impressed.
“World speed record or what, Blue!” cheered Rory. “Right, let’s see if I can beat you.”
“Hadn’t we better get back to the chicks?” she asked.
But this was the best snow ever; it would be a crime to waste it.
“Just one more turn,” said Rory.
But he had two more turns. Then three.
Blue didn’t stop him – she didn’t want him to think she was a spoilsport.
By the time they got back, however, the chicks had gone.
Rory and Blue stared at the spot where they had left Oo-Chi and Ku-Chi sleeping, but all that remained of them was a shallow dip where the warmth of their bodies had melted the ice. If the chicks had left any footprints, they had already been wiped out by the fresh snowfall.
“We should never have left them!” wailed Blue. “Big Paulie is going to kill you.”
“And you,” Rory pointed out.
Blue wagged her flipper at him.
“No, just you. Paulie left you in charge, remember? He put all his trust in you.”
Rory ’s stomach churned as if he’d eaten a bucket of rancid pilchards.
“Arghhhh! Paulie’s going to kill me – he really is. He trusted me… What if the chicks were eaten by a killer whale?”
Blue grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.
“Don’t be silly! How would a killer whale get in here – unless it was dropped by parachute?”
“You never know; they’re very intelligent,” panicked Rory.
Blue made him sit down.
“Rory, shut your beak and do some deep-breathing exercises,” she said, “Breathe in… and out. In… and out. Do you feel calmer now?”
“Erm, let me think about that… Nooooo!” he yelled, pulling his head feathers out. “The chicks can’t have just disappeared into thin air – unless they’ve learnt to fly?”
“Penguins can’t fly,” said Blue. “We don’t have the right sort of wings. Oo-Chi and Ku-chi are probably just playing hide- and-seek behind those rocks.”
They began to search frantically, which immediately drew the attention of the bears.
“What are you looking for?” asked Orson.
“Nothing,” said Rory casually. “Don’t tell them, Blue.”
“Only we might be able to help,” suggested Ursie.
It was most unusual for the bears to be helpful in any way. If anything, they were quite the opposite.
“We’re fine, thank you,” insisted Blue. “Go away, please, bears.”
They looked everywhere – behind every peak on the artificial cliff, behind each penguin hutch and under the slide, but there was no sign of the chicks. Not so much as a piece of fluffy down.
“What if they’re under the snow?” said Rory in alarm. “What if there was an avalanche off Paulie’s roof and they’re buried under it?”
Taking great care not to be seen by the boss, they skidded silently over to the palace to check. Unfortunately, the bears followed and called out to them at the top of their voices.
“Try digging about with a stick!” yelled Orson, throwing an old walking cane into the penguin enclosure.
“Shhhh!” hissed Rory, terrified that Paulie would hear.
He took the stick and prodded miserably at the snowdrift.
“Give it a good poke!” shouted Ursie. “That’s what they do in those murder mystery programmes on TV when they’re looking for a body.”
“Please go away!” begged Blue.
Then Eddie and Clive turned up.
“What have you lost?” asked Clive, sliding down the hill on his bottom.
“She has lost her manners!” said Ursie, pointing his paw at Blue. “She keeps telling us to go away and we’re only trying to help.”
Rory took Clive to one side and told him what had happened.
“Paulie is going to kill you,” said Clive matter-of-factly.
“If he does, can I have your snowboard, Rory?” asked Eddie.
Clive gave Rory a comforting slap on the back.
“It won’t come to that; we’ll help you look. Maybe Oo-Chi and Ku-Chi have gone to see the fairy penguins. Hatty and Brenda sometimes give them prawns.”
“I love prawns,” said Eddie, “Let’s go and see.”
The four of them hurried off and as they wandered into fairy-penguin territory, Eddie bumped into a giant snow-penguin in the shape of Muriel. To everyone’s horror, its head fell off and rolled down the slope.
“Quick, run after it!” said Rory. “Stick it back on.”
Eddie had almost done it when they heard whispering coming from Hatty’s hutch.
“I bet the chicks are in there,” muttered Rory. “I bet Muriel got Brenda and Hatty to grab them to get me into trouble.”
He scraped the snow off the window with his flipper and pressed his face to the glass – and to Blue’s surprise, he started giggling.
“What’s so funny?” she whispered.
He moved aside so she could see. Blue’s beak fell open.
Hatty and Brenda were holding up a life-sized cardboard penguin with a moustache. It was very badly drawn and rather a funny shape, but Muriel made it quite obvious who it was meant to be.
“Kiss me, Warren!” she swooned, wrapping her flippers round its neck and gazing into its wonky eyes.
“Muriel just pecked him on the cheek!” squeaked Blue.
Eddie jostled her out of the way so that he could watch.
“Oooh… Is that Warren she’s kissing? He’s lost weight, hasn’t he, Clive? It’s probably because he’s in love.”
Clive rubbed the steam off the glass and peered inside.
“No, it’s probably because he’s made of cardboard, Eddie,” he said.
This tickled Eddie so much that he hooted out loud.
Hatty heard him first and quickly tapped Muriel on the shoulder.
“Ignore her, Warren,” Muriel sighed. “She’s just jealous of us.”
It was only when Rory banged on the window that Muriel suddenly whipped round and realised that she was being watched.
“What are you all looking at?” she screeched as Brenda let them in. “I wasn’t kissing, if that’s what you thought. I was practising my lifesaving skills, wasn’t I, Hatty and Brenda?”
“You were? Oh, yes,” spluttered Brenda. “In case Warren drowned.”
“In kisses,”