The Super Egg
BEFORE THERE WERE STARS in the dawn of time, nothing but sheer darkness shrouded the ether. But in one mystic instant, a spark suddenly flashed from deep inside the seven heavens and zapped across the amaranthine cosmos. Right away, a cluster of Super Eggs appeared in every corner of the intergalactic web as lustrous celestial fireworks filled the otherwise perpetually black space with light and life. By a stroke of luck or by coincidence, one of the Super Eggs found its way onto a fertile orb called Blue Earth. Before long, life flourished with fishes of assorted colors and sizes swarming the uncharted waters while dazzling light brightened the sky dome in a blaze of glory. Then quick like a flash from behind a patch of fleecy clouds, emerged a giant flying horse with a dragon’s crown and a golden serpent’s sparkly scales. It was the legendary Qilin. Spreading its powerful wings as wide as the sky, the deific being hovered over a picturesque icy plain and cast its reflection onto the surface of a frozen sea. Fleetingly, it touched down on the frosty land before it took wing again and pulled up layers of ice high into the air. With one flutter of its mighty pinions, the majestic Qilin miraculously turned those ice into surging glaciers and massive snow hills.
“Boom bang! One giant Super Egg carrying some wonderfully fine souls happened to land in a serene Garden of Eden where stunning glacial lakes abound and breathtaking icebergs flow. Lo and behold, a great living creature called Aptenodytes forsteri has declared its arrival.” Pasco the coach accentuates his tale with a loud roar and a pompous swagger, dramatically imparting knowledge of the origin of life to the toddlers in the colony. “Boom bang! ”
“Ah…” Little Tippy lets out a gasp of surprise.
“What creature is that? I can’t even say its name!” Little Sparky, a three-month old boy blinks his bright eyes while shaking his fluffy head. “Apteno…Apteno…”
“Aptenodytes forsteri, that’s us, the big and proud emperor penguins.”
“Oh, we are a great living creature?”
“Yes, Sparky Boy, we sure are!” Pasco pats the boy on the head.
“Way to go! But where is this Super Egg now?”
“Somewhere in Land’s End?” Pasco has no idea at all because he just made it up.
“Where’s Land’s End?”
“I guess it’s a nirvana every penguin in his or her lifetime should make the pilgrimage to. You know, the beauty of Land’s End is absolutely ravishing between the Star of Helios, the sea and the snow peaks. Yeah, fascinating, isn’t it? Okay, end of tale time.” With a wave of his hand, Pasco proceeds to corral the toddlers into a tight tortue which makes them stand close to one another in a circle. “Now let’s practice huddling!”
“Yay! I love it!” Tippy opens his cute little flippers wide and gives Sparky a bear hug from behind.
“Hey Tippy, I know we’re cradle buddies but you don’t have to like me this much.” Sparky and the rest of the nursery crèche burst into chuckling. “This is a hug not a huddle! And you’re tickling me, haha, haha.”
“Oops, but it sure feels good and warm for me...” Tippy looks entirely clueless before he cottons on to his booboo. “A hug…hugdle?”
“It’s a huddle, Tippy. No hands and no hugs. All you need to do is to stand as close to your next buddy as possible and take turns moving along towards the center so no bone-chilling cold in stormy winters would freeze your little tush. Capisce?” Pasco paces around outside of the circular formation. “Hmm, why don’t we practice the song we’ve been learning. Yup. Let’s do something fun. Let’s sing!”
I’m a bird, a proud big bird
With a dream I come to the world
I learn to live, I learn to love
With a heart as pure as white pearls
I’m here, I see and I hear
With my flipper wings I soar and I swirl
“I soar and I swirl…” Flippers in the air, Sparky cranes his neck left and right, singing his heart out with a quivering beak as everyone breaks into an angelic a cappella cover of I’m A Proud Big Bird.
“Attaboy! I’m really proud of y’all! You know what, as a reward, class is dismissed earlier!”
“Yay! I can go eat some krill finally!” Little Tippy skids about clumsily.
“See ya, Tippy.”
“Yay, see ya soon, Sparky!”
“Papa, when will Mama come home from work? She’s been gone for quite some time.”
“Mama should be home any time now.”
“Great! I’m gonna go see if she returns soon and I’ll play near the water for a jiffy coz I also wanna see Koga the giant fish flip out of the sea!” Sparky prances around Pasco before he cheerfully flaps his cute flippers and waddles away.
“Sparky! A petrel might get you if you go alone! So you’d better come right back here now or you’ll be forever grounded!” Pasco enjoins.
“Papa’s ‘forever’ means an hour or two. I’m not the least bit worried, haha.” The wobbling boy knows how much his doting father mollycoddles him so he glides on over a snowdrift. He giggles and titters towards the outer edge of the rookery next to a thousand-year-old crystal blue Archway Iceberg that has to be one of Mother Nature’s greatest sculptures. Sparky has always relished the view from here. “Way to go, Koga!” The giant whale’s lobtailing in the distance never fails to boggle the boy’s young mind. And it amazes him to see his mother soaring out of the sea from behind some of the upturned icebergs that would flash their jewel-like undersides in the sun-drenched inlet.
“Howdy-doody! Look who’s home!” Peggy leaps onto the sea ice without getting bushwhacked by killer leopard seals, very proud of the bountiful catch of krill and silverfish in her belly.
“Uh oh.” Sparky could tell his mother’s imposing voice from a mile away.
“Told you, you little scamp!” Pasco chortles as he struts towards his son.
“How’s my puckish boy huh?” Peggy croons and makes her happy little dance steps towards her son and her better half.
“I’ve been a good boy, Mama.” Sparky animatedly does the head bowing ritual.
“Yeah he has, for just a jiffy, haha.” Pasco winks at his son with a head swing.
“Well…”
“Well, Sparky wants his meal now, right?” Peggy caresses the boy’s little beak with hers.
“Yes, Mama!” Sparky’s eyes brighten, his beak opening up to his mother’s culinary one. Until the sea ice melts, the young emperor penguin has to rely on his parents regurgitating food in his mouth.
“Okay. We shouldn’t over pamper him. I think it’s enough food for Sparky tonight. Let’s head home.” There is apparent delight in Pasco’s voice as he starts to sway to his own jubilant beat.
“All righty, one last bite for Sparky.” Peggy feeds her son another morsel with great motherly love before she joins in the jig with Pasco, swirling their plump hips in rapture, swinging in synchronization and boogying with Sparky in their flipper arms.
“Oops, I think I got two left feet!” Sparky mimics his mother’s dance moves but gauchely loses his footing.
“Haha, just dance, my darling. You’ll get it one day.” Peggy gives Sparky a reassuring wink. Then she spreads her arms, clears her throat and belts out a popular birdie folk tune.
Paradise dee, paradise dum
Paradise is just a happy family
Paradise dee, paradise dum
Paradise means you and you annnd me
“Mama, I love the song! I wanna sing it too.”
“Then sing, sweetie pie, just sing your heart out!”
“Paradise dee, dee, dee…” Sparky got the tune right but forgets the words.
“Attaboy. Sparky’s got my spiffy genes after all, haha.” Pasco chuckles and fondly cradles Sparky’s head with his flipper.
“Now who’s got the better voice in the family?” Peggy pokes her partner’s beak with hers.
“I do, I do.” Sparky bursts into singing again with bells on. “Paradise dee, dee, dee dee dum…”
“Haha attaboy…” Pasco and Peggy waddle gleefully.
“Wowzers, look at the sky!” A spurt of uncanny polar lights in the form of a giant serpent over the Archway Iceberg invigorates Sparky’s inquisitive mind. “Papa, did that snake in the sky bring us to the land?”
“Didn’t I tell you we all come from a Super Egg?”
“Oh yeah you did. Then who brought it here?”
“Son, something or someone sure brought it here, but not that weird snake in the sky.”
“But I just don’t get it. How did the Super Egg arrive here?” Sparky stamps his little feet.
“Listen, my absent-minded Sparky Boy, I’ve already told you today in the class what my old man taught me.”
“Right…” The boy purses his lips. “And the Super Egg flew to Land’s End huh. Can we go there now?”
“Land’s End?” Pasco scratches his head.
“Yeah. Where is it anyway?”
“Good question! Hmm, our son is not only a singer but also a curious soul. No wonder he has a funny spot between his eyes. Muah!” Peggy pulls her boy close and gives him a kiss on the beige spot in his forehead.
“Let’s go look for it!” The quixotic tale about the Super Egg has fired Sparky with enthusiasm. “I really wanna know what it looks like. Or maybe I could ride the Super Egg back to the heavens someday?”
“Well, I think we’re gonna ride our snowmobile home first, haha.” Pasco swings his head and starts to toboggan away on his belly. “Come on, Sparky Boy!”
“And that’s our snowmobile?”
“Yeah, ride along, son.” Peggy lies on her belly and glides over the sea ice towards the rookery. “Now ride along baby, ride along.”
“Oh, okay. But I do want to go look for the Super Egg…oh, wait for me!” Sparky clumsily gets down on his cute little belly but fails to propel himself forward. Instead he just twirls around in the same spot.
“Haha, you can do it.” Peggy looks on as she hopes her son could soon learn all the skills needed to survive the harsh winters on his own.
“Okay. I got it now!” After a few tries, he finally made it.
“Attaboy!” Peggy couldn’t be more proud of her son. From the moment he cracked open his shell to come to this world, Peggy witnessed Sparky’s healthy growth every step of the way. She is so overjoyed she starts to croon out loud again.
Paradise dee, paradise dum
Paradise is just a happy family
Paradise dee, paradise dum
Paradise means you and me
Oh yay, ah ha, you annnd me
The happy penguin trio gambol about on their way home in a single file, relishing the lovingness of a family, the most cherished bliss that life has to offer. As the Star of Helios sets over the horizon, the faithful Archway Iceberg quietly stands in the inlet as if its mission is to safeguard the emperor penguin’s rookery. Suddenly, a bright flash of light streaks across the Antarctic sky while concurrently layers and layers deep under the vast ice sheet where the Emperors reside, an exotic giant entity flickers.
