I remember the first time I got to pet a penguin. I was younger then and inexperienced around the animals. The other zookeepers had been making me stand to the side and watch while they pet their penguins during the zoo hours. It was driving me up the wall not being able to pet a penguin too! They were so big and black; soft and strong at the same time. I knew in my heart that I couldn't stand on the sidelines anymore. So, in the last week of September, I crossed the threshold of the penguin pond and found myself on the other side- ready to get my hands dirty.
Like a compass needle drawn to true north, my eyes went immediately to an enclave nearby the fish buckets. A penguin named Boopy liked to mingle there. Boopy had been eyeing me a lot lately. Especially at fish time. I had been eyeing Boopy too; he was a very healthy aquatic bird. Boopy turned around when he heard my footsteps approaching his penguin zone and let out a squawk. I froze in apprehension but my anxiety passed as Boopy slid on his belly and bounced up next to my legs. For a moment my reality skipped a beat and it seemed that a new presence was radiating from somewhere, maybe coming from above... The sensation it was so odd... I do remember that I started to hear what seemed like the tick tock of an old clock pendulum, swinging right above me.
This new presence that Boopy the penguin brought with him seemed to swallow me into a void where it was just Boopy and me. And my hands. My hands moved and my fingers brushed against the penguin head that was in front of me. I let out a breath that I had been holding all my life. Finally I touched one. I got down on my knees so I could pet Boopy in the proper way. At first my movements were clumsy and predictable; up and down, head to belly, flippers and back. But inside of me my heart was beating itself half mad, and above me... The tick tocking. Now I know, years later, that it was the penguin madness taking hold and I never should have given in and allowed what happened next... Maybe it was meant to be, I don't know, but my hands began to move to the rhythm of the phantom clock.
Tick tock (up and down) Tick tock (beak and belly). It was beyond Boopy and me now. My hands were moving according to the will of a mad God. I was chanting in a bizzare language and Boopy was challenging my verses with harmonic squawks and screeching. In my mind I began to see the pattern that my hands were making across Boopy's dark feathers. An ancient mysticism awakening in the gulf between penguin and man. Tick tock... I remember the zoo-goers were screaming by then. To me it seemed that Boopy was growing into a blinding light, taking in all the colors of the day and darkening the rest of the world. I couldn't stand his brightness so I looked up.
There was no pendulum. No clock. I was looking up and I saw myself. And above the image of myself was a penguin. Triumphant and glorious; the penguin towered over my other self. And this penguin was petting the other me, as madly as I was petting my Boopy. I looked at my mystical self and saw back into my own soul. I saw our counterparts move and knew that my own motions mirrored theirs. I knew what we needed to do. My hand on Boopy and my other self being touched by his penguin keeper. We reached our hands out beyond time and dimension. Towards our selves. My fingers touched. Penguin to man, from man to penguin. Then darkness.
Tl;dr: penguins kick ass!
view the rest of the comments →
[–] thebazman1998 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Nice username, and fun read!
[–] Under_Paid_Orgy_Guy [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I'm glad you enjoyed it!