Baby Penguin's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

Baby Penguin stood between its parents on the flat grass behind the clinic. The tall one pressed a wing against its back. The other bent low and touched its beak to the top of Baby Penguin's head. Valerie watched from the step of the Pawcare Clinic with her hands pushed into her pockets. She had signed a paper. She had said the word discharged. Now she said, "South is that way. The sun sets there." She pointed with one finger. "Walk together. Don't stop until dark." Baby Penguin's parents thanked her in low sounds. Valerie nodded once. She crouched and looked at Baby Penguin. "You did the walk," she said. "You can do the rest." She stood and stepped back. She did not wave. The three penguins turned toward the low sun and started to move. Baby Penguin kept close to its mother's leg. When a gust pulled at the grass, it pressed closer. It did not pick a new direction. It followed the two big shadows in front of it, and its own small shadow ran along beside theirs. They walked all afternoon. The grass thinned. The ground turned to sand, then to hard stones. The sun dropped and the wind sharpened. Baby Penguin's feet slowed. Its father saw and stopped. Ahead, on a low bluff over cold water, stood an old fishing hut. The planks were gray. Ropes hung from the rail. A paddle leaned by the door. Baby Penguin's mother tested the step. It held. She pushed the door with her beak and it swung. Inside, the floor was dry. A stove sat cold in the corner. "Here," she said. "One night." They ate a can of fish from the knapsack. Baby Penguin's father worked the opener with his beak. Baby Penguin sat between them on the dry planks and chewed slow. Outside, the water slapped the posts under the hut. Baby Penguin thought of the fish under the ice, and of the clinic door clicking shut, and of the long walk still ahead. It leaned against its mother. She folded a wing over it. "South tomorrow," she said. "All the way to the ice." Baby Penguin closed its eyes. The tundra was still far. But tonight the wing was warm, and no one was walking away.