Chapter 4: The Little Penguins

While the Anti-Germans were chasing the bomb, the penguin's eggs were hatching into lovely little penguin chicks. When Scamper and Snowflake's eggs hatched, both children had very familiar personalities.

"Scamper!" called Snowflake to Scamper, who was busy talking his dad, Gilbert. Scamper heard this, and turned around to see Snowflake, holding a little black-feathered penguin in her flippers and standing next to a little blue-feathered penguin.

"Oh, wow!" said Scamper. "I gotta go, Papa."

"Go ahead, Scamper," said Gilbert. Scamper thanked his father and dashed over to his nest, to greet their new penguin chicks. Snowflake was happy, too.

"Aren't they precious?" asked Snowflake lovingly.

"Sure," said Scamper. Why is it that mothers always use those weird adjectives to describe their children?

"They'll need names," said Snowflake. "What should we call them?" Scamper's eyes were on the little blue penguin. He had a puffed up tuft of feathers on his chest, indicating that he was male. He was very energetic, and he liked to run around and jump in the air.

"He's a chip off the old block," said Scamper. "He likes to run around as much as I did as a kid."

"So what do you want to name him?" asked Snowflake.

"Well, definitely not Scamper Jr.," said Scamper firmly. "We can be a little more creative than that…"

"How about Walker, then?" suggested Snowflake. Scamper liked this.

"Yeah," he agreed. "That's it. We'll call him Walker." The black penguin didn't have this tuft of feathers, indicating that she was female. She was looking closely at the snow, examining all of the little snowflakes with awe.

"Well," said Scamper. "She likes to look at things. I can see her being really smart someday. If she keeps this up, she'll be as wise as Mr. Feather and as smart as…" Scamper's voice trailed off here.

"As smart as who, Scamper?" asked Snowflake.

"As smart as Louie," said Scamper. "Remember?" Snowflake was reminded of their good friend who left to find his family, oh, so long ago.

"We haven't seen him since he left two years ago," said Snowflake. "I hope he's alright."

"He's probably safe at home by now, with his family," said Scamper. "Like this little girl is with us. Let's pay a tribute to Louie. Let's call her Louise."

"Yeah," said Snowflake. "I like that. Walker and Louise." So the two little penguins were called Walker and Louise. At that moment, Ice and Isabelle came up to Scamper and Snowflake to show them the new child.

"Scamper, Snowflake, this is Maria," said Isabelle. "Say hello, Maria."

"Hello," said little Maria. "Hello."

"Hello," said little Walker. "Hello!" The two penguins went into a playful fit of "hellos".

"Alright, Maria," said Ice. "That's enough. Maria, she only wanted you to say it once. Maria? Maria? MARIA!" Ice's little penguin paid no attention to him.

"AARGH!" said Ice, kicking his daughter very hard in the tail, much to the dreadful surprise of his mate. The little penguin fell over, and was crying from the pain.

"Ice!" said Isabelle in shock. Walker was shocked at this, and afraid. Gilbert came to the rescue.

"Calm down, Ice," said Gilbert, picking up Maria. "They're just playing together."

"I kept telling her to cut it out," said Ice. "She deserved that kick."

"Well," said Gilbert. "I've found in the past that it's not good to expect too much from your children. If she still doesn't listen to you after six months, when she's in school, then you can kick her, because she should know better. But right now, she doesn't. Can you please try to be more careful with her?" Ice remained silent.

"Ice," said Gilbert. "You have to be less hostile. You're a father now. That baby is your responsibility."

"Who do you think you are, the leader of the flock?" said Ice.

"I was," said Gilbert. "Three years ago. But I'm not anymore." On that note, he left the penguins to their children. Again, Scamper was reminded of a question he had, back two years ago, right before he became the leader of his flock: why was Gilbert no longer the leader when he was still alive and well? He never came up with a reasonable answer to that question, and it disturbed him very much.

Scamper and Snowflake, like any other penguin couple, took turns going out to sea and getting food for their young. By that point, everybody was telling Snowflake that she wasn't as adventurous as Scamper was. She didn't want to accept that, because she knew that she was just as adventurous as Scamper. She was just more prone to worry. So to prove something, both to those penguins and to herself, her trip for food took her outside of the Antarctic Circle. She found an abundance of fish, and they all were very good. Except for one. One fish wasn't moving at all, and it tasted very funny. Snowflake decided not to give this one to the kids, and digested it herself. She continued on her quest, not knowing how much that one fish would affect her over the course of the next few months.