Reflections From The Road--Why Did The Ducks Cross The Road?

The morning air was filled with squawks and honks.  Walking down to the water's edge, i could see the visuals that this sound track accompanied. 

The sunlight glinted off the water and the troops were lining up.   It was morning roll call for the ducks. The Sargent was herding them into line, squawking all the while. Now and then a straggler would get a serious dressing down and not a quiet one.  I counted two dozen in the line.

Now that I've been here a couple of days, I know this early assembly is not the norm. I could see it even then, the ducks sort of clucking to one another. "What's this about?" Or "What did you duck up now?"

On reflection, I think I know. The troop had an exercise last night, and it was an abject failure.  They attempted to block the road out in front of our place.  The cars slowed as they approached the ducks, but they did not stop.  The ducks had to scuttle out of the way, and soon all the ducks had crossed the road back into the relative safety of the shore and the river.  

The commander, gazing back at the line of traffic and his troops in disarray, honked and squawked his discontent.  He pondered the age-old question, "Why?"  This morning drill was the beginning of the retraining process, I'm not optimistic.