Another Flash Friday is upon us!
I didn’t want to jump straight into Christmas-related fiction on the first Friday of December, so instead I decided to go with a little cold weather immagry.
Here’s the inspiration for this weeks piece. I learned something about penguins recently…
Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica – where do they go? Wonder no more!! It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life. The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintain a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.
If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into, and buried. The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:
“Freeze a jolly good fellow.” “Freeze a jolly good fellow.” Then, they kick him in the ice hole.
(Full disclaimer, this isn’t my joke. My mom told it to me…)
So that’s where I got the idea for “Revenge of the Penguins”
Revenge of the Penguins
Jill N Davies
“It’s not right,” Ace said, before shoving another few silverfish down his gullet.
“I know, but what’s done is done. We can’t bring him back,” Flappy said, stuffing his brood pouch. His youngest chick was grown now, but the habit died hard, much to Tier and Misoo’s chagrin. The last time Flappy brought fish to Misoo, she’d given him a loud and indignant gakker. She was, after all, old enough to lay her first egg.
“They didn’t even eat him!” Ace proclaimed in a long, sorrowful honk. Appetite gone, he turned away from the school of silverfish.
“It doesn’t matter. There still wasn’t anything left to put in the ice…” James T. Penguin pointed out as he, too, abandoned the school.
Flappy stuffed a few more fish in his pouch before scuttling over to his brothers. “Come now. None of us have had our fill and it took two days of diving to find this school.”
“I’m not hungry. I’ll eat squid later,” Ace said.
“I hate squid!” James T. Penguin blurted.
Ace cut through his bubble-stream, blocking his path. “You’re missing the point. I can’t eat fish like everything’s fine while the orcas get away with it!”
James T. raised his wings in abdication. “Orcas do what orcas do. What’s a penguin going to do about it?”
“Get pulled apart in a senselessly violent game of toss the Freddy?” Flappy blurted.
“This isn’t funny brother!” Ace gakked as they surfaced into the frigid Antarctic air.
“I know that! James T. knows it. The entire raft knows it! But what do you expect to do against a group of murderous orcas? We’re not going to attack them, we’re just penguins,” Flappy squawked.
“We can banish them,” Ace chirped before launching himself onto the ice.
Flappy and James T. exchanged incredulous looks before doing the same.
“Ace, brother… we all miss Freddy, but you’re talking crazy. Penguins don’t banish orcas. We eat fish. We raise young. We march…”
Ace watched as James T. lost steam.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” he said.
“Penguins can’t win against orcas,” Flappy argued.
“You’re right,” Ace agreed. “One penguin doesn’t stand a chance. But all of us? A whole raft of penguins… has it ever been done?”
“You know it hasn’t,” James T. said.
Upright, they waddled back toward the mass of endlessly circling black and white. The ruckus of the birds carried despite the high winds.
“I think we should do it,” Ace said.
“The orcas would kill us,” Flappy said.
“They already do. It was Freddy last week. Who’s next? Mildred? Daphne? Our chicks?”
Flappy gasped and James T. gakked.
“My point is, the ice is moving no matter what we do. When it closes, it could shut the orcas in, or out. I, for one, would like to see it shut them out,” Ace said.
The brothers were quiet for a long while. Three silverfish slid unnoticed from Flappy’s untended pouch.
“It could be done,” James T. mused, “and it wouldn’t even take the whole raft to do it.”
Ace nodded. “Not if we can get them to chase us past the ice gate while it’s closing.”
“A chased penguin is a dead penguin,” Flappy said.
“One, yes, but if we can confuse them—make them lose track of who they’re chasing… then we’ve got a shot,” Ace said.
“Yes!” James T. agreed, “We’ll use their tactics against them. We’ll trade off the chase when we pass the schools.”
“We’d have to have perfect timing,” Flappy said.
“Then let’s have it,” Ace concluded.
“How long have you been planning this?” Flappy asked.
“Since before Freddy,” Ace said, then, puffing his chest, asked, “are you in brothers?”
James T. cocked his head to the side. “It might be worth it. Our chicks are grown. It would protect the rest of the raft…”
Ace shifted his gaze to Flappy. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know, brother. Misoo’s still young…”
Ace’s wing shot out across Flappy’s beak. The rest of the brood pouch’s contents spilled across the ice.
“Misoo is hatching her first chick as we speak!” Ace said.
Their eyes met across the frozen wasteland. Black pebbles skewed by the dust of long-frozen snow.
“There’s nothing left for us here… Not with Freddy gone. Not without the safety of the raft…”
Flappy turned to look across the shrinking expanse of open Antarctic sea. In the distance, spray from an orca’s blowhole misted the horizon.
“Let’s do it,” he said.
“Now?” James T. balked.
“The gate is closing. If we wait much longer, we’ll have to wait until next season,” Flappy said.
It was true. The massive ice sheets were growing every day. Two days ago, they’d shifted to close the deep inland bay. It was now or never.
James T. nodded. He couldn’t argue with them. The chirp, caw and bray of the raft drew his attention from the shifting ice.
“Should we tell them at least? I mean, in case we don’t make it back?” he asked.
“No. Let’s save it for when we return,” Flappy said.
Ace cawed in excited consent. “This is happening.”
“It sure is,” James T. agreed.
Flappy turned to face the open sea. In doing so he stepped on one of the silverfish, now frozen over from the frigid cold. He lost his feet, slipping and sliding until he tumbled into the water.
“I’m okay!” he cried when his head popped out of the water. “Let’s go banish some orcas!”
Ace approached the water as Flappy swam toward the orcas.
“You planned it this way, didn’t you?” James T. asked.
Ace raised an eyebrow. “Me? No. This was a spur of the moment sort of decision.”
Ace launched himself into the water and sped after Flappy.
James T. sighed, giving one last look at the raft.
“Don’t worry, Freddy m’boy. We’re about to make it right,” he said before his bubble trail shot out like a mistle.
The End
Don’t feel like reading? I’ll read it to you on IGTV!
Want something with a bit more meat on the bones? I write short stories for reedsy. You can check out my entries:
Hungry for more?
I’ve been published in a winter anthology. Check out my short story Shipwrecked Santa in Angry Eagle’s winter anthology, Apocalyptic Winter- Book 2. You can get your copy on Amazon today
If you’ve got an idea for a flash fiction story send it to me at author@jillndavies.com
Tune in next week for more Flash Fiction.
Get your copy of Due North Today!
Amazon
Kobo Books
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/due-north-4
Nook Books
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940162951827
Try a Free Sample of Due North Today:
Get your FREE Sample of Due North TODAY!
All you have to do is sign up for my mailing list!
Get my copy FREE
I’ll never spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.