferdinand, you ask?
Ferdinand is the duck’s name in the 1995 classic, Babe. A story about a baby pig who learns to herd sheep through the polite gentlessness of simply asking. As opposed to instilling fear through rage of bark as the sheep dogs do. Babe goes on to win the county fair for sheep herding with the help of a secret sheep language - he gains access to the chant through rex and thus, gains their trust and command.
Ferdinand, the duck’s highlight scene is early on. At the farm, he enlists Babe to help him on his mission to get rid of the mechanical alarm clock that prevents him from being indispensible and thus rerouting his fate of becoming food. See below.
I recently watched this movie.
I would say it is the second greatest pig story I’ve ever seen. The 2006 film, Charlotte’s Web is far superior in my opinion. It is my rainy day film. When skies are dark, Wilbur is my light.
