Late For Dinner

• Caitlyn Chin, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2021

Like a golden coin held up to the sky, the sun gleamed on the water and ice. Enjoyment was in the air. The ocean clapped as waves collided together. The chicks tasted adventure. They could hardly wait for their scrumptious meal. Each white-bellied, black-backed adult flightless bird brought back a silver coloured, glinting fish in their beaks. Their hungry chicks waiting for their meal on the glacier. The adults waddle to their nests where the penguin chicks are.

Fish were the favourite food for the chicks and it gave them more energy, for some reason, so the adults decide to let them dive. “Squawk!”. In one of the chick’s excitement it had accidentally tripped clumsily. The other chicks squawk angrily as if to say, “Hurry up, or when we come back we’ll be late for dinner!”. The chicks gave the diving a tremendous effort as the adult’s joy spread from the weather to the chicks … diving, climbing out, squawking in laughter … diving, clambering out, squawking in joy louder and louder still. They would do it again and again until the adults said stop.

But in the shadows, danger was lurking on the underside of the iceberg. Hearing all the racket and happy squawking, a leopard seal crept out of his hiding place for his midday meal. As he glided, all the school of shiny fish instantly parted like an earthquake splitting the ground. For when the leopard seal comes, no one wants to be near him. He headed in the direction of the splashing, swimming slowly, swaying side to side letting out air, creating bubbles.

Blip! Blob! Bloop! Suddenly the penguins turned and stared at a line of bubbles and immediately hauled themselves out. They were terrified. Their heart beat was thumping with every swish of the leopard seal’s tail. A swish of a tail creating waves hitting the growler, a small iceberg. Bumping! Crashing! A cacophony broke out: squawking, honking, tapping and crashing. What a catastrophe! “Honk!!” squawked one of the adults which meant, “Get to the middle!!”.


Instantly, the penguins headed to the middle. The adults surrounding the chicks. They were huddling together to keep safe. The leopard seal was dazed for a moment from the quick movement of the penguins but quickly came to his senses. He had an attempt to jump onto the growler, but he was too late. Alas, the hunter was now being hunted. Another was coming. The orca had the seal in its clutches. It swallowed the seal, jumped above the penguins and back down to the water. The penguins thought it was their turn, but no? The orca dived deeper down. The penguins swam back to the main glacier and a not-so-surprising surprise was there for them. They were late for dinner.