I wrote this story for a writing class where students get to write their own Just So Story like Rudyard Kipling. Enjoy.
                                 “How the Penguin Got its Flippers"

In the beginning of the Ice Age, in Antarctica, there was a Penguin of most independent thinking.  He loved to work, but he hated cooperating. When his Master asked him to find food, he went to do it gladly. But when Raccoon asked if he could go along, Penguin ignored him and flew away to find food alone (he was of most independent thinking). The animals were frequently, furiously frustrated because Penguin didn’t let them help him.

One day, while Penguin was out looking for food, his Master called all her animals together. “What has Penguin done to upset you?” she asked.

“He never lets me help him gather more animals to help us,” claimed Polar Bear.

“I never get to do anything, because you assigned me to work with Penguin,” complained Seal.

“And he won’t let me help him get food,” chimed in Raccoon.

“I will go talk to him,” said their Master. It did not work out well.

“Can you please stop being mean to your friends?” asked Master.

“What are you talking about?” asked Penguin.

“Your friends say that you don’t let them help you. They say you won’t cooperate,” she replied.

“Let’s not talk about it anymore,” said Penguin, turning red.

Master called another meeting. Everyone was present: Cat and Gnat, Raccoon and Baccoon,  Bear and Skair, Eel and Beel. They were all there. Only Penguin was absent. Master had been planning to talk to Penguin again, in front of everybody, so she called off the meeting.

A few days later, Penguin was flying gracefully through the thick, frigid air. He looked down and spotted Raccoon on the banks of a local lake. He was going to wade in it. He took a deep breath and stepped into the water.  But he did not realize that the lake was frozen, and his body weight was too much for the ice. A hole started forming quickly. Raccoon sunk fast.

Penguin wanted to save him, but his wings could not grasp very well.

Meanwhile, Master was reading Penguin’s mind. She realized that if Penguin was different, then maybe another animal could help him get Raccoon and he might accept the help. She thought some numbers: 5243 (that is Magic). There was a terrible Boom – Pop as Penguin’s wings exploded, then were replaced with black, floppy things – Flippers. Penguin plunged quickly down, down, down. He came down softly onto the white “blanket” below.

Penguin dived into the icy water. He spotted Raccoon, but Raccoon was unconscious and moving farther away. Penguin could swim fast now, but not fast enough. Then he spotted Angelfish a few feet away. Angelfish could swim around the lake in two seconds.

“Could you… help me?” asked Penguin, hesitating slightly (he had always been of most independent thinking).

“Of course,” Angelfish answered helpfully.

Angelfish propelled Penguin towards Raccoon.  Penguin managed to grab Raccoon’s paw.

Penguin thanked Angelfish and brought Raccoon back to their Master’s building.

Raccoon woke up a week later, perfectly well. On the other hand, Penguin wasn’t quite the same again. He never, ever more relied solely on his own independent thinking (or soared through the air with grace). And that is why the Penguin has flippers.

8/10/14
    Hey just wanted to share a story I wrote. Hope you like it!

                                                   Journey to the Yellow Planet

  I dipped my dirty toes into the clear, cool water of the lake.  With so many people living nearby, it was hard to believe that it wasn’t trashed.  Suddenly the water turned gray.  I heard a “pop” and my friend Xavier appeared beside me.

            “Problem, Lucy,” he said in that fake English accent he always used when he was nervous.  He was pacing in circles on the now gray grass.

            “What is it?” I asked.  He pointed at the sky.  I nearly fainted when I looked up.

            About a hundred spaceships were circling above, each with glowing yellow letters on the

side: Venus XOX.  I had no idea why the aliens weren’t getting sick of flying in circles for that long.  But they didn’t seem to be getting bored.  In fact, they seemed to be enjoying themselves, shooting everything in sight, turning even the pedestrians gray with their guns.

            “Where did they come from?” I asked anxiously.

            “I don’t know.  Venus, probably,” Xavier told me.

            “What’re you waiting for?  Let’s go!”

            “We don’t have a spaceship,” Xavier said.

            “WE DON’T HAVE A SPACESHIP?!  ARE YOU A WIZARD OR NOT?!” I yelled.

            “Not a very good one,” Xavier muttered.

            “C’mon, believe in yourself for once!”

            “Umm… All right,” Xavier said reluctantly.  “SPACESORTA!”

            I almost got crushed by the thud that followed, as a large vehicle dropped from Xavier’s wand.  It looked sort of like a car with wings.  

            “Hop in,” he said, grinning.

Inside, there were two soft blue seats, with a trunk in the back (“It can hold anything,” Xavier said proudly), and, instead of a steering wheel, there was a joystick like inside of a plane.  The thing that really baffled me was the buttons.  Millions of little buttons dotted the sides.

            “Want to drive?” questioned Xavier, smiling.

            “Sure,” I said nervously.

            Xavier knew I was confused.  “….So, this is the brake, the red one here.  The blue one, that’s the gas and, of course, (he indicated the joystick) the direction,” Xavier instructed.

            “Gee, thanks,” I said.

            “You’re welcome,” he replied.

            “Let’s go!” I held down the blue button and punched the green (light speed).

            “Whoahhhhh!” I landed the ship on Venus and hopped out.

            I almost burned my skin off.  It was boiling.  No one could last long.  The surface, instead of rocky and yellow, was changing color.  One second it was a putrid green that reminded me of mucus, next it was light lavender – the color of the flower.

            Suddenly, an alien walked up to us, (or flew, as Xavier would describe it).  However, he was not green; he was yellow (probably to camouflage).  His dazzling blue eyes moved around, scanning the scene.  His black antennae bent over his forehead, slightly covering a tuft of red hair, as he said, “Why are you invading our planet, Earthlings?”

            “Because we want to know why you’re invading us, Venusling,” said Xavier.

            “Xavier, be careful what you say!” I said.

            “It’s okay.”

            “So, why are you invading our planet?” I asked.

            “I don’t know.”

            “So who does?” I asked worriedly.

            “Ask our leader.”

            “Where does he live?” I wondered loudly.  The alien scribbled on some paper, then handed it to me and we were off.

We pulled ourselves up to the top of a hill.

“Finally – there!” I panted.  A mansion-like fortress stood at the top.  Golden gates blocked the path.  A large red sign on them said:

IF YOUR PREDICAMENT DOES

NOT NEED ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY,

YOU ARE ENTERING AT YOUR OWN RISK.

A padlock was attached to the gate.  I pulled out my wand (unicorn hair and pine, twelve-and-a-half inches).

“Penetro!” I shouted.

There was a crash and we jumped backward.  A second later, a broken heap of metal lay in the street.  We stepped over it and I muttered, “Mende!”  The gate sprang back.  We ran up some silver steps and I pulled the black knocker.  The door swung open.

            “Why are you invading our planet?” Xavier asked into the dark void.

            “Earthlings send spacecraft to Venus and their camera flash distorts our planet’s surface,” an odd voice croaked.

He was right.  Instead of being rocky, cloudy, and yellow, the surface was flat, clear, and black at that very moment.

“We’ll tell them.  Please stop,” I pleaded.

            “No!  We enjoy watching your greenery fade,” the alien exclaimed.

            “Go get the fan!” Xavier whispered.

            “What fan?!” I hissed.

            “The giant, solar-powered one in the glove compartment!” Xavier said quietly.

            “Why?” I whispered back, bewildered.

            “It’ll explode him!” Xavier said, lowering his voice even more.

            “I didn’t even know the spaceship had a glove compartment,” I whispered.

            “Just go!”

            I whispered, “Intercept Fan!”  I almost got flattened by the weight.  “Xavier, come on!” We ran, blowing the fan at the guards in our wake.  We made it to the spaceship, just as one of the aliens we had missed was only feet from Xavier…..

“Drive!” Xavier yelled.  The sweat dripping from my glasses did not stop me.  Once again I pressed the blue button and pushed the green for what felt like a hundred times.  Finally, the spaceship took off like a bullet.

            The next morning, the front of the newspaper said:

Our Daily Earth

TWO EIGHT-YEAR-OLD WIZARDS SAVE PLANET

Xavier Dann and Lucy Perspire traveled to Venus to save our planet from aliens.  We are glad to offer Xavier and Lucy a position in the National Hall of Historical Figures.

We accepted gladly.

“Will they have statues of us?” asked Xavier hopefully.

            “I hope so,” I said.  “Maybe we’ll be carrying a golden fan.”

8/10/14

Hi, everyone. I've just started this thing up. My family went on vacation in June to Orlando, Florida. We had a lot of fun at Harry Potter World! Other places we visited include Carlsbad Caverns, Roswell, NM, Kennedy Space Center, and Disney Quest theme park. Expect another post by Wednesday!