Penguin and Flamingo

Once upon a time, there were many penguins, and I was one of them. What’s so special or unusual about me? I don’t know, but one day, I got captured. My capture day begun the same as any other day until about lunch time. I met up with my penguin friends and we had some fun. We were happy, but also worried. You see, I live in a very small village. This means that we know each other very well. Every penguin is a friend or a relative of some kind. As you walk the street, on your way to the shop, you can meet your preschool teacher, neighbour or relative. Because we know each other so well, and our life is so casual, even the tiniest change in our village is turned into a big event. I’m serious, I’m not joking, old Joe got himself in the front cover of a magazine, was interviewed on the radio and even got himself on TV just because he repainted his mailbox. So now you see, how boring and unchanging our life is if even repainting your mailbox puts you in the spotlight. Yes, sometimes, the saying is true; “penguins get famous for no reason”. Well, actually he had a reason: he repainted his mailbox.

Anyhow, a few days ago, we have been uneasy. We couldn’t really explain why, we always felt like we were being watched. Two spooky men wearing fur hats and glasses, were walking around, taking notes and talking in a language we could not understand. But the men soon disappeared, and everyone forgot about them. I like to wonder around at night, I know it’s not really advisable but I like it so that’s what I do. One night, as I was walking down a dark, narrow alley, somebody grabbed me and stuffed me into a bag. My first thought – Santa Claus, but then I remembered, Santa lives in the North pole and only comes in December and even then, definitely doesn’t steal penguins.

I was thrown into a cage. I looked around; we seemed to be in a plane.The men who stole me were the same men who I saw spying on us earlier. They seemed to be arguing about whether or not they should blindfold me, at least that’s what I thought they argued about from their body language. But apparently decided that I’m not worth it and we took off. The men didn’t really look frightening, but their equipment was sharp and scary. The walls of the plane were bare, grey metal. A map of the local area was the only thing hanging on the wall along with a number of photos of my friends and family. The floor was scratched and the walls had claw marks all over them.

And so there I was, flying, occasionally dosing off or possibly fainting. I’m not sure. At first I was scared and screamed a lot, but every time I did so, I was threatened with a knife or shouted at, and finally ignored. Thus, I stopped.

In the end, one of them threw a cloth over my cage. Even my presence annoyed them.

Suddenly, the plane started shaking and a blaring siren accompanied by a flashing red light startled me. I had no idea what was going in, but the men’s worried voices told me that this was not supposed to happen.

But let’s just fast-forward through the boring crash scene and look at the end result. I was lying on a sandy beach, with water crashing against the shore. My cage was lying beside me, smashed open from the impact. I could see the two men in the water, but they didn’t notice me, they were too busy shouting at each other. I didn’t get time to get out of the cloth covering my cage, in fact, I got stuck in it. I saw a giant flipper getting close to me: “A seal!” I thought.

“Wow that was loud! You guys know how to make an entrance! I never saw a flying penguin before!”

He removed the blanket.

“More like a crashing one” I added with a smile, rubbing my head with one flipper while extending the other one to shake the weird bird’s wing.

“What’s that?” Said the bird looking at my extended flipper.

“A flipper for a shake” I said, with a slightly amazed expression.

“There’s no need for a shake when you can give a hug. We are all friends on this island.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t want be rude but what are you?”

“Oh, of course! You have never seen a flamingo before! I’m the best bird there is, baby! Welcome to my island!”

“Your island?!”

“Well it’s everybody’s, we all love it and we all care for it. This island is our home. Wanna join the family?”

“Yes, sure.”

“C’mon then, I’ll show you around. There are no enemies, only friends man. Just remember the three important rules here: be nice and kind, help anyone who is in need, and protect the island, and finally, the most important rule: Have fun! C’mon let’s go.”

“What’s your name?”

“Well, we don’t really use name round here. But you can call me Fred.”

“My name is…”

“Chill out man… my head is already bursting with all the knowledge that I possess. Therefore, you being a penguin, comes in real handy. Your nickname will be……. PENGUIN!”

The island was magnificent, I loved it here. I spent my days building sand castles, drawing wavy lines on the sand and playing volleyball with my friend Fred. The island was a paradise, everyone felt like family. Fred and I played games, enjoyed the sun and splashed in the ocean, but there was one thing we never discussed, how I got here. But with each day, the images of my kidnappers became more blurry, distant and unreal. I didn’t want to talk about it and preferred to forget it. Pretend as if it was just a bad dream that never happened. Fred understood me, but the others didn’t. They kept asking questions, questions about where I came from, how I got here, and about my old rusty pocket watch. Here on the island, time was not really an important part of life. When it was dark we slept, and when it was light, we had fun. And that was the only function that time had. Therefore, my watch puzzled the natives, they didn’t see the point in measuring something so insignificant. They believed that all important things, cannot be measured. To be honest, penguins do not really have a use for a watch either. It was given to me by my grandfather who was an explorer and travelled the world. He gave me this watch and told me to keep and cherish it, that it was really precious to him. On the back of the watch there was an engraving: “Make your own adventures”.

Everything was awesome, until that scary plane came back. This time it was not alone. There were two more metal birds hanging there in the sky. There was no place to run, no place to hide, the only thing we could do is wait. The metal birds started throwing various things at us, they were fast, loud and set everything on fire. Me and Fred hid in the jungle, but the smoke and fire were threatening us to get out. Smoke made it hard to breathe, think and see. It was hard on poor Fred to see everything he ever loved burning to ash.

“I’m sorry. They are here for me.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you protecting me?”

“You are my friend.”

“Don’t you think a whole island, is a bit too big of a price for friendship with me?”

“No price is too great for friendship.”

“Fred, I want you to have this.”

I gave Fred my watch.

“No, I won’t take it, I can’t take it.”

There was another explosion. Fred turned towards the explosion, but when he turned back I was already gone, and the only thing lying on the ground, was my watch.

I marched right out of the jungle to the metal birds and right into the hands of evil. I never saw Fred again.

The End