Dave The Penguin

Dave was a penguin, not just an ordinary penguin. He was an emperor penguin, and a smart one at that.

He had his evolutionary niche well sorted, and he lived his life on the edge. He was as much of a hermit as you could get, out here in the most remote and extreme part of the Antarctic.

Here it was as far South as it was possible to go, and it wasn’t too much of a walk to the sea for the ‘lads’ fishing trips.

He obviously had all his mates around him, which was good, especially when the weather got a bit much.

He had his ‘patch’, with his eco-friendly footprints on it, a nice warm coat, a full fish stomach, which he was very proud of, and a responsible job, that of looking after ‘the egg’.

When his wife eventually came back, after her several month long hen night party and daytime ‘ladies lunches’ with the girls, she would always nag him.

“Dave, you can’t just stand around all day. Dave, why don’t you do this? Dave, why don’t you do that? Dave this, Dave that.”

Years ago it always used to be an exciting time, noisy, busy, but fun.

Now though, he didn’t look forward to her coming home at all. It just wasn’t the same as the good old days.

Dave was quite happy though, generally he liked his life, it had always been the same, and every day was just like the next. It was very consistent here, he liked things the same, he liked routine.

It would be, sleep, wake up, think about fish, shuffle, check the egg, and defend it from predators. Which of course there were very few of here - no troublesome snakes, lizards or annoying seagulls to worry about here. Oh No…

Over and over, day after day it was very nice and samey.

He didn’t like change, it was ‘uncomfortable’, ‘worrying’, ‘unsettling’ and ‘irritating’. 

One year however that all changed.

His wife arrived back one day with all the other girls, back from their long annual party. He greeted her with his usual shuffle and raised beak, and she did the same but it didn’t last very long. There was something different about her, and she looked like she had something on her mind.

Then before he had a chance to ask her how she was - which would probably have been sometime over the next few days - she interrupted him.

“Dave…” she said “Look, we need to talk. I’m not happy. I’m bored. I’ve been thinking about this for some time now, and I think we should have a trial separation, just for a while.”

Dave shuffled nervously but didn’t say anything.

“Being away…” She went on “It’s made me realise that life just isn’t the same any more. Well to be honest with you Dave, I’ve changed, and I think we are now just two different penguins you and I. We have become too different from each other now and we want different things. You just don’t seem to understand me anymore. You just don’t look at me like you used to, or fancy me, and well you just aren’t the same penguin that I married.”

Dave looked down.

He looked at the same patch of snow that he had stood on all his life, at the same feet he had always had, the same markings, the same body shape.

He looked up and around, the mountains, the sky, the glacier, they all looked the same too.

He then tried to think of anything else that may have changed. The things he talked about, his limited vocabulary, his routines. He thought about his views on life, his habits, what he did.