Duck Bills

When I was in my early thirties, I decided to move to Arizona and get a real job. My mom gave me this alarm clock as a joke, just a way to tease me about giving up my late nights as a musician. It looks like a duck to me, but it it has a rooster's comb and the alarm sound just like an angry rooster who won't shut up. Still a duck.

Working in the corporate world was more awful than I could have imagined. I had this cocky supervisor who sat near me. One day he had a meeting scheduled for 3:00 (some auditors, I believe), so early that morning I set the alarm to go off at 3:15 and I duck-taped it to a hidden place behind his desk, and then I told everyone in the department to walk by his office at about 3:14. By 3:18 the meeting broke up since no one could be heard over the crowing and no one could find the clock.

The duck has been on my shelf here for several years now, and yesterday as I was searching for some software I picked it up and noticed something neatly folded in its bill: a $100 bill and a $50. I'm pretty sure I put the bills there, but I can't remember why. My mom couldn't have done it, and I can't imagine why anyone else would have done it.

In the very back of my mind, which is a pretty dusty and neglected place, I seem to remember something about it. Maybe it's money that I wanted to give someone but didn't? Or maybe it's money that represents something I didn't want to lose, not realizing that I was likely to forget in any case? Or maybe I was just playing a joke on my stupid future self? If so, I got me.