Fifteen Minutes

Nadine Laman is a writer friend I met through blogging. She left a challenge over at First Draft, today and I would normally link to my author blog with this sort of thing, but I am doing it on here today instead.

She has put out a challenge of a fifteen minute write up, so here is my effort in the form of a short story.

The Life of Ezard

Ezard never knew his mother, she died before he was born. His father took over the care of his son and ensured he entered the world at the correct time. No one questioned the event, no one assisted at the birth. It was a natural process that simply went ahead one cold morning. In fact it had been cold every morning since Ezard was born. A dapple of sunlight would cause a ripple around their community, but for the most part it was a cold, dark greeting for the newborn. Growing up in the community bosom was not always a comfort. Ezard wanted to find out what was across the water and on the other side of the world. He had heard tales from visitors that there were lands of green fields and shores with yellow sand. Colours never really meant much to the youngster, he was not one for learning, he loved an adventure. Listening to the elder tutor Mr Crystal, was time consuming, it ate into the daylight and there were too many distractions for Ezard. He wanted to know what was over the hill, before he became over the hill. He wanted to go with his father on his expeditions for food. All the time his frustrations grew, he was fed up of being told he was not old enough, not ready yet and he needed to learn the ways of his own world before worrying about another. One morning he took off alone, he decided he would look for food and bring it home to impress his father. He didn't take anything with him, he just walked beyond the boundaries of his home. A few feet away, a fleet of fishing ships were Seal pup hunting for a zoo, and as they were trawling the water's edge, one of the nets caught Ezard by the leg. He squawked and squealed but not one Penguin came to his aid. They all knew what was beyond their community as they had listened to the lessons told by Mr Crystal.
So if ever you are in Iceland and you see a sad Penguin looking across the water , it will be Ezards father. He sat on the egg of his son, long after he lost his wife. He was so proud when he was born and so sad now he was gone.
Copyright © GJSmy 2010


Well there you have it, yes Ezard was a silly penguin and I loved the challenge!