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World Tale: Little Duck (Australia)
Being part of a group, then thrust out, creates difficulty and possibility. The Stories: Different; After Divorce; and Outsider; illustrate how tenuous community life can be.
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 Little Duck lived in a pond with her family and lots of other young ducks. They were constantly warned, “Never, ever leave our pond. Downstream lives a monster just waiting to eat you . . . or worse.”
“What does a monster look like?” asked Little Duck. No one knew for certain but they all had ideas. None of their answers satisfied Little Duck. One day, when no one was looking, she swam downstream. All she wanted was to have a bit of a look, but the monster caught her and would not let her go.  As a young child I played by myself. It took me a while to understand the concept of friend: someone with whom you could share thoughts and feelings or do stuff with or have sleepovers, or laugh at silly jokes . . . I realized I didn’t have any. Kids on the block avoided me, accusing me of being a goody-goody—never joining in activities I thought were wrong—like stealing, or spoiling their fun by pointing out consequences of their actions. I didn’t defend myself. It wasn’t about being good. My mother often beat me. For no reason. Why would I give her a reason? When kids on the block needed another person for a game, and they reluctantly asked me, I always said yes. When the game ended, I watched them leave.
 After living in a community for years, where my husband and I spent many evenings attending and hosting dinners and celebrations, I finally persuaded him to agree to a divorce. It took a few months before he left, but during that time we continued to be invited to various gatherings, still perceived as a couple. We chose not to talk about our impending separation.
 As part of a rotating team of selected faculty, I spent a semester working at the Center for Teaching Effectiveness at the University of Delaware after having taught many workshops for them. My primary responsibility was to support teachers who were experiencing difficulties in their classrooms and had asked for help. My practice was to spend time watching the person teach, noticing the students’ reactions, often videotaping the session. I then met with the faculty member to offer suggestions.
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Nancy King is a widely published author and a professor emerita at the University of Delaware, where she has taught theater, drama, playwriting, creative writing, and multidisciplinary studies with an emphasis on world literature. She has published seven previous works of nonfiction and five novels. Her new memoir, Breaking the Silence, explores the power of stories in healing from trauma and abuse. Her career has emphasized the use of her own experience in being silenced to encourage students to find their voices and to express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences with authenticity, as a way to add meaning to their lives.
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