Four years later…

“Hey! Look at the freak!” Carla, the most popular girl in the village, came up to him with her two wannabe’s, Julia and Brenda.

All the hatchlings were allowed to venture about the village about three years ago, and Tom was bullied por nearly everyone. He only had one true friend, who too was bullied for hanging around Tom.

“Hey freak! How it goes?” Brenda asked smiling deviously.

“Like you care.” Tom shot back.

“Hey, don’t be talkin’ like that to us.” Julia said.

“Wouldn’t have to if you’d mind your own business.”

“Oh, you wanna go?!” Carla exclaimed.

At that moment, Kari got in between them. “Hey, just leave him alone! He has better things to do than to deal with your childish crap.”

“Oh, how sweet! Little rebel girl comes to freak-boy’s rescue!” Carla teased.

“Freak-boy? That’s the best you can come up with?”

“It’s not my fault he’s deformed. Fall on your head when ya hatched, freak-boy?” Carla and her friends began to snicker.

“So his head’s a little flatter than the rest of us. ‘t doesn’t change who he is on the inside. That’s all that matters. All that’s inside ‘a you is yellow snow.”

Tom couldn’t resist suppressing a laugh at that one. “You know what? Screw you! No one cares about a good-for-nothin’ who’s parent’s cared nothin’ ‘bout her!” That hurt Kari. Her parents abandoned her when she was just a hatchling.

“Screw yourself, Carla.” Kari muttered turning around and walking away. “Come on Tom.” Tom turned and followed her.

“Ah, don’t worry ‘bout her Kari. She’s off her wing-nut!” Tom said, trying to cheer her up. It only worked for a second. Kari’s smile soon faded.

“What if she’s right? What if my real parents didn’t care about me?”

“Now Kari, don’t go on thinkin’ like that! Besides, your foster folks adore you as if you were their own. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Thanks for takin’ up for me back there, por the way.”

Kari looked at him smiling and said, “Hey, what are friends for?”

“Right. So ya wanna go to the pond again?”

“Sure.”

Kari was Tom’s one true friend. They did everything together. They spent most of their time at a pond not too far away from the village. They were the only two that knew about it. Whenever they had the chance, they’d go there to talk, have a snowball fight, or just take a swim.

Today they just sat and watched the sun making its descent below the horizon. Kari broke the silence. “You know what sunsets remind me of?”

Not taking his eyes off the beautiful sunset, Tom answered. “What’s that?”

“My Gamma told me that far off, where it’s always warm; there are these things called flowers. The sun helps them grow. I’ve never seen one in real life, but Gamma tells me the sun looks just like them. I wish I could see one, though.”

Tom turned his head to look at Kari. Her eyes glistened in the bright sunlight as the wind caused snow to swirl around her face. “One dia you will.” He encouraged.

Kari turned her head slightly toward him and smiled. “I’m not so sure, but thanks.” She looked back toward the sunset for a moment, then said, “We should get home.”

“Alright.” Tom replied. Kari got to her feet and began walking back toward the village, but stopped abruptly when some snow hit her in the back of the head. Just as she began turning around, Tom walked por her whistling innocently.

“Oh, very mature.”

Tom replied without turning to look at her. “What? I didn’t do anything.” Just as he said that show hit him in the back of the head. “Hey!” He cried playfully.

Kari trotted por him saying, “Now we’re even!” Tom threw another snowball at her and it hit her in the side. Now the two of them were running and throwing snowballs at each other.

Once they were almost near the village, Kari jumped on Tom and shoved snow in his face, both of them laughing like there’s no tomorrow. Tom managed to get on topo, início of her and he pinned her down.

“Hey! No fair!” Kari cried shaking snow out of her face. She tried to push him off but he was too strong for her. She stopped struggling, laughed, and said, “Okay! You win! Get off of me!”

“Hmmm…nope.” Tom said teasingly.

“Thomas! Seriously! You-”

“If you’re so serious, then why are you laughing!?”

“Thomas, if you don’t get off of me…”

“You’ll what?”

Kari looked down for a moment, and when she looked back up, she kissed him on the cheek. Tom’s eyes widened in shock. Kari giggled and was able to push him off while he processed what had just happened. When they got to their feet, Kari said, “Hey, Tom! Snap out of it! It wasn’t that big a deal.”

Tom shook his head. “Right…sorry.”

“Come on. It’s getting dark.” That being said, the two of them went to their homes, Thomas discretely touching his cheek where Kari had kissed him.


“Hey Mom. oi Dad.” Tom said walking in and shutting the door behind him.

“Hey son. How was your day?” Adam asked.

“Usual.” Tom answered.

“Do anything interesting?” Jacqueline asked.

“Not much. Same old, same old.” Tom answered.

Adam eyed his son with a concerned look on his face. “You alright, son? You look a little…fazed…about something.”

“No Dad, I’m fine.” Tom said, not wanting to admit that a girl kissed him on the cheek. Neither of his parents was convinced.

Jacqueline took a step closer to him. “Are you sure nothings’ wrong?”

“Nah, Ma, I’m fine.” Tom tried to change the subject. “Mom?”

“Yes, Thomas?”

“Have you ever seen a flower?”

“A flower? No, Thomas. flores are just myths. They’re not real.”

“Really? But I heard that they look like the sun…and the sun makes them grow.”

“Oh, Thomas! That’s absurd! The sun can’t make things grow! It’s in the sky! All of that stuff about flowers, plants, trees; their all just stories.”

“What about warm places? Are they just myths too? Surely Antarctica isn’t the only place on Earth!”

This time Adam piped up. “Son, where are you getting all of these wild stories?”

“I…but-”

“It’s that Kari girl isn’t it? I knew she’d be a bad influence.” Jacqueline stated.

“No! It’s not like that!” Tom protested.

“Son, I don’t want you hanging around her anymore. I don’t want her filling your head with that nonsense.”

“But Dad! That’s not fair!”

“We’re only doing what’s best for you, Thomas.”

“No! You’re not! Kari’s been my only friend!”

“Now, Thomas-”

“No! You’re just punishing me because I’m different!”

“That’s not true, Thomas!”

“Yes it is! Why can’t you just accept me for who I am and what I believe in?!”

“We do! Thomas!” It was too late to argue. Tom was out the front door and off down the street.

Tom walked in quick, even steps, trying to put as much distance between himself and the village as possible. Tears were welling up in his eyes. He kept walking until he reached the pond. It was dark now, and Aurora Borealis danced across the sky, reflecting into the water. He looked at the little pinguim in the water staring back at him, then kicked snow into it, causing the water to ripple in growing circles. Tom sat down and crossed his flippers over his soft, feathery chest. “No one understands me…” He muttered. “Why am I so different? Why can’t I be like the other penguins?”

“Well if you were like the other penguins, you wouldn’t be much of a you, would you?” Tom turned around to see a female elder pinguim standing over him.

“What?” He asked. “Who are you?”

The pinguim smiled. “Why are you upset?”

Tom sighed and looked at the ground. “Because no one understands me ‘cause I’m different.”

“Ah, now. I wouldn’t say no one understands you.”

“Well…there is Kari…”

“Well, she may understand you to a limit. But what’s important is how well you understand yourself.”

“What do you mean? I understand myself just fine.” Tom protested.

“Do you, child? Close your eyes and tell me what you see.”

“Look, I don’t know who you are or what you want, but I just want to be alone.”

“I just want to help, child. Please, close your eyes and tell me what you see.”

Tom sighed and closed his eyes. A moment later he said: “I don’t see anything. What’s your point?”

“You need to dig deep inside yourself to understand your purpose. Your destiny.”

“My destiny? Miss, I don’t know who you are or what you’re on about so could you please leave me alone?”

The elder pinguim smiled sympathetically and sat down seguinte to Tom and held out her flipper. “Give me your flipper.” Tom sighed impatiently and put his flipper in hers. “Look at me child.”

Tom looked her in the eyes. “What?”

The penguin, unfazed and un-reactant to Tom's annoyed tone, spoke softly. “Close your eyes again.”

“Lady, I just did that and didn’t see-”

“Close your eyes.” She commanded again. Tom rolled his eyes before he finally obeyed and closed them. “Good. Now clear your mind. Feel the world around you.” Tom took a deep breath and exhaled. The elder pinguim smiled and was silent for a moment, then said; “What do you see?”

“Like I said, nothing.”

“Exactly. You don’t understand yourself through what you see. It’s what you feel. Now what do you feel?”

Tom was silent for a moment, then said: “Calm…I guess.”

“Not that kind of feeling. I mean, what do you feel in your gut?”

“Uuuuuh…hunger?”

The elder chuckled. Tom opened his eyes and got to his feet. “Look, I’m tired of all this gobbledygook. I don’t understand anything your saying and I just want to be alone.”

“Suit yourself. One dia you’ll understand. And when you understand yourself, a new dawn will brighten over your horizon.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Tom turned around and began to walk away, but stopped abruptly when he saw Kari.

“I thought you’d be here. Your folks came por lookin’ for you. They thought you came to my place. I thought I heard you talking to someone?”

“Yeah, I-” Tom turned around to point to the elder, but she was gone. There was no sign of her, or even a sign that she was ever there.

“You what?”

“Nothing. Never mind. And if you’re here to take me back, I’m not going.”

“I wasn’t going to.” She stepped progressivo, para a frente until she was seguinte to Tom, who had turned his back on her and was facing the Auroras. “You wanna talk about it?”

Tom took a deep breath, then answered. “You’re the only one that gets me. My parents told me they don’t want me to hang around you anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Because I made the mistake of telling them your flor story. They told me you were filling my head with nonsense.”

“That’s why you ran away?”

“You’re my only friend Kari. And my parents aren’t going to get rid of you that easily.”

“Wow Tom, that was…really sweet. But I can’t ask you to run away from início for me. Your folks amor you.”

“They may amor me, but they don’t understand me. And they hate the fact that I’m different.”

“Well, I don’t know abou-”

“Yes Kari. They do.”

Kari sighed. “So what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know.”

For a moment, there was silence, then Kari said: “Can you keep a secret?”

Tom looked her way. “Of course.”

Kari took a deep breath. “My Gamma told me that very few penguins know about this. Maybe three or four in the whole rookery. The only reason my Gamma knows is because my Gramps was a part of it. Remember when I told you about flowers?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, there really are places where it’s always warm. And there, there are these penguins known as ‘Military Intelligence’. They keep us safe, and they help those around the world.”

“So, Antarctica’s not the only place on Earth?”

“Nope. There are places all around the world, that are warm, hot, cold. And penguins are stationed there in places like, uh…well there’s this place called the United States, China, Italy, Denmark, Sweden. My Gramps’ has been to nearly each of them.

“Wow…how come no one will tell nobody?”

“Because it’s top-top-tippy-top-top secret. No one would probably believe it anyway.”

“Wow, that’s pretty secret.”

“Yep. And you can’t tell anybody.”

“I won’t.”

Kari nodded. “So what are you going to do now?”

“I dunno, Kari. I don’t think I can go back to them now. Not after what I said to them. And especially knowing they’ll try to keep me away from you.”

“Tom, you can’t just run away because of this. We can always meet secretly here whenever we can. You’re parents amor you, Tom. Don’t throw that away because of me.”

“But I-”

“No, Tom.” She took him por the shoulders. “We can still see each other. Please, Tom.”

Tom sighed. “Alright. Fine. But…can we at least spend this last night together?”

Kari smiled. “Our parents will probably be worried out of their minds, but I guess it’s worth it.” Tom smiled back, and they embraced. Over Tom’s shoulder, Kari said: “Tom?”

“Yeah, Kari?”

“Promise me we’ll always be friends, no matter what.”

“I promise.” Tom said without hesitation.

“Cross your heart?”

Tom hugged her tighter. “Cross my heart.”


“Where could they be, Adam? They’ve been gone all night!”

“I’m sure he’ll be coming início soon.”

“Oh, I’m not so sure. Kari’s been a horrible influence on him.”

“No she hasn’t.” Jacqueline and Adam turned to the voice behind them. Tom was standing in the doorway with Kari at his side.

“Tom! Oh thank goodness you’re back safely!” Jacqueline said running up to him. She was about to hug him, but Tom still had a firm hold on Kari’s flipper. Kari took a step closer to him.

“Kari hasn’t been a bad influence on me. She’s been the only true friend I’ve ever had.”

Jacqueline acted as if he hadn’t said anything. “Where have you been all night?” She asked sternly.

“Well, I was going to run away. Kari talked me out of it.”

Jacqueline looked at Adam, and sighed as she turned back to Tom and Kari. “Alright. As long as you don’t go preaching those wild stories, I’ll allow it.”

Tom and Kari smiled at each other, and Tom released her flipper and hugged his mother. “Thanks Mom!” Jacqueline hugged him back, still not comfortable with the idea of her son hanging out with Kari. “Come on, Kari!” Tom said releasing the grip on his mother. He can Kari ran happily out of the house.