The Celebration of Johnny's Yellow Rubber Ducky

By Jeremy Bursey

At the end of his coursework at Oxford, Johnny reaches a point in his life where he does not know what more to do or where else to go. Sure, he has plenty of options, but with those options comes an endless chain of questions and decisions to make, and his mind locks up when he has to participate in too much of either. Even as he takes the Tube to anywhere, he wonders if he's in control of his future, or if fate is pulling his strings. There have been plenty of moments in his life when he thought fate had smiled on him, especially the night he'd met Claire, but those moments just showed him that it was all one big tease and the future's real plan was to pull the rug out from under his feet.

The day after graduation, Johnny figures he should start pulling his own strings, so he considers speaking to a life coach to help him plan out his destiny. As he rides the train back to London, however, he discovers one new trick up fate's sleeve, and it comes in the form of a yellow rubber ducky he finds on the floor under his seat. On this duck is a flash drive full of stories from people who have no connection to each other save for the one factor that they had carried the duck around during a brief season of adventure. The drive also contains an instruction: “To anyone who finds this, please take this rubber ducky wherever you go. At any point you should experience something great, I beg of you, write it down and attach it to the duck. Then, leave it for the next body to find. When the seventh individual writes his experience, keep the duck and publish the letters for all to see.” Johnny can already see the hand of fate trying to pull him back under its spell. But he takes the bait. He takes the duck with him.

Six people have already written their stories. Johnny is the seventh and final person to take the duck on a new adventure and share it with the world. But how does one live through a story worthy of closing out the duck's epic journey? How much of Johnny's path does fate still influence? And why does the rubber duck seem so familiar to him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeremy Bursey
• Release date: Aug 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310752377

Jeremy Bursey

Jeremy Bursey is the author of many short stories, essays, and poems, along with a modest number of novels and screenplays, each covering topics and genres that differ from what he had written previously. He hopes to bring many of these into the ebook generation over the course of the next few years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Central Florida and currently works at a local college as a writing tutor. He appreciates feedback for anything he offers to the public.

Book preview

The Celebration of Johnny’s Yellow Rubber Ducky

A short story

Jeremy Bursey

Copyright © 2015 by Jeremy Bursey

All rights reserved.

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Smashwords Edition

E-book edition: 1.0

ISBN: 9781310752377

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

No part of this text may be reproduced in any other work without giving credit to the author. No part of this text may be used for commercial purposes, except by reviewers or critics, without the author’s permission. The complete text is intended for personal use only and may not be used for commercial purposes, or duplicated in any other form for purposes other than personal, noncommercial use, or posted to any other site without the author’s permission.

Contents

YRD101: Intro to Johnny

YRD201: Basic Fate History

YRD301: Strategies for Avian Studies

YRD401: Intermediate Babysitting

YRD501: Connection Analytics

YRD601: Intro to Conclusions

Author’s Note

E-book Version

About the Author

Other Books

Contact and Questions

YRD101: Intro to Johnny

The Past (Yesterday)

When Johnny stood on stage facing the thousands of spectators that had come to see him, he had no idea where he was going from there. His life had taken so many unpredictable turns that he thought making any decision could’ve led to heartbreak, and he didn’t want to make the wrong choice. With all of these witnesses sitting in the seats beside him, he felt somewhat obligated to fulfill the ideas they had about him, and about his future. But then, he didn’t really owe them anything. They would feel the same way about the next person to ascend the stage behind him. And the one after that. And the pattern would continue until the loved one they had actually come to support had his or her moment in the spotlight. From then on, they would think about him or her. Not Johnny. By the end of the day, only his family would care, and most of them were on holiday this week. They had to watch the ceremony online.

Johnny smiled at the chancellor for Oxford University as he took the diploma out of his hand. Then he continued toward the stairs leading off the stage. His fifteen seconds of fame were over. The graduate behind him was now the focus of thousands of people. Johnny’s university life at the New College campus had officially ended. Where he was headed next was anyone’s guess. Any decision he made today and beyond would be left under the scrutiny of destiny, and his goals would ultimately be verified or rejected by factors outside of his control. Even as he returned to his seat to await the end of the ceremony, he had no clear idea where life was taking him. He sat down with a sigh. It had taken him too many turns just to get here, and here felt like anywhere. One more accomplishment that added up to a bigger question: Does tomorrow even matter?

Once upon a time, Johnny believed that the answer was yes. Once upon a time.

***

That night, Johnny traveled to the café in Paris where he’d met the girl who got away, hoping that maybe he could somehow recreate the experience. When he got there, he asked the host to seat him at the same table where he’d sat the night he’d met her. Because another couple was already seated there, he offered to wait at the bar until it was vacant. A few minutes later, the man at the table got down on one knee and asked his date to marry him. She said yes. After the couple hugged and kissed, the man ordered a round of drinks for everyone in the room—because Johnny was seated at the bar, he was not actually part of the celebration, and was thus out a free pint of beer. The café’s soundtrack then changed to something romantic. Johnny recognized the song as the current trendsetter in popular music—he thought he heard Katy Perry singing—but he didn’t know the title, and couldn’t place the reference completely. Something about kissing a girl, which Johnny assumed was relevant.

It became clear to Johnny after twenty minutes of watching the couple celebrate that he wasn’t getting his table, so he stayed at the bar. His first night as a university graduate and he was tempted to get pissed. But he needed a clear head. He had to figure out where he was going. The girl he had met at that table just a little over two