“Isn’t it a lovely day Albert?”
“It absolutely is, Lou. The sun is shinin’, the ice is cold, and my winter coat is growing in real nice.”
“I’m happy to hear that.”
[long pause.]
“You know what Lou? I was thinking the other day about some pretty weird stuff.”
“What kind of weird stuff?”
“Well, I don’t know if I should say it. You’re going to think I am crazy.”
“Albert, you know I will never judge you. I’m an earnest bird.”
“Okay. Here goes: Why can’t we fly?”
[contemplative pause.]
“You know, I’ve never really thought about that.”
“I hadn’t either! Until yesterday! Think about it: we are birds, an-and, we see other kinds of birds flying all the time, but all we do is glide! We just use the slippery ice to glide our way around! We have a bird’s body, but instead of big, majestic wings, we just have like weird flippers that we flail around! Why can’t we fly?”
“I don’t really know how to react to this information. I think you might be onto something”
“I can’t figure it out. Why would birds be known for flying, but us good, upstanding penguins not get in on that?”
“I feel bamboozled, Albert.”
“Me too. Think about how much better our lives could be if we could fly! You know those beaches the flying birds always talk about? We could actually go there. We could go to the beach.”
“We need to figure this out like as soon as possible. I need to go to that beach.”
“Surely penguins can learn to fly! I am a very intelligent being, you know.”