A Squawk and Promotion

The street lights lit up a dull, dark, footpath. Giselle was walking along, her dark boots squelching in mud. She heard a noise. A small, quiet squawk! Giselle knew this noise very well. She ran, not caring about bumping into people. She found the source of the noise. A fairy penguin right there, on the road! Giselle picked it up, put it in her coat, and kept walking home.

The next day, Giselle was woken up by a squawk. 'Come on!' She said. 'It's  Saturday little buddy.'

She realised that this little penguin was hungry. 'Sorry little guy, I can only go to work on weekdays,' she said apologetically.

The penguin kept squawking. 'Fine, fine, I'll go to the shops,' she said, and she was off.

As Giselle was riding her bike to the shops she got worried. She was thinking that maybe she should go to the vets. No, they would probably take him away, she thought. Then she found a solution. She should go to the library! The library had heaps of books on penguins.

When she arrived at the library, she found some books. She opened a big, new looking book that read FAIRY PENGUINS: THE ULTIMATE INFORMATION GUIDE. She flipped through chapter 1: What do they look like? And chapter 2: How long is their lifespan? She opened it to chapter 3, titled, What do they eat? It read Fairy penguins eat a lot of food, equivalent to its body weight! Their favourite snacks are small fish and krill. She put the book back happily and went off to the supermarket.

When she arrived, she easily found the seafood shop. The line went very quickly. 'Hello, what do you want,; said the cashier in a mean sounding voice.

'Can I please get a 60kg of a small fish,' she asked.

'60kg will only last you and your family a day mate,' he said.

'Oh no, it's for my daughter, it should last her a few weeks,' she said, trying not to reveal the secret.

The cashier finally let her buy it after that lie and she headed back home.

Giselle thought, if her friends would make fun of her for having a pet penguin. They used to make fun of her for her look, after all. Giselle really was beautiful, with short brown hair and black glasses, but her friends didn't see it.

When she got home, the penguin looked desperate for fish. 'Okay, what should I name you buddy,' she said as she pulled out two pieces of fish, 'Buddy or Alex?'

The penguin at the piece of fish that was Buddy and didn't even want to eat the piece which was Alex. Okay buddy well we're gonna have a good weekend tomorrow!

The next day zoomed past, as she showed Buddy all of her regular weekend routine. Buddy paid close attention to all the things he did like, and tried to attack the things he didn't like. Giselle even went to the pet store to pick up a bed and lots of toys for him.

The next day, Giselle had to go to work. She put on her big white coat and was ready to go. 'Bye Buddy!' she said as she left.

As she arrived at work she was surprised to see everyone looking at her. Her boss arrived, 'Giselle, you are our top scientist and have been chosen for our main study,' she said.

Giselle was confused. Her boss could see. 'The project is to study the evolution of penguins, that's our animal of the year here at the lab,' said her boss.

'Yes boss,' said Giselle.

No one knows what the boss's name is. They just call her boss. The boss sent Giselle off to the library to find some books. Giselle was excited with her project because of her new pet.

At the library she found some old looking books. She found a title that said PENGUIN EVOLUTION: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE. She opened the book, excited about the project to come. She started reading. Waimany Manneringi lived 61 MYA on the coast of New Zealand and measured 1 metre. Crossvallia measured 1.5 metres and weighed 70-80 kilograms. Kumimanu measured 1.7 metres and weighed 100 kilograms. Anthropornis measured 2 metres and weighed 100 kilograms. Palaeeudyptes measured 2 metres and weighed 115 kilograms.

From this and a bit more information from further chapters in the book, Giselle had everything she needed. She took the book home happily.

As she walked in the door, Buddy was squawking. He was hungry again. Giselle was preparing the food, she was excited. 'From this book I'm gonna learn a lot more about your kind Buddy!' she said, nearly shouting in excitement.

After dinner she went to bed, happy with her day.

The next day something was strange. She could feel it. She walked out of her room to go check on Buddy. There in the lounge room, she found multiple species of ancient penguin. 'Give us back our land!' said Waimanu.

'Wai-wai-waimanu?!' she said in fright, 'Is that a real life Waimanu?!'

'Yes it is I, Waimanu and I want our land back,' he bellowed.

'Thi-this isn't even the coast of New Zealand, it's Australia!' she croaked.

'Whatever!' he shouted, 'I just want some land!'

'W-well I don't live anywhere near the coast, the beach is an hour drive away!' she said, 'You would have no food!'

Waimanu laughed a horrible laugh,his blue feathers  shaking. 'Food is for fools!' he laughed.

Giselle had no choice. She picked up Buddy and ran to the lab.

'Boss! Boss!' she shouted, 'I have awakened Waimanu!'

'Hah! Great April Fools joke!' She said her blonde hair was not even budging.

Giselle had to explain. Then and finally the boss understood. They walked back to Giselle's house to find out what was going on. When they arrived there was not only Waimanu but Crossvallia, Kumimanu, Anthropornis, and Palaeeudyptes! They all looked cute, but there really weren't. Crossvallia had grey feathers that were getting everywhere! Kumimanu was slightly shorter than Giselle, but could peck her with his long, red beak. Anthropornis was the biggest of all, with huge feathers that looked very similar to the modern penguin.

'Crossvallia, Kumimanu, Anthropornis, Palaeeudyptes!' Giselle and the boss shouted.

'Hey it's Vallia, Kumi, Anthro, and Palee!' they all shouted.

The boss pulled out her phone and took a photo, shaking. Without thinking, the penguins all attacked. Giselle and the boss ran, not looking back. When they found shelter Giselle came up with a plan.

'Okay guys, lsiten up,' she said confidently, 'There are ancient penguins out to get us to this is the plan. We will not fight! We will talk it out with them, maybe put them in an animal sanctuary, I don't know!'

So they did the plan. They walked out of the sheltering trees and bushes and faced Vallia, Kumi, Anthro, Palee, and Waimanu.

'H-hey guys, wanna make a compromise?' she asked, trembling.

'Huh,' Kumi said, 'what do you say?'

'Me and my friends will give you lots of land! But in return, you have to help us with research,' she said, as kindly as possible.

'Okay, as long as we have land!' shouted Palee.

Giselle and the boss lead them to the lab. There, they were greeted with lots of  land, with big open fields and ponds to test different plants. There were beautiful flowers, of every colour of the rainbow. The pond was filled with lots of delicious fish. The penguins knew this was their home, they would be living the best life possible forever.

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Notes:

Hi! This was posted for records, as unfortunately I've already lost most stories I wrote when I was younger. Rereading that, I love how dramatic little me was lol. Researching the ancient penguins in my penguin notebook and bringing the info back to school is definitely a core memory for me. Hope you enjoyed!