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It was a penguin.
A little penguin.
Robb had known that they would be small, but he wasn’t quite prepared for how small. This one was barely a foot tall, its tiny eyes staring up at them from the darkness.
“Oh my goodness,” breathed Tahnee. “Was that you making that enormous racket?”
As if in response, the penguin squawked again.
“How does such a big sound come out of such a little thing?” Tahnee asked it. “And why are you here?”
She turned to Robb. “They nest out on the breakwater,” she explained. “They’re not supposed to be on the beach.”
“This one must’ve gotten lost,” Robb murmured somewhat redundantly as he stared at the penguin. It was pretty cute, he had to admit, with its gray-blue back and its white front, its tiny flippers flapping futilely at its sides.
“Hey there, little fella. Or little lady,” Tahnee said softly, crouching down. “Can we help you find your home? It’s that way.”
She pointed out toward the breakwater.
The penguin stared at her for a moment, before opening its beak and yelling again.
Robb wondered briefly whether he should call the local wildlife authorities, but decided to give it a few minutes to see if the penguin could find its own way.
“Over there,” Tahnee said, pointing again. “You can do it.”
The penguin’s flippers quivered as it appeared to consider what she was saying. It moved forward a few steps from under the jetty, before it looked out at the breakwater, then back at Tahnee.
This could take all day, Robb thought wearily. While he was glad that Tahnee was getting to see a penguin, he had work that needed doing.
Like you don’t think it’s cute, the dingo said smugly.
What I think of the penguin is neither here nor there, Robb said. The fact of the matter is that it needs to get back home, and I need to get to the office. Don’t pretend that you don’t want to find out what those shifters were up to last night.
The dingo gave him a disdainful look. Don’t change the subject. You think the penguin is cute. You think the whole situation is cute.
Robb decided not to dignify that with a reply.
“Here.” In an attempt to look non-threatening, Robb closed his umbrella and moved awkwardly around to pose himself in a half-stand, half-crouch, putting the penguin between himself and the water. “Go on, then,” he said, trying to sound reassuring – or what he thought might sound reassuring to a penguin, anyway. “Go home. Off you go.”
He made some half-hearted shooing motions.
The penguin gave him a hard stare that left the dingo’s look a few seconds ago in the dust.
Tahnee laughed, but wisely didn’t comment on how ridiculous Robb obviously looked. Or sounded.
“There you go, little fella,” she said, trying to coax it from the front. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”
Clearly it felt more well disposed towards her than it did towards Robb, because it waddled toward the water as she lured it, its blue back glinting in the pale sunshine that was attempting to break through the clouds now that the rain had eased off a little. Robb followed it from behind, ready to cut off any possible attempts at escape.
His breath caught in his throat for a moment – not that he would ever admit it – as the penguin tripped and landed flat on its face… but then it pushed itself back up to its feet with a surprising ease and returned to its waddlings. Apparently now that it realized it could find its way back home, nothing was going to stand in its way.
“That’s right,” Tahnee said triumphantly as she stepped aside, letting the penguin pass her and totter into the shallows. “There you go.”
The penguin paused for a moment to turn and look at them with its beady eyes – and then it was off, instantaneously transformed into the most elegant of creatures as it plunged into the surf, zipping away through the shallows with a speed Robb would never have guessed it was capable of from its awkward waddling just moments before.
Robb came up to stand beside Tahnee, and they watched for several minutes, entranced, until their shifter eyes were able to spot the penguin surfacing near the breakwater.
Tahnee laughed delightedly, waving in its direction for a moment before turning to smile at Robb.
