I decided to go to the park the next morning to figure out where all the goddamn ducks went. Boy, was it early. I was pretty hungry, so I stopped off at the local bakery to get something to eat. The whole time I was walking to the park, I thought about playing checkers with Jane and trimming Sally’s tree. I don’t know what’s the matter with me.
Anyway, once I got to the park, I made a beeline for the lagoon. I walked around that pond twice and still didn’t see any ducks. I thought maybe they were sleeping or something, but I couldn’t find any.
So I sat down on this bench and just sort of relaxed. My mind was beginning to wander when some scrawny boy asked me for a cigarette. I gave one to him and then he asked me for a light. After I gave him a light, he just kind of stood there, looking lost and confused. I couldn’t think of anything to talk about, so we both just sat there in silence, looking at the lake.
Finally, I asked him if he was from around here or not. The way he was dressed, I doubted it. And I was right. He said he came from the North. Or the South. I don’t really remember. But he was sort of traveling around with a couple friends whom he happened to have lost, actually. I felt sorry for the guy, so I told him I would help him find his friends. If I had lost my friends, I’d want someone to help me.
We started talking about life as we walked around the park. He was telling me about his best friend, Tom-something-or-the-other, and some of their adventures they had together. It reminded me of Jane, in a way. Boy, did we have a good time. Me and Jane, I mean. This guy I was walking with, his name was Huck, was pretty strange. He started to ask me about my home life and my school life at Pencey. I didn’t feel at all like discussing it, considering I did just get kicked out of school for the tenth time. Huck stared at me in awe when I told him about all the schools I had been to. That kills me. It’s not that big of a deal.
I didn’t really know what to make of the guy. He kept going on about some Indian guy and treasure, and he tried to tell me he knew a king and a duke personally. In fact, those were the friends we were trying to find. What a phony. I don’t know who he was trying to impress but he wasn’t doing a very good job at it. There really wasn’t a need to make stuff up to prove himself to me. That kills me.
Anyway, he seemed kind of interesting so I decided I would take him to the bar. I was getting pretty lonely before, so I was glad for some company. I ordered a couple Scotches, but they wouldn’t give it to us, so we had Cokes. So there we both were, smoking cigarettes and drinking Cokes, and listening to the lousy entertainment for the day. We kept talking about our pasts until I brought up the future. I asked him where he was planning on going and he just told me he didn’t know. That kills me. I think he should at least have direction and plans for the future. Where does he think he’s gonna end up if he doesn’t? I didn’t say anything, though. If he wanted to fall, I had to let him fall.

Anyway, I was getting pretty sick of the bar, so we left. I took him to the museum next. I don’t think he’d ever seen anything like it before. I led him through the Eskimos and the mummy tombs. I think he liked the tombs the best.

I decided to ask Huck about his sex life, but he didn’t have much to say. I told him about all the girls I’d given the time to, and he seemed to admire me. I was in the middle of telling him about one of my experiences when we bumped into a couple of strange guys near the African exhibit. Turns out these two men were the duke and king, go figure! I told them I was honored to meet them and donated to their fund.
They were in a hurry to get back to wherever they were going, so I let them go. I gave Huck my phone number and told him to give me a buzz the next time he was around so we could get a couple drinks—maybe. He seemed awfully eager to come back, so I hope I get to see him before I pack my things and head out. Huckleberry Finn. What a strange character.