Motivation

Welcome to the Spot Writers. This month’s prompt is to write a story involving a penguin.

This week’s story was written by Phil Yeats. In September, 2021, he published The Souring Seas, the first volume in a precautionary tale about the hazards of ignoring human-induced climate change. The second volume, Building Houses of Cards, appeared in May 2022. He’s now published They All Come Tumbling Down, the final volume in his The Road to Environmental Armageddon trilogy. For information about these books, or his older soft-boiled mysteries, visit his website https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

 

Motivation

by Phil Yeats

 

Completing the online version of the Dale Carnegie self improvement course was the last requirement. With that confidence building step in place, he could venture forth and save the world.

Just weeks later, he swam into the moon pool of the tourist ship. For hours, he entertained the punters alongside the other penguins, diving and leaping for the fish they threw at him.

At the end of their daily show, the lights dimmed and the other penguins swam from the pool. Our hero did not. He waited, perched on an inconspicuous ledge, waiting for the massive underwater doors to slide into place. The ship’s sojourn in Antarctic waters had ended for another season. Destination, New York City.

The trip, with a port call in Rio to drop off the tourists, seemed endless. Our hero, an emperor penguin, remained cooped up in the closed pool, bored out of his bird skull, but not hungry. His accomplice, the ship’s chief cook, kept him supplied with fish.

Finally, the ship slowed for the last time and the underwater doors slid open. The emperor dove in and headed toward shore. The water was horrid; far too hot, and it tasted awful. His instincts said return to the moon pool, but he had an important task, and time was tight.

As the water became increasingly brackish, he searched for the East River. Next stop, the United Nations headquarters on the river’s western bank. It soon came into view. He clambered ashore and walked with as much dignity as a penguin could muster to the massive building. He had an invitation to address the UN General Assembly, the first Antarctic native to receive that honour.

Global warming had reached a critical point for the world’s penguins. He, as the representative of the mighty Emperor Penguins, was there to convince the delegates the time for action was now. And with the confidence he’d developed during the Dale Carnegie course, he knew he’d do his fellow penguins proud.

 

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The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/