Visit the “A Bedtime Story” show website to submit your story ideas for a future episode!

Professor Quentin Quill, a brilliant but messy theoretical physicist, had a theory: if he could measure the exact number of waddles a duck performed in a single minute, he could unlock the secrets of the universe. The problem was finding a duck willing to stand still and let a scientist count its feet movements.

He found his subject in a grumpy, mottled mallard named Dudley. Dudley only agreed because Professor Quill promised him a lifetime supply of artisanal bread crumbs.

"Right, Dudley," the Professor instructed, holding a massive, whirring counter. "Begin waddling for science! One minute, starting... now!"

Dudley started waddling on a marked piece of concrete. One waddle, two waddles, three waddles... he was fast, but unpredictable. At exactly 37 seconds, Dudley stopped abruptly, mid-waddle, to scratch an itch on his bill.

"No, Dudley, keep going!" cried Professor Quill.

Dudley glared. "A duck has needs, Quill. It's an important variable in the experiment!"

Professor Quill frantically looked at his counter. Because Dudley had stopped precisely mid-motion, the machine registered an impossible number: 42.5 waddles.

ZZZZZZZT!

The laboratory didn't explode. Instead, everything in the room instantly turned backward. The crumbs in Dudley's bowl flew back into the bread bag. The Professor's pen started writing words from right to left, and Dudley found himself walking heel-first.

"What is this nonsense?" Dudley squawked, trying to move his feet forward, only to walk backward into a wall.

"It worked!" Professor Quill yelled, delighted, as his own beard started growing in reverse. "We've created a temporary Reverse Reality Loop!"

Dudley sighed. "Does this mean my artisanal crumbs are getting un-made?"

The Professor quickly calculated how to stop the loop. "Dudley, you must complete the motion! I need exactly half a waddle, forward!"

Dudley, struggling against the backward pull of reality, managed to push his foot forward just a tiny bit. ZZZT! The room snapped back to normal. The counter now read 43 waddles. The pen wrote left to right. Dudley was relieved, but his bread crumbs were suspiciously older. Professor Quill, however, had his answer. The secret of the universe wasn't in the waddle, but in the half-waddle—the point of uncertainty between here and there.