picture perfect

Think of a busy intersection at the beginning of rush-hour. There are signals for left turns, right turns, and straight-ahead traffic, with islands for pedestrians who only make it partly across. From one side of the intersection comes a mother duck with her lone duckling. They aproach one of the crosswalks, and step into the street. Luckily, the signal is in their favor, and no one decides to ignore it. The ducks make it to one of the islands just in time for the traffic to start up, and they wait. When the signal is about to change, the two of them start out into the crosswalk, only to turn right, into the intersection, after the first few steps. They walk diagonally through the middle as cars make their left turns. They reach the middle as the oncoming cars start, walking in the dead space between the two directions of traffic. They get to the end of the dead space just as that side starts to die down, and finally make it to the other side safely.

Cliché, right? Something you'd see only on a motivational poster for PERSEVERANCE or LUCK? Wrong. This is something I witnessed today on my way to do my laundry. I only wish I had a video camera.