My Ugly Duckling

Part One

By GreatAngemon

My name is Link. I used to be an ordinary man. I had the same routine every day. I'd wake up, take a shower, grab a cup of coffee to go with my breakfast, and go to work.

After work, I'd go to the bar with my buddies, and head home. But that changed one day.

I was buying my breakfast at the fast food place that I live near. One of my friends, Zelda, was there. I had met her there one day while I'd been running late, and I was used to what she usually looked like. She usually had a drab grey pantsuit on, and was carrying a black leather briefcase.

I was not at all expecting to see her with a small child in her arms. "Zel?" I ask. "Is that you?"

She turns around and suddenly smiles. "Link," she says, hurrying over to me. "Can you help me?"

"Uh, sure." She awkwardly drops the kid into my arms.

"I'll be right back," she says as I adjust the kid in my arms.

"Wait, Zelda!" I cry as she runs towards the bathroom. "What am I supposed to do with this thing?" The child looked up at me, her brown eyes oddly misshapen. One is half closed, and it looked like she couldn't open it any further, and the other was pale and milky.

In fact, her whole face was odd. The left side of her lip was pulled up, as though she were trying to show me her tooth, which was black. Her nose looks like it has been broken repeatedly. Suddenly, Zelda reappears at my side.

"Thank you, Link." She takes the kid out of my arms. "Do you want to have breakfast with us?"

I looked down at her. She wasn't her usual, neatly dressed, perfectly manicured self. She was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a baggy tee shirt. Her usually perfect hair was thrown into a messy ponytail, and individual hairs stuck out from it.

"Sure." I follow her to a table, and sit down opposite her. "So, Zelda," I say, trying to make conversation, "Who's you're friend?"

She looks confused by the question, but then her mouth forms into an "oh" of understanding. "Link, this is my daughter, Elisa." The little girl looks up at me with her misshapen eyes and smiles. Or at least her grimace disappears.

"I didn't know you had a kid," I say.

Zelda half smiles at me, then at Elisa. "Her dad told me he couldn't do it anymore." The way she said 'dad' told me that she disliked the person. "He lives in Castle Town, and he was taking care of Elisa. Then, suddenly, he drops by, gives her to me, and says he can't stand taking care of her." She covers Elisa's ears, and adds, "He said he could barely look at her, because she's so ugly."

I stare at Zelda, and then say, "And you liked him enough to have a kid with him?"

She gives me a stern glare. "That was eight years ago. He was different then. Or, at least, I thought he was.

"His name was Ganondorf. He was a charming lawyer at a small firm I worked at. One day, he asked me out on a date. I said yes. He was such a gentleman. Then, we got so drunk one night, and…" she gestured toward Elisa. "A few days later, I told him I was pregnant.

"Well, after Elisa was born, he took care of her. I moved out here, and that was that. Until yesterday."

"That's a pretty crummy thing to happen to you," I say. "Can I do anything to help you?"

She smiles. "If there is, I'll let you know."

A few days later, I get a call on my phone. "Link, can you come over right away?"

"Yeah, I'll be over in five." I hurry to get dressed and I'm out the door in five minutes. In another five, I'm at Zelda's condo.

As I rush in, I see Elisa playing with a small train set on the floor. Zelda walks out of her room, putting on a pair of earrings, and sees me. "Link," she sighs, "Thank you so much for coming over."

"What's the problem?"

"I just got called in, and I need to get to the office right away. Something went wrong with one of my clients." She leans down, picks up her briefcase, and says, "Can you watch Elisa for me? I'll be back as soon as I can."

She leans down next to Elisa, gives her a quick kiss, and is out the door without letting me get a word in.

I stand dumbfounded for a moment, and only vaguely realize that Zelda had uttered a hasty, "Goodbye," and shut the door behind her. Suddenly, I turn and see her car backing out of the driveway.

"Wait, Zelda!" I call, but to no avail. Then I turn to the girl, Elisa. She's looking up at me from her seat on the floor. Then she stands up, walks over to me and pulls on my pants leg.

"I'm hungwy," she says. I blanch.

"Uh, what do you want?"

She ponders my question for a moment, and then; "Macawoni and teese." Clearly she has a speech impediment, I realize as she says it.

"Okay, then let's go make some," I say, picking her up. She smiles, a rather unpleasant sight, as it throws her blackened tooth into further prominence. I carry her into the kitchen, and set her down on the counter. "Sit tight," I say, and she nods.

Then I begin searching the cupboards, and eventually emerge with a saucepan and a box on macaroni and cheese. When I turn around and say, "Ready?", I see Elisa sitting right next to the sink, playing with the hot and cold water knobs. "Hey now," I say, throwing the saucepan under the stream of water. "What do you think you're doing?"

She giggles and points at the water. "Funny," she says, and I notice that the pot was filled with water. Or, to be more precise, was overflowing. I grab the knobs and turn them off. Then, after pouring out some of the water, I put the pan on the stove and turn it on.

"You sure do like making trouble," I say, picking Elisa up again. She giggles as I set her down in a chair at the table. "Wait here." I hurry into the living room, grab her toy train off the floor, then rush back. She's still sitting in the chair, playfully giggling as I struggle with the train.

I set the toy in front of her on the table and say, "Play", with as much conviction as I can muster. But she takes up the toy and starts rolling it around on the table's surface.

I walk back over to the stove and, since the water's boiling, throw the noodles in. Then I go over and sit next to Elisa at the table. She's still playing happily with her toy. I grab it from her, and then start rolling it around myself, making train noises as I do.

"Givee," she exclaims, but I keep it just out of her reach of her. "Givee back!" she climbs onto the table and crawls over, grabbing my wrist to hold my arm still. Then, just as she seizes the train back, I grab her up in my arms and begin tickling her. She laughs, and the train falls to the floor.

"Sdop," she squeaks through her laughs. "Sdop." I stop tickling her, but she keeps breathing hard for a minute. Then she asks me a question that stops my heart. "Awe you my new daddy?"

I set her down in her chair, then sit down myself. She stares quizzically at me, while I contemplate her question. Then, just as I'm about to answer, the pot of water froths over, and I rush to dump it out into a strainer.

I open the fridge, and pull out the milk and butter. As I finish making the macaroni, Elisa plays with her train, which she had picked up off the floor. After I mix in the cheese, milk and butter, I split the noodles between two bowls. Then I motion for her to follow me, and lead her out into the living room.

We sit down on the couch, and I pull the coffee table nearer, and set the bowls down. Then I flip the television on "What do you want to watch?" I ask her.

Elisa takes the remote from me, and presses the buttons. The TV turns from a boring news program to a colorfully animated program. I recognize it as a movie called The Adventures of the Four Swords. She claps happily, the grabs the spoon in her bowl. We sit there, watching the movie, while she eats her food.

After about another hour, Zelda gets back, just as the movie ends. Elisa jumps off the couch and runs to her mother, who picks her up happily and kisses her on her cheek.

"Mommy!" Elisa says happily. Then she points at me. "He nice. I yike him."

Zelda smiles. Then she looks at her watch and says, "Looks like it's time for you to go to bed." Elisa groans, but clings to her mother's neck ash Zelda carries her up the stairs. A few minutes later, Zelda comes back down. She walks over to me, and, looking embarrassed, says, "She wants you to go up and give her a goodnight kiss."

I smile, then say, "I'll be back down in a few minutes." She smiles. I climb up the stairs, then turn into the room with the open door. On the small bed is Elisa, wearing a pair of pink pajamas. I sit down on the edge of her bed.

She crawls out from under the covers, and wraps her arms around my neck. "Night-night, mitter."

I wrap one of my arms around her waist and give her a small kiss on her cheek, just below her eye. She kisses me as well, then climbs back under her blanket.

I walk back down the stairs, and see Zelda picking up. "Can I help?" I ask, but she shakes her head.

"You've done enough," she says. I follow her into the kitchen.

"You know, Elisa asked me if I'm her new daddy," I say. Zelda stops suddenly.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything."

Zelda nods. "Thanks for coming over, Link. I really appreciate it."

"No problem, Zelda." I smile warmly, then add, "Anytime you need a babysitter, you can call me. I'll come over anytime." She smiles.

"Thank you."