Puck lay on the beach as the sun continued to sink toward the horizon. As it sunk the sun's rays stretched through the atmosphere and faded into shades of yellow then orange. Puck watched a beautiful sunset.
A few minutes after the sunset, Puck heard some scratching that seemed to be coming from the hole beside him. He rotated himself around to look. A small crab emerged from the hole, took a short look at Puck, and scampered back into his hole. “Wait,” said Puck, “I won't hurt you.”
He first saw three legs and a claw slowly appear, and then two small eyes peered at him from just above the edge of the hole. The crab looked at him for a few seconds and said, “You look like a penguin but you don't sound like one.”
“I'm a magic penguin,” said Puck.
“What's a magic penguin?”
“I'm a penguin who makes good things happen for his owner.”
“You have an owner?” asked the crab.
“No, I'm supposed to have a human owner but people seem to have a real hard time hearing magic penguins.
“Why would you want to be owned by a human? They come here to the beach and run around all over, drop trash everywhere and make a lot of noise at night,” complained the crab.
“What's your name?” asked Puck.
“My friends call me Carl, but I don't have very many friends because I'm crabby.”
“Aren't all crabs crabby?” asked Puck.
“Some more than others,” said Carl, “I think I'm in the middle.”
“You don't seem all that crabby to me.”
“Here watch this,” said Carl as he slid all the way out of his hole, raised his claws and hissed.
“Wow, you can be crabby,” said Puck, “What noise do the humans make at night?”
“There's a place across the street from the pier where they play loud music all night,” answered Carl.
'I like music,” said Puck, “Is there any shrimp near here?”
“Shrimp is out there if you go a couple hundred yards out in the water. They're really good.”
“You have to go in the water to get them?”
“Where did you think you were going to find them?” asked Carl.
“Um,” Puck hesitated, “I always thought they came from a super market or a restaurant.”
Carl giggled, “You haven't lived on the beach very long have you. You're going to have to become a beach penguin to make it around here.”
“What about up on the pier?” Puck asked, “There's snack bar up there, maybe they have shrimp.”
“People and birds eat at the snack bar,“ said Carl, “At least the birds eat what the people drop or throw at them. I don't like begging for things, I'm too independent I guess.”
“I don't beg,” said Puck, “I trade quarters for them. People love quarters. They trade almost anything for them.”
“What's a quarter?” asked Carl.
“It's a shiny piece of metal that people seem to really like. Maybe I can find some here on the beach and trade them for some shrimp at the snack bar.”
“You're definitely not like any other penguin I've met. Most of the one's I know live way down south and swim out into the water and catch fish. You're the first one I've met who wants to eat shrimp,” said Carl.
“I can't swim,” said Puck, “I'd get all soggy and sink. I can fly though.”
“You can fly?” asked Carl, “Penguins can't fly!”
“I can,” said Puck, “With some help from people I can fly.”
“People don't help crabs with anything. They usually try to catch us for dinner. The birds do the same thing. I'm going in the water. If I catch a shrimp maybe I'll bring him back for you.”
“That would be great Carl, thanks,” said Puck; “I'll start looking for quarters while you're out in the water.”
And so Puck made his first friend on the beach and began working with Carl. Puck would look for quarters and Carl would hunt for shrimp when he had time.
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