Pearl Luke is a lovely, generous woman. A bunch of years ago, she published one of my favorite short stories, Why Not a Duck, on her website, Be a Better Writer. As the calendar flipped to November, I thought about that story, which takes place on Thanksgiving. In the spirit of the mission of the site, I had, over those years, become a better writer, and I wanted to revise the tale. Pearl was nice enough to republish my revision. Here it is…
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Why Not a Duck?
“Holiday Help Line, this is Matthew. How can I help you?”
“I’m going to slit my wrists,” she said. “I hate Thanksgiving. I hate that the Christmas decorations have been up in the stores since Halloween. I hate the Macy’s parade and the Rockettes and cooking and cleaning and the men sitting on their asses watching football and I swear, when the sweet potatoes are done I’m taking the biggest knife I have and…”
Laurie Boris 
This is pricless. I didn’t know whether to laugh or worry. You trod that line so precisely.
What a hoot! I loved it. Thanks, Laurie. You made a grey day much brighter.
Thank you, Carol! Miss you around the gruel pot. Sounds like you’re doing really well, and watch out for the sharks!
I’d say you nailed it 🙂
It brought a tear to my eye. I love this story.
You know I love this story. Thanks for the Be a Better Writer link. Looks like a great place to learn stuff. 😉