Kowalski woke up and wondered what had awoken him. It wasn't morning… there wasn't an alert… everything seemed peaceful. Then he noticed Rico sitting on the HQ floor. He appeared to be concentrating on something. With a yawn, Kowalski got up.
"What have you got there, Rico?" The explosive penguin looked up at Kowalski in appeal. Kowalski was surprised to see him look so vulnerable.
Rico held up the object of his attention. It was a book. Kowalski took it and flicked through the pages. There were some words, which he couldn't read, but mostly it was pictures.
"You're reading a story?" Rico gave a non-committal shrug. Kowalski considered this. He knew the other penguin was certainly not stupid, despite what others might think, but he wasn't at ease with intellectual problems.
"Would you like me to tell it to you?" Rico perked up and nodded enthusiastically. Kowalski sat himself down and opened the book in front of them.
"Well, here we have a mother duck sitting on some eggs." Rico gazed transfixed. "You see with ducks it's the female who sits on the eggs," he explained. He pointed to the next picture.
"And here the eggs have hatched… producing four ducklings. Though one egg hasn't hatched yet. Still that's perfectly normal. You see in ducks," he began before realising he was going off on a tangent. He quickly turned the page.
"Oh. It's hatched." He pointed at the baby bird poking it's head out of the egg. The next page showed it amongst it's brothers and sisters. He peered at it.
"Either the artist is really bad… or that's the ugliest duckling I've ever seen." To his surprise Rico reached out a flipper to touch the ugly duckling. Kowalski was struck by the impression that Rico felt a kinship with the obviously different bird. He carefully turned the page.
The little duckling was crying as the others laughed behind him.
"Now he's being teased," Kowalski murmured. Rico was spellbound as his gaze shifted across the page. "And he's running away."
"Alone," Rico whispered. They sat together looking at the sad pictures before them. With a slight cough, Kowalski turned the page.
"Alone," he repeated, seeing the bird hiding in the long grasses away from the other birds. The page over showed two beautiful birds swimming near his hiding place.
"Swans," Kowalski pointed out. "Considered one of the most beautiful and elegant of water fowl."
"Ugly," Rico pointed to the clump of grass where a protruding beak showed the little duckling was hidden.
"Yes." Kowalski noted Rico touch his scar with his other flipper. "I daresay the author wanted to emphasise the difference between the two," he rambled.
On the next page it became clear the two swans were talking with the other bird.
"You see, we see them from his point of view," Kowalski pointed out, as indeed the artist had only included the edge of his beak to show he was there.
"Pretty." Rico touched the pure white swans. Kowalski watched him a moment longer before turning the page. They both stared at the picture.
"It appears to be a reflection of one of the swans…" Kowalski shifted his gaze across to the final picture. "Unless… of course! He wasn't a duckling at all! He was a cygnet!"
"Huh?" Kowalski pointed excitedly.
"He was a baby swan! And now he's grown up into a beautiful bird!" Rico pointed at the swan.
"Ugly?" Kowalski shook his head and smiled at him.
"No, Rico. Beautiful."