*** The thimbles ***
* Thimbles are an exotic element in the box: they are more frequenty outside than inside because a lot of people don't use them (if you can't use them, they mainly hinder you) and because they look beautiful in collections, in those cute shelves with the shape of a house. They're an island outside Mother Box... and you'd never imagine who likes collecting those things. *
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The Summit continued the next morning. The ten attendants arrived in time, but four of them were half asleep. Skipper imagined what had happened, but luckily his two recruits had obeyed the order of being in the room at waking time. He had wanted to pause the mission himself after Hans had proposed them all to watch some documentaries, an invitation that only Manfredi, Johnson, Rosalinde and Noelle had declined. Some had made comments about two males and two females of the same species deciding not to do the same as the others, but Hans insisted that they were adults and he didn't care and that the activity was voluntary.
Of course, what they saw on Hans' TV set affected the topic of the second meeting.
"It's unbelievable that the park is just three times as big as our country," Freya commented.
"Which park?" Rosalinde asked.
" Greenland National Park," Freya answered. "The biggest in the world."
"From a bird's eye view it's almost entirely ice, only that," Eric said. "It has nothing to do with Europe. There people are astonished by the size of some places."
"They're surprised that not all the planet is full of cities, that you can have no islands in several thousand miles around," Vladislav said. "They suffer from horror vacui and even the last speck of dust has to be theirs."
"They suffer from a lot of things," Manfredi said. "They have everything and they are unhappy."
"Not everyone has everything," Noelle corrected him. "But the ones in charge, the ones who decide... they're never happy with what they have."
"Luckily, that only happens to humans," Rosalinde said.
"Don't be so sure," Skipper told her. "There are excessive ambitions among animals too."
"Yeah, but they don't have geopolitical consequences," Hans said. "And the ideal thing would be it didn't change."
"Is it possible to do in the Arctic something like what was done in Antarctica?" Nikolay asked.
"There is the Antarctic Treaty," Skipper answered.
They all stared at him, expecting him to give more information. Skipper nodded.
"The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 and it affects everything under parallel 60º South, be it water or ground. It's made up by several agreements that protect environment, including... seals," Skipper saw the four other penguins' displeased gesture, "yeah, I think the same too."
"And... what does the treaty say?" Freya asked.
"Basically, that Antarctica will only be used for pacific ends, that the military can only be there to help scientists, that weapons can't be tested there... And that nobody can use their presence there as an excuse for making sovereignity claims."
"Are there countries that want to divide Antarctica too?" Rosalinde asked.
"Yes, actually before the treaty was signed there were some conflicts," Johnson said. "I think they were seven... yes, seven. Argentina and Chile, Australia and New Zeland too... as in the Arctic case, yeah, due to sectors. For historical questions France, the United Kingdom and Norway too."
"You have a finger in every pie, huh?" Manfredi commented staring at Eric and Freya.
"Manfredi, please," Skipper scolded him. "The United States and Russia want a part of the cake too if some day the treaty expires, the same as other countries."
"Brazil, Urugual, Ecuador and Peru," Johnson specified.
"That's right," Skipper said bringing his exposition to an end.
Seeing that nobody else spoke, Hans gave everybody permission to have a break and showed them a small coffee machine. They all stood up from their seats but the two Chinstrap sisters and their two lovers. Skipper approached them.
"Watch out, okay?"
"Why?" Johnson asked. "We're shared them out... what's the problem?"
"Right!" Manfredi said. "We normally stake them on a duel at dawn, but we don't have aim."
"You don't have it!" Johnson pushed Manfredi.
"Hey! What if I steal your Noelle?"
"Fuck off, fat butt!"
Manfredi and Johnson stared at each other for some seconds. Next, they turned around and landed on the two females' flippers as if nothing had happened.
Skipper moved away from them. He wished those four lovebirds didn't cause him trouble but, knowing Manfredi and Johnson, he had to be ready for the worst.
"Do you have sardines?" he asked Hans.
"In that fridge, help yourself. I prefer it simple. Sometimes with milk."
"I suppose it's just getting used to it, but... wow," Skipper said while he took a sardine from a can and poured it into his coffee.
"I'm European... what can you do," Hans said joking and shrugging.
Both sat down together, each one with his mug.
"From Copenhagen?" Skipper asked.
"Have you seen more puffins round here?"
"Impossible. I've only seen the airport, a cab trunk and this basement in this building... It's not the best tourist route that can be done here," Skipper said.
Hans laughed at the joke. "Well... I'm from Qeqqata, in Greenland. It's a municipality bigger than Cuba, but with less than ten thousand human inhabitants."
"Wow..."
"Yeah, wow... I guess you're totally used to being surrounded by humans."
Skipper nodded. "Right, yeah. I know that Manfredi and Johnson have been in Antarctica for a long time, but I was a fledgling when I left. Actually, we all left, the four that make my team."
"Then... aren't Manfredi and Johnson in your team?" Hans looked surprised.
"No. If it were so, I think I would have finished them off a long time away."
"I guess you're joking," Hans wanted to know, worried.
"No. I'm talking seriously."
Hans thought that it was better not to let the conversation go in that way. "Then... you are in a city, aren't you? In a zoo."
"At Central Park Zoo, in New York."
Hans made an astonished face.
"Not such a big deal. It's not even the biggest zoo in the city." He stared at Hans with curiosity. "Hey... and you?"
"I live here, in this very building... and I walk up and down all Amager Island."
"We leave the zoo a lot too," Skipper said.
"That's the best part. I couldn't stand one day locked up in a dirty zoo."
"But you live in the basement of a ministry."
"But it's not the same! I go in and out when I want."
"The same as us."
"Yeah, but I don't have to entertain humans."
Skipper thought that it was the moment to... know a bit more. But not about Hans.
"And do they entertain you?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you learn something of what happens in the Ministry."
"What they say. What they write... no idea. So I suppose I'm missing most of it."
"The same as I," Skipper said. "Basically all I hear is our zookeeper, who doesn't put a lot of passion in her job. I sometimes hear her personal conversations and... well, I'd prefer not to hear them."
Both burst out laughing.
"Oh... now that I think about it, it's a bit sad," Hans suddenly said. "We both are far from home. I sometimes miss seeing only snow and sea around me. And seeing more puffins. I sometimes think... I don't know, that I'd like to be there and raise a family."
"And why don't you go there?"
"I don't know..." Hans looked sad. "I was so young when I left, and so vain too. I didn't say good bye in an appropriate way, and I suppose that if I go back the other puffins will hold it against me and it'll be difficult to join the group again." He clenched his beak angrily. "I suppose I deserve it."
"Well... I think I wouldn't even find my people. We got separated from the group and, for saving an egg, we ended on a drifting iceberg. But it was worth it: that egg today is one of my brothers."
"You are proud of him..."
"Really, a lot. I'm proud of the three, but especially of him."
"And are they all your brothers?" Hans wanted to know.
"Blood brothers, none of them. But we love each other as if we were."
"I'm an only son. My parents were already very old when they had me."
Everything had started as a friendly chatting and there both were with sad faces, each one looking at his empty mug between his flippers or wings. Homesickness should be forbidden.
"Hey... why don't we change the topic?" Skipper asked. "Have you been to the park in the documentary?"
"To tell you the truth I haven't... why?"
"Because I like national parks. I'be visited several." Skipper was staring at the interior of his mug. "And you'll laugh, but... I like to collect thimbles from the parks where I've been."
"Thimbles?"
"Yeah, thimbles."
"Thimbles? Really?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm being totally serious."
"But... Skipper! You don't have fingers! What do you want thimbles for?"
"Because they are beautiful." Skipper saw a mischievous smile in Hans' beak. "They are small works of art in miniature. That doesn't diminish my... masculinity."
"No, of course not," Hans said, laughing inside. "Hey... do you have a lot?"
"I collect them from the United States, and so far I have all but three. This wouldn't be included, unless I start a collection of foreign thimbles... or the United States buys Greenland."
"That's improbable," Hans just said.
"Well... it could have happened twice. The one who bought Alaska always considered buying Greenland. And in the Second World War Greenland was more American than Danish."
"Having in mind what was happening in Denmark at that moment, it was the best option," Hans commented.
"The purchase?"
"No, having the United States on our part."
Yes, Europe during those years had been a... better not to talk.
"They tried the purchase," Skipper said. "In 1947. Denmark didn't want to sell."
"Normal," Hans said. "Do you know how many resources are there? Do you imagine if they exploit it all?"
"Do you think that Denmark would do it?" Skipper asked.
"Do you think that the United States wouldn't do it?" Hans asked.
Both stayed thoughtful for a moment. None of the two options guaranteed that one day there wouldn't be an oil well at Hans' old house.
"What if Greenland became independent?" Skipper asked.
For the second time in the conversation, Skipper had needled Hans. He didn't do anything for nothing.
"There are rumors about a referendum in some years... but well, they are rumors. I don't believe them," Hans said.
Skipper played surprised. "And what would happen... if aye won?"
"I don't know. In theory, no-one would claim Greenland and it would be the sixth contender for the Northwest Passsage. Or the fifth, as Denmark would fall off as Iceland, whose passage was closed between Denmark and Norway."
"And everything would depend on the typical government."
"Yes, the same as everywhere." Hans stood up. "Well, it's time to see what animals can do. Yesterday I liked that idea of the sanctuary."
Clapping, Hans called everyone to the second part of the meeting.