My friend, you have met a terrible, terrible demise. But uh, you know, I…I don’t feel too bad about it. After all if…if it weren’t for me, it would’ve just been from someone else, you know? I guess what I’m tryin’ to say is life…life goes on. We-well, from…for everyone else, life goes on. Not…not for you, you’re…you’re dead. But that’s neither here nor there.

It reminds me of one supper day in the park, I was having just a delightful…picnic with my good friend Orville. And I said to him, I said “Orville I…I have a story” and he said to me “What’s the significance of the story?” and…I said to him, “O..Orville, not every story has to have significance, you know? Sometimes uh…y’know sometimes a story’s just a story. you try to read into every little thing and find meaning in everything anyone says, you’ll just drive yourself crazy – had a friend do it once, wasn’t pretty, we talked about it for years and not only that but, you’ll likely end up believing something you shouldn’t believe and thinking something you shouldn’t think o-o-or assuming something you shouldn’t assume, you know? Sometimes” I said, “a story is…is just a story. So just be quiet for one second of your life and eat your sandwich ok?”

Of course, it was only then I realised I made sandwiches and, poor Orville was…having such difficulty eating it! Elephants have those clumsy hands, you know? Actually, I-I suppose that’s the problem. They don’t have hands at all, do they? They’re…they’re all feet! I-I couldn’t imagine someone asking me to eat a sandwich with my feet!

Now if I recall correctly there was a bakery nearby. I-I said to him “Orville, let me go get you some rye bread”. Now, I-I’m unsure if elephants enjoy rye bread but, I assure you that Orville does. Now this was on a Tuesday which was good because rye bread was always fresh on Tuesday. They made sour-dough bread on Monday and threw it out Wednesday, or rather they…sold it at a discount for people wantin’ to feed the ducks and then, probably at the end of the day finally they threw it all out. I-I don’t recall.

I do remember a man who would bring his son to the bakery every Wednesday and then go feed the ducks. He would buy all of the sour-dough bread – of course, you know, you’re not supposed to feed the ducks sour-dough bread at all! It swells up in their stomach and then they all die. It uh…least…at least that’s what I’ve heard. You know, I-I never saw any ducks die myself but I did notice a substantial decrease in the duck population over the course of a few years. I just never thought to stop the man and tell him that he was killing the ducks by feeding them sour-dough bread! And if you want my opinion on the matter? Heh – and I told Orville this as well – If you wanna feed ducks or birds of any kind for that matter, it’s best to buy seed. I mean, when you think about it, breads of any sort don’t occur in nature. They don’t grow on trees or spring up from the bushes. I don’t think birds know what to do with bread.

What was I saying? Oh, oh yes yes. So I bought Orville some rye bread. What a fine day it was.

It seems that you have met your end. What a pity. Y’know I…I don’t feel too bad about it though. After all if it weren’t me, it would’ve just been one of the others I guess. I’m honestly just glad to be out of those air ducts. Y’know, it’s…it’s not easy for a hippopotamus to fit up there. And…not…easy to get down either. Not as young as I used to be as you can see. I used to be able to do all sorts of things – y-you’re young, you’re vibrant, you have that sort of pep in your step. It reminds me of a conversation I was having with one of my good friends, Orville.

We were having a nice picnic one day. I believe it was summer, or perhaps it was…was it the fall? Yes, yes, yes, it was the fall because the leaves had turned already. But I said to Orville, I-I says “Orville, I have a story to tell you”, y’know Orville looked at me…y’know, kinda odd and, and said “What is it about?”. I said to him, “Not every story has to be about something, Orville. Sometimes a person just wants to talk, why does everything have to be a story?” I said to him. He just looked at me and he said “Well, y-y-you said you had a story” and, y’know he was quite right, I did in fact. I told him I had a story. I suppose if a person just wants to talk then, it’s best to not announce that you’re telling a story. Telling a story does come with its own pressures and expectations I…I suppose. After all, if you’re just talking to a friend then, there’s no more expectations than if you were talking into the wind!

Words by themselves aren’t expected to carry and, aren’t expected to stick. But if, y’know, if you announce you’re telling a story well then…there better be a point to it all, y’know? No one wants to sit and listen to someone ramble oooon and oooon and on with absolutely no end in sight. So, you know it’s-it’s good to be mindful that when you tell someone that you’re about to tell a story, that you have something to say. Telling someone that you’re gonna tell them a story is tantamount to asking them to stop what they’re doing, and-and pay attention.

You’re basically saying “Hey, hey, hey buddy stop everything, stop what you’re thinking – I have a solution to everything”, and well, I didn’t really have any story to tell. In-in hindsight I-I probably just misspoke when I said that I had a story. I think it would have just been better to tell Orville that I wanted to tell him something rather than tell him that I had a story, but y’know, even then it might have put too much importance on the whole thing. Either way it was quite a nice day. I remember, I remember that we were drinking tea.

Well, it seems that your journey, has ended. Very sorry about that, it was-it always was gonna to end this way of course. If it weren’t by me it…would’ve just been by some other y’know, terrible thing just, you could not imagine how terrible it would be! Just, I get scared thinking about it. Glad it’s not me.

It reminds me of a, of a time I was speaking to my good friend Orville. We were…we were sitting on a park bench watching the pigeons. I was on the left, he was on the..oh wait, was I on the right? Or left? Anyways it doesn’t matter, we were sitting on there watching the pigeons. And uh, I-I said to Orville, “friend, those birds are frozen!”, a-and he kinda looked at me like I’d lost my mind, but I reminded him that it was winter y’know and, often birds will sit in a tree until they freeze, then they, they you know sorta fall to the ground, until the sun warms them up, a-and they can y’know, move around again. So I said to Orville “you might as well save those breadcrumbs until the birds thaw, because they can’t very well enjoy them in the condition they’re in”. To which he asked what I meant and, asking what condition the crumbs should be in before he threw them to the birds, assuming that I meant the birds couldn’t enjoy, the breadcrumbs in the condition that the crumbs were in, when in-fact, I had meant the birds could not enjoy them in the condition that the birds were in, considering that the birds were frozen, you know? So, he took a moment and then threw his last handful onto the ground. I said to him “Orville, why did you throw the breadcrumbs to the birds when I just told ya’ they’re frozen?”. To which he responded “the breadcrumbs are not frozen” – again, misunderstanding my words. I didn’t mean to say that the breadcrumbs were frozen, when I said I told ya they’re frozen, I’d been referring to the birds.

You know, in hindsight what I-what I should’ve said was – and this would make perfect sense – “Why did you throw the breadcrumbs to the birds when the birds are frozen”? He misunderstood upon my correction stating that he didn’t know what else to do with the breadcrumbs and, that perhaps you know, when the birds thawed they’d still be able to eat the crumbs. So I…I-I said to Orville, I said – and this is what I said to him – I said “Orville, the birds may be dead”.

It seems that you have met a..a horrible demise my friend. But uh, you know, these…these things happen and…and life…life goes on. N..not for you obviously, uh, you’re dead, but uh, it reminds me of a time, I was-I was having a conversation with my friend Orville.

We were uh…where were we? I think we were by the…..with um, the river. We were sitting by the river and watching the fish leap over the falls, and uh…I said to Orville “You know sometimes, I feel like a fish leaping over and over again, always trying to get somewhere, though I don’t know where, only to find myself in the jaws of a beast”. He…course looked at me surprised, you know? “Have you been in the jaws of a beast, friend?”. To which I said, “No, of course not Orville”. I said, “No no no no, I…I simply meant that, life can seem like a relentless endeavour to overcome, meaningless obstacles, only to meet an equally meaningless fate regardless of your efforts – regardless of, the obstacles you’ve passed”.

And uh, Orville he…he, he stood and proceeded to drape me, with the picnic cloth, to which I…I..I..I asked him, I said “Friend, what…what are ya doing?”. He looked at me very concerned really. “I feel like you’ve gotten too much sun”. Indeed heh, indeed I had. He proceeded to pour me a glass of just…ice cold lemonade. Oooh, you ever mix it with iced tea? You do like…oh, half lemonade ha- ooh, it’s so- you should try it some- well you can’t because you’re dead but, anyways.

So, you may be asking yourself, “How did I go from sitting by the falls and drinking lemonade to being wedged in the air duct. Not only with Orville but with an entire assortment of fruity-colored friends?”. Well, there’s uh…there’s really no good answer to that but…perhaps I met a demise of my own at some point and…this is my afterlife or my dream. Whatever it might mean, I…I honestly don’t know. Or, maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all…