Ducks and Free Stuff

Two (of many) cool things in the land of MSU- ducks and free stuff.

Free stuff first: There is a little wooden shelf area in the entry way of my apartment complex. It is meant to house the campus newspaper but often houses other objects. Most frequently it is a trash receptacle for junk mail and unwanted crap out of people's cars. However, when people move out it becomes the location for unwanted free stuff. So far I have seen...

an old dot matrix printer, cast iron candle holder, rolls of socks, some magazines, a funky Hawaiian poster (I was tempted to take that one), and some old ski boots

One of the reasons I did not take the poster is because I thought- is this really free stuff or is this part of the Geo game where you use GPS and GIS to locate certain places and take what is there but leave something for the next explorer? But- who would leave rolled up socks?

As for the ducks- they are an avenue into the mushy part of me. There is a whole flock of them that live by the pond on campus. What gets me is that there are two of them that wander around campus together. They are a couple who don't always stick with the rest of the crew. I have found them sleeping together near a sculpture by the art building. I cam across them walking on the sidewalk towards the main part of campus, hanging out by a little bridge... always together.

Everytime I see them I think of companionship that I have known. I look at them and think about how simplistic devotion can actually be if we would only let it.