Penguin Highway

by Tomihiko Morimi

  I stared up at the ceiling, all lit up from the light coming through the blinds, thinking about what Hamamoto and Uchida and Suzuki must be doing. Was the investigation team getting anywhere with their investigation on The Sea? I knew for a fact that all sorts of things were happening outside my house, but I was just lying in bed, far away from all of them. It was so quiet here, it was like being inside a cumulonimbus. And I was worried about the lady. She let her guard down a lot, so I believed I had to save her, or she’d be caught by the investigation team.

  After a while, I nodded off.

  At first, I kept having a very short dream in which I was sliding down a really, really long pole. For some reason, I was convinced this pole was a space elevator.

  Before I knew it, I was an astronaut.

  The spaceship I piloted was just like the water-tower tank on the hill. It was spinning to create gravity inside the ship. I was the only person on board. I’d come a very long way and had arrived at a strange new star.

  I landed my water-tank spaceship next to a hill like a giant green breast and set out to explore the unknown world. The sky was blue like Earth’s summer. It even had cumulonimbus clouds. From the top of the breast-shaped hill, I noticed vacant lots stretching as far as the eye could see, all separated from one another with concrete blocks like graph paper.

  There was a row of high-tension towers, so I followed the power lines.

  There were sometimes vending machines in the vacant lots, and penguins were clustered around them.

  It seemed like the only thing living on this planet was penguins. To them, I was an alien who had suddenly landed here. I said “Hello!” but the penguins did not seem at all surprised. There were just standing in the vacant lots, looking up at the sky or lying down on their bellies.

  I walked a long way. The neat rows of well-mowed vacant lots began to thin, replaced with tall grassy plains. At last, I reached a deserted shore. The row of high-tension towers ended there. The sky was blue, but the color of the ocean was extremely cold. At the edge of the horizon, I could see the lights of a shopping mall.

  I walked along the empty beach and found a large blue whale washed up. I didn’t know if it was alive or dead. I looked up at it, and the blue whale said, “How do you do?” It didn’t seem uncomfortable. It was rather laid-back, really. I felt like I’d heard its voice before.

  I knew then that this blue whale was actually a Jabberwock.

  I sat down on the beach, gazing at the ocean.

  “Welcome back,” the lady said, sitting down next to me.

  “Why are you here?”

  “I’ve been here. I mean, this is Earth.”

  “I felt like I’d gone a long way.”

  “If you go far enough away, you wind up back where you started.”

  The lady pointed at the sea in front of us.

  “This is the Cambrian-period sea, kiddo.”

  “I thought the Cambrian period disappeared a long time ago.”

  “If you go far enough back in time, you wind up back where you started.”

  Some penguins came waddling up the beach. They stopped and stared out at the horizon, not moving a muscle.

  The blue whale was muttering something.

  “Jabberwock, what are you saying?”

  “God makes mistakes sometimes,” the blue whale said. “It’s only natural.”

  “That’s unacceptable,” the lady said.

  “All the penguins would agree with me.”

  “Well, I’m not a penguin.”

  “The sea is coming! The sea is coming!” the blue whale said cryptically.

  Darkness was falling out across the water. I couldn’t see the lights of the mall anymore, and dark clouds were gathering. Purple lightning flashed like fireworks in the distance. I was usually scared of lightning, but for some reason, I was totally fine this time.

  It occurred to me that if this was Earth, then everything here had disappeared. My father and mother and sister and Hamamoto and Uchida and Suzuki and his minions and Seaside Café and the dentist and the school, too. While I was away on my long journey, they’d all disappeared. I felt like I’d done something I could never undo. I was a child who never cried, but there were tears on my cheeks.

  “Why are you crying, kiddo?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “…Sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “Sorry.”

  Every time she apologized, I felt even more miserable.

  “You poor thing. It must be rough.”

  I heard a voice from somewhere and felt a cold hand on my brow. It felt extremely nice. I opened my eyes, and the lady was sitting on a chair next to my bed, peering into my face. Both her cheeks and her breasts were back to normal. She looked healthy. My room was dimly lit. I didn’t know how long I’d been asleep. My head was spinning. I had tears in the corners of my eyes, and the lady’s face was blurry.

  “I’m feeling great, and you’re down for the count. Not often the way of things.”

  “I have a fever.”

  “I’m well aware.”

  “I had a dream. You were in it.”

  The lady smiled, patting my head.

  “I thought about trying to call you. The university investigation team is in the woods.”

  “I know.”

  “So you’d better not make any penguins. It would be extremely bad if they found out.”

  “That’s right. I won’t make any until you’re better. When will you get better?”

  “I’m strong, so I’ll be better soon.”

  “Make sure you get nourishment. Humans need energy.”

  “You get some, too.”

  The lady thought for a moment. “Kiddo,” she whispered. “You did an experiment where you didn’t eat, right? I did the same thing.”

  “You shouldn’t do that experiment. Your breasts will get smaller.”

  She laughed. “I do experiments sometimes, too.”

  “Was it hard?”

  “It wasn’t hard. I didn’t eat anything until today.”

  The fever was preventing me from thinking straight.

  “Penguin Energy,” she said.

  “That’s for penguins. It’s not for humans.”

  She looked me right in the eye.

  “I’m not human.”

  “You aren’t human?”

  “I made the penguins, but who made me?”

  “My brain isn’t working. Because I have a fever.”

  “Sorry.”

  She knelt down by the bed and put her cold forehead against mine. Why was she apologizing? The tears I’d shed in my dream ran down from the corners of my eyes onto my cheeks.

  “Don’t cry, kiddo,” she said.

  “I’m not crying,” I said.

  In the morning, I woke up. I was lying in bed, looking at the sky through the gaps in the blinds. There were little clouds scattered everywhere. I opened the window, and a brisk wind blew through the room, like fall was here. My fever was totally gone, and my head felt clear, like the blue sky after the rain clouds blow away.

  I ate breakfast in the living room downstairs. I was extremely hungry. I felt much better.

  While I was sleeping, my father had called long distance from France. My mother said when he heard I was in bed with a fever he’d been worried and said to make sure I talked to him the next time he called.

  “Did anyone come see me while I was sick?”

  “The lady from the dentist came by. Do you remember that?”

  “I remember that. I thought it was a dream.”

  As I walked to school through the morning chill, I suddenly started feeling sad. At first, I didn’t know why I felt that way. As I thought about why I was sad, I remembered the conversation with the lady, the one I’d thought was a dream.

  I took my little notebook out of my pocket. I’d practiced taking notes enough that there was a strong possibility I’d written a few even though I was feeling really out of it.
The letters were definitely hard to make out, but I read everything I’d written down on those grid-lined pages. The dream about exploring another planet. Everything the lady had said. I read through it all as I walked.

  As I passed the dentist, I reached the lot where the penguins had first appeared. A brisk wind blew by, and the grass in the lot—there were no penguins today—swayed. Then, out of nowhere, everything I’d just read and all the fragments of notes I’d written up till now came flying into my head, all slotting together like I was making a beautiful blue wall out of LEGOs. I didn’t have to do anything. I just stood there and watched as they put themselves together.

  Before I knew it, the blue wall was complete.

  I stopped in my tracks next to the vacant lot. I had a strange numb feeling in the back of my mind. I couldn’t think about anything else. My sister turned back, calling my name, but I didn’t answer. She just kept following the other children.

  I was left alone by the vacant lot.

  “Eureka,” I whispered.

  My head was full of that morning’s eureka, and I paid very little attention that day. I had my notebook out and was busy writing hypotheses down. It seemed like Hamamoto wanted to talk about our research on The Sea, but my responses were so absentminded, she made a face and went back to her seat.

  “Aoyama, you’re being weird,” Uchida said.

  “Am I?”

  “You aren’t talking at all. You’re just staring at nothing. Are you sure you don’t still have a fever?”

  “Maybe I do.”

  Even during classes, I just stared out the window, watching the clouds float by, thinking about the lady.

  Suzuki was extremely quiet all day. He’d been bragging about the new species he’d discovered every break since summer vacation ended, but today he didn’t say a single word about it. He kept glancing at Hamamoto, but she refused to look at him at all.

  After school, he came over to my desk.

  “Hamamoto said she’d never forgive me,” he said. “I didn’t mean to tell them so much.”

  “But you did.”

  “They kept asking things. Some were acting like I was lying, and I got mad, and while I was talking about one thing or another, I ended up saying everything. I didn’t mean to tell them about your research…”

  “What research?”

  “Your research. The weird thing in the forest.”

  “We don’t know anything. We weren’t researching that.”

  “Don’t lie!” Suzuki said, baffled. “Why would you say that?”

  “Suzuki. We’ve decided to forget everything. Our research is over. The investigation squad will research everything properly.”

  “Are you mad?”

  “I never get mad. But that may not be true for Hamamoto.”

  “Is it my fault?”

  “I hate to break it to you, but it is.”

  “Please, say something to Hamamoto for me. Tell her I really didn’t mean to.”

  While Suzuki was still clinging to my desk, the loudspeaker came on, and the principal’s voice made an announcement.

  “Everyone, there’s been an accident nearby. Do not leave the school until the teachers tell you to. It’s safe inside. I repeat. Until the teachers give the go-ahead, you are not allowed to leave the school grounds. Stay safe inside the school.”

  The broadcast ended.

  Suzuki frowned. “What kind of accident?” he muttered.

  There was a brief silence around us, but it was gradually replaced with a rising commotion.

  “Everyone, sit down,” the teacher said. “Quiet!”

  The teacher from the class next door came over and talked to our teacher at the door. They both looked worried. I watched the teachers’ lips closely but couldn’t tell what they were saying. I took my eyes off them, looking around the room, and my eyes met Hamamoto’s. She was looking right at me, her face really pale. I gave her a questioning look. She stood up and walked over to the teachers. The noise in the class died down. Everyone gulped.

  The teachers looked like they weren’t sure how to answer Hamamoto’s questions.

  Suzuki was watching her, too. Uchida looked at me, mouthing “What?” I mouthed “I don’t know” back.

  Hamamoto went back to her seat, looking even worse. She buried her face in her hands, sitting perfectly still. I stood up and went over to her. “What is it?” I whispered.

  “I don’t know. But there was an accident with the investigation team. Five people are missing.”

  “Missing?”

  “My father’s missing, too.”

  “How do you know? Did the teachers tell you?”

  “They didn’t say. But I can tell from their expressions.”

  “The Sea?”

  “What else?”

  She looked up. Her eyes were wet. “Are you really giving up on researching The Sea? What can we do? How much have you figured out?”

  I thought for a moment.

  “All I know is what we should do.”

  “And we’re going to do that?”

  “Aoyama, sit down,” the teacher said.

  I turned back to the teacher and raised my hand.

  “Teacher, Hamamoto’s not feeling well. Can I take her to the nurse’s office?”

  We talked quietly so the school nurse couldn’t hear us.

  “We’ve got to get out of this school.”

  “And do what?”

  “We need the lady’s power to resolve this situation. I don’t know if we can save your father or not. But there’s no other way to do that.”

  The door to the nurse’s office opened. We heard a student talking to the nurse. Hamamoto and I perked up our ears, listening to the voices on the other side of the curtain. After a while, Uchida poked his face through the curtain. “If you’re going somewhere, I’m coming, too,” he said.

  We slipped out of the office while the nurse was in the bathroom.

  We ran down the empty hall and soon reached the shoeboxes. We put our shoes on and hid behind the shoeboxes, watching the front gate.

  We could see teachers patrolling through the glass. And we could see evacuated townspeople coming in. They were all headed toward the gym. Everyone looked scared. My mother might be among them. We’d planned to slip out the gates when the teachers weren’t looking, but with this many people, there was no way we’d ever get a chance.

  Then Suzuki, Kobayashi, and Nagasaki came running up.

  “What are you up to?” Suzuki said.

  “None of your business,” Hamamoto said. “How’d you get away?”

  “If you’re leaving school, we’ll help,” Suzuki said. I looked at him, surprised. “This accident has something to do with that thing in the woods, right?” he said.

  “I had no idea you were capable of deductions, Suzuki.”

  “I’m not stupid.”

  “But there’s a lot of people out front. We can’t leave.”

  “Go around by the rabbit cages and climb over the wall. Will you forgive me now?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Hamamoto said.

  Suzuki led us through the courtyard. I guess the principal was really flustered, because the chime signaling an announcement went off twice but was followed by silence.

  According to Suzuki, they’d used the wall behind the rabbit cage to get off school grounds any number of times. There was a mound of earth there, and if you jumped just right, your hands would reach the top of the wall. There was no need to go over the wall when you could just leave through the front gate, but at times like this, his knowledge proved unexpectedly useful. I was impressed.

  We slipped around the back of the rabbit cage.

  Suzuki went up first, showing us how. He sat astride the wall and whispered, “Hurry.”

  Uchida took a short run and scrambled up the wall.

  Hamamoto couldn’t quite make it. “Kobayashi, make a step for her,” Suzuki said. Kobayashi scowled but got down on his hands and knees. “Sorry,” Hamamoto
said, stepping up on his back. Even then, she only just got her hands on the wall but couldn’t manage to pull herself up. I put my hands on her butt and pushed.

  “My butt! You’re touching my butt!” she yelped.

  “I have no choice.”

  “Shhh! They’ll find us!”

  Suzuki was right. Just as Hamamoto finally managed to scramble up on the wall, we heard teacher’s voices. Suzuki, Uchida, and Hamamoto quickly jumped down the other side of the wall. I hurriedly jumped at the wall myself. The only reason I didn’t get caught was because Kobayashi and Nagasaki tackled the teachers, buying me time.

  On the other side of the wall, I could hear the teachers yelling, “Come back here!”

  “So what now?” Suzuki said, gasping for breath. He was rather overweight and not good at running.

  “We need to see the lady from the dentist’s office,” I said.

  “Won’t she have evacuated to the gym?”

  “She wouldn’t do that.”

  If the lady had figured out her own nature, I thought she’d be sitting somewhere, perfectly calm.

  Fortunately, we were able to move forward without running into any evacuees. We did see an old man walking alone, but it didn’t cause a problem. I just said, “There’s an evacuation warning out, so you should go to the elementary school.” “I see,” the old man said. “Thank you.”

  We followed the narrow roads cautiously and poked our heads out on the main road. There wasn’t a single car driving anywhere. It was very quiet. Like the world had ended while we were at school.

  There was a row of fire trucks, more than any of us had ever seen in one place, dividing our town in half. Where had all these fire trucks come from? The silent neighborhood had a bright-red line drawn across it, big trucks and smaller fire department vehicles, all spaced out evenly like a diorama. Men in blue uniforms were gathered around the trucks, talking. There were two ambulances parked a short distance away and some cop cars, too. It was all so quiet, it was hard to believe there was anything dangerous going on. But there was a giant, glittering silver dome over the forest behind the water-tower hill, and from the depths of the forest, we could hear a strange rustling sound.