Penguin Problems by Lauren Myracle
“It’s a plan,” Mom says. Her tone says the “talk” part of our talk is over. “And now I have a favor to ask you. I’d ask one of your sisters, but they’ve gone off on some crazy errand. I didn’t quite catch what it was.”
“Huh,” I say. “Well, they’re crazy all right.”
“Anyway, I need to get dinner on the table. Can you babysit your sister while I finish up in the kitchen?”
Me? I think. Babysit Maggie?
“I think she’d really enjoy some time with her big brother.”
“Oh,” I say. “Um, okay.”
She smiles her special Ty smile, which means Love you, bug.
Then she leaves. It’s just me and Maggie.
I do like her pretty blue eyes.
“Want me to make dolphin sounds?” I ask her. “Or would you rather feel my loose tooth?”
She does her pluh sound.
“Here,” I say, taking her weensie finger and putting it on my front tooth. It only wiggles a little, but Maggie thinks it’s neat. I know because she kicks her chubby legs.
“I’m sorry I called you a Big Fat Meanie Baby,” I tell Maggie. I bite my lip. “And now do you want to hear my dolphin impression?”
She kicks her legs and waves her arms.
“To do it, I have to go underwater. But I’ll be right back up, ’kay?”
I gaze into her eyes so that she’ll know she can trust me. Then I slide underwater and scream. The water muffles it just the right amount, and I know Maggie is impressed, because when I burst back into the air, Maggie is still looking at me. And maybe . . . maybe I can do more things to impress her as I get to know her better, and as she gets to know me. Things like catching two dolphins in a claw machine game, only better.
She likes animals, I can tell because she liked my underwater sea creature noise, so—I know! I should get her a pet! Or, I should get me a pet and share it with her! And we could teach it tricks and love it and be nice to it and name it Chepito!
Hmm. I wonder what kind of pet we’ll get. I’ll have to give that some thought. For now, I go under again, and I learn something awesome. If I hold my lips in a small-sized O instead of scream-sized O, and if I push out a whole series of Baby Maggie’s pluhs, I sound almost exactly like a baby penguin.
Lauren Myracle, Penguin Problems