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sweetandshort2025-05-11 03:17 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote in sweetandshort2025-05-11 03:17 pm
[10 out of 20] Original: gen
Title: A fascinating journey
Fandom: original
Rating: Gen
Length: 500
Prompt: journey
Notes: based on an animated birthday card
Summary: Three penguins miss the party bus in London.
“Come on! We’ll be late!”
“But I’ve lost my party hat!” cried Meshach the penguin. He stopped abruptly, scooped up the pink-and-red-striped cone as easily as his flippers would allow, and crammed it snugly back on his head.
Luckily, Shadrach the penguin was holding the gift. For his part, Bendigo was holding a swirly lolly, very important to him but not as important in the grand scheme of things. The two penguins, because they were Meshach’s best pals, had also stopped and waited.
They set off at top speed (for penguins) as soon as Meshach caught up with them.
They huffed and puffed and scrambled as fast as webbed feet allowed, but when the trio reached the stop, the only things they saw were pink, blue, and orange balloons fluttering as the bright red party bus pulled away.
“Oh, no!” cried Meshach in despair. “Whatever shall we do?”
Bendigo’s beak began to quiver, and his lolly wept a single sugary tear.
Just then, a double-decker dark blue bus approached the stop. The sign on the side read in bright gold letters:
LONDON SIGHTSEEING TOURS
“We’ll take this bus,” declared Shadrach. “Up.”
“Up?” asked the other two nervously.
“Up,” ordered Shadrach.
So the penguins climbed, arousing so much curiosity that no one asked them about a fare.
“Oh!” cried Meshach when they were on the top of the bus. “We can see everything up here. What is that?” He pointed with his flipper.
“Buckingham Palace,” said Bendigo. He was mumbling because his mouth was full of lolly, but his flippers were full of an open guidebook left behind on the seat they had taken.
“And that?”
“Trafalgar Square.”
“What are you doing, Shadrach?”
Shadrach was holding up a something, looking into it, and pressing the something with his flipper.
“I’m just imitating,” explained Shadrach, and indeed, there were many on the bus and on the street doing exactly what the penguin was doing.
“Big Ben,” announced Bendigo in a clear voice because the lolly was history.
Then it began to rain.
“Ah,” said Shadrach. “I’ve wondered about these. Really the number and range of objects left behind on these modes of transportation is astounding.”
Suddenly, there was red canopy over the penguins.
But just as suddenly, the rain stopped.
“Oh, a bridge!” cried Meshach.
“Most interesting,” said Shadrach as the bus cross the bridge.
“Wee!” cried Bendigo and Meshach.
“Look, there’s a rainbow!”
“Oh, how pretty!”
Meshach’s squinted in the distance as the bus cross to the other side of the bank. “If I am not mistaken, that enormous wheel is where we are supposed to be…”
“Oh, look! There’s the party bus!”
The penguins’ frantic waves were mirrored by the penguins on the red bus, and in a few more minutes, the tuxedoed trio were reunited with their friends.
“Just where have you three been?”
“On a most fascinating journey,” replied Meshach with utmost dignity. He handed the gift over and, without another word, fell into queue for the Eye.
Fandom: original
Rating: Gen
Length: 500
Prompt: journey
Notes: based on an animated birthday card
Summary: Three penguins miss the party bus in London.
“Come on! We’ll be late!”
“But I’ve lost my party hat!” cried Meshach the penguin. He stopped abruptly, scooped up the pink-and-red-striped cone as easily as his flippers would allow, and crammed it snugly back on his head.
Luckily, Shadrach the penguin was holding the gift. For his part, Bendigo was holding a swirly lolly, very important to him but not as important in the grand scheme of things. The two penguins, because they were Meshach’s best pals, had also stopped and waited.
They set off at top speed (for penguins) as soon as Meshach caught up with them.
They huffed and puffed and scrambled as fast as webbed feet allowed, but when the trio reached the stop, the only things they saw were pink, blue, and orange balloons fluttering as the bright red party bus pulled away.
“Oh, no!” cried Meshach in despair. “Whatever shall we do?”
Bendigo’s beak began to quiver, and his lolly wept a single sugary tear.
Just then, a double-decker dark blue bus approached the stop. The sign on the side read in bright gold letters:
LONDON SIGHTSEEING TOURS
“We’ll take this bus,” declared Shadrach. “Up.”
“Up?” asked the other two nervously.
“Up,” ordered Shadrach.
So the penguins climbed, arousing so much curiosity that no one asked them about a fare.
“Oh!” cried Meshach when they were on the top of the bus. “We can see everything up here. What is that?” He pointed with his flipper.
“Buckingham Palace,” said Bendigo. He was mumbling because his mouth was full of lolly, but his flippers were full of an open guidebook left behind on the seat they had taken.
“And that?”
“Trafalgar Square.”
“What are you doing, Shadrach?”
Shadrach was holding up a something, looking into it, and pressing the something with his flipper.
“I’m just imitating,” explained Shadrach, and indeed, there were many on the bus and on the street doing exactly what the penguin was doing.
“Big Ben,” announced Bendigo in a clear voice because the lolly was history.
Then it began to rain.
“Ah,” said Shadrach. “I’ve wondered about these. Really the number and range of objects left behind on these modes of transportation is astounding.”
Suddenly, there was red canopy over the penguins.
But just as suddenly, the rain stopped.
“Oh, a bridge!” cried Meshach.
“Most interesting,” said Shadrach as the bus cross the bridge.
“Wee!” cried Bendigo and Meshach.
“Look, there’s a rainbow!”
“Oh, how pretty!”
Meshach’s squinted in the distance as the bus cross to the other side of the bank. “If I am not mistaken, that enormous wheel is where we are supposed to be…”
“Oh, look! There’s the party bus!”
The penguins’ frantic waves were mirrored by the penguins on the red bus, and in a few more minutes, the tuxedoed trio were reunited with their friends.
“Just where have you three been?”
“On a most fascinating journey,” replied Meshach with utmost dignity. He handed the gift over and, without another word, fell into queue for the Eye.
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