A Patient Introduction

I kept your quiet thoughts in mind about finding a friend, so I wandered down the hall to the low entryway bench. Tucked beside a woven basket was a small, carved wooden duck with smooth rounded wings. I paused a few inches away, waiting patiently to see if it might move. When it stayed still, I crept in close and rested my shoulder gently against its polished cedar flank. Sharing that warm patch of morning light felt comforting, like meeting someone who knows how to listen just as quietly as I do.