My Very Short Penguin Story

There once was a penguin who lived in the northern part of Baja California. Now, this was not an ordinary penguin. He was a very dashing bird with no "normal" penguin colors about him. He wore the colors of sea and sky: blue and green. His name? Frederick Archebald Edwards. He was born (or folded) in the city of Tijuana, Mexico.

Frederick had always wanted to find his real homeland, where his ancestors lived: the Galopagos Islands. He had relatives there, that he had never seen before. His relatives, however, were not rare origami penguins as he was. They were, as Frederick would have liked to call them, strange. His relatives had not nearly as many sharp angles to them as he had. (Now, readers, you must know something about Frederick Archebald. He thought all penguins, especially relatives, were origami, like him.)

Frederick decided to start off on a journey. He said to himself, "I will go to the Galapagos Islands. I will find fortune and friends!"

So he set off. He waddled down, off of his maker's table, on to the floor, and slipped out the back screen door. Our Fred was delighted with the warm, sunny outdoors, which he had never seen before. He reveled in the gentle, yellow sunshine. Then, he started on his way.

Frederick had no idea where the Galapagos Islands were. He did not even know there were directions called north, south, east, and west. But, somehow, maybe by instinct, we will never know how, he set off to the South East.

Frederick waddled, Frederick walked. He looked about himself in wonder, and loved all the world.

That soon changed.

Frederick had newer seen a car, and was never warned about being in the road. As soon as he stepped onto the hard, black asphalt, a car whizzed by, followed by many more, therefore making Fred's dream of crossing the road impossible. Frederick shook his flipper at the cars, without effect. Then, he continued on.

When he reached the Gulf of California, he realized that he would need to swim across. (Reader, I must tell you something more about our penguin. His maker was sloppy while folding Frederick's beak. That flaw was too close to Frederick's brain, and so harmed one small side of it. That side held the smarts about swimming as an origami. Fred did not know that, as paper, he would not swim well.) Frederick plunged in to the chilly waters.

He instantly realized that he could not swim. Frederick also learned that paper doesn't do so well in water. As the water started to pull him under, he saw a huge wave coming towards him from the wake of a passing boat. He quickly decided to concentrate all his energy on avoiding the waves, while waiting for one of the many boats to rescue him. Frederick quickly pushed himself underwater to avoid the worst of the hugh two-foot wave.

He struggled to the surface, only to see another large wave bearing down on him. Fighting to catch his breath, he was forced under the wave that was trying to swallow him. As he was under the water, he bumped into something hard and smooth. The smooth something seemed to be moving very fast. Then, all of a sudden, he was tossed up, right out of the water. Sputtering, he realized that the smooth something was a small speedboat carrying vacationers. He was instantly proud that they had come to be in Baja California.

Frederick heard the shouts of a young girl aboard the speedboat. He watched as the boat slowed, then stopped. A smalll, feminine child in a swimsuit and life jacket jumped out of the boat and started paddling to Frederick's aid.

Fred felt himself being softly picked up by small hands. Oh, how he loved the little girl's touch! He rested in the child's palm as she brought him aboard. As he drifted off to sleep, he heard this:
"
Look, Daddy! Look what it is! And we thought it was a peice of colored newspaper!"
"
Yes, honey, that's a lucky penguin. He was in our immediate wake. That's not as bad as the outer parts."
"
Yep! He's one lucky penguin!"

When Frederick Archebald woke up, he was on the speedboat, far out in the Pacific. He looked about himself. The little girl was sitting on a chair next to the table he was on. She looked at Fred.

"Hello!" said the girl in a soft whisper.

"Hello!" answered our curious penguin. (Now, it was quite normal to them that origami and girl could talk to each other, as they both didn't think about things logically.)

"Where are we going?" asked Fred.

"To the Galapagos Islands!" came the reply.

"Really?!?"

"Yes!" whispered the girl happily. "And we are going to see penguins!!!"

"Really?!? Because I am looking for my relatives there!!!" squeaked Frederick excitedly.

"Oh, I am so glad we found you then! We can drop you off when we get there."

"Thank you so much!"

So, Frederick Archibald Edwards, the six- inch tall origami penguin, traveled from Tijuana, Mexico, to the Galapagos Islands. He was dropped off, greeted warmly by his relatives, and found fortune, along with many friends.