One afternoon, Twiggy the Sea Turtle was swimming through the ocean, looking for some tasty jelly fish to munch on. He saw a particularly scrumptious looking specimen floating above him, and swam up, chomping down, waiting for the deliciousness to erupt in his mouth. Instead, he got a mouthful of tasteless, chewy yuck. It had been a plastic bag, haphazardly thrown into the ocean by some thoughtless human. He choked it down, and continued on his way. Some time passed, and poor little Twiggy felt some uncomfortable sensations in his little turtle tummy. Eventually, it became apparent that even though Twiggy needed to go “Number Two”, “Number Two” was not coming out.
Growing more and more uncomfortable, Twiggy decided to go up on land and see if he could find something to help. He saw a land mass ahead and headed toward it. He crawled up onto the shore and lay down, his bottom side cramping with the blockage. He drifted towards unconsciousness, slipping into a sweet slumber. His cramping worsened as the world drifted grey. Vaguely, he felt something feathery brushing against him, and then a warm, very UN-tasty liquid was poured down his throat. He shuddered as the liquid sloshed down into his tummy, and then he passed out.
More cramping woke Twiggy up some time later. This time, though, he had to go! He jumped up and rushed over to the nearest bush and let loose. Stringy plastic came out along with, well, everything else. Feeling much better, he plodded on down to the water to go along his way. Suddenly, a rainbow colored head popped out of the water. It was followed by a rounded body flapping its wings at its side. The multi-colored bird waddled its way toward Twiggy. Twiggy stood dumbfounded, having never seen a penguin that looked like a rainbow.
Twiggy watched in fascination as the penguin walked toward him. When it reached him, it stuck out a wing. “Hi! I’m Prism. What is your name?” she said. Twiggy blinked a few times, and then answered. “I’m Twiggy.”
Twiggy watched in fascination as the penguin walked toward him. When it reached him, it stuck out a wing. “Hi! I’m Prism. What is your name?” she said. Twiggy blinked a few times, and then answered. “I’m Twiggy.”
“Well, Twiggy... You had a close call there! We were afraid you weren’t going to make it!”
“We?” Twiggy asked, looking around. Down the beach a ways, he saw a sea of rainbow color that was not the water. Hundreds of rainbow colored penguins were wandering along the shore.
“Oh , yes. Vibrance is the one who saved you”, Prism said, leading him down the shoreline towards the others. “She is our resident miracle worker. “
“I’ve never seen penguins with so many colors.” Twiggy told her.
“We have a rare skin condition. You have heard of being struck by lightning? Well, our ancestors were struck by rainbows. Multiple rainbows all at one time. I heard it temporarily blinded them, and when they could see again, they were all colorful. And all of their offspring since then have been as well. “
“How strange…” mused Twiggy. “Did it hurt?”
“No, not from what the stories say anyway. Just that they couldn’t see. Like if you look at the sun for too long.. “
“Wow. That’s amazing. It’s very pretty. “
“Yes, we are very proud of our different colors. We do have to do a lot of moisturizing though. Our feathers can get very dry and matted if we do not properly care for them, and the colors will start to dull.”
They reached the other penguins, and Twiggy noticed that they were all dancing. Their colors swirled and twirled together, creating quite a hypnotic effect.
“Is it a celebration?” Twiggy asked Prism. She smiled and nodded.
“Oh yes. Once Vibrance gave you the cleansing tea, a rainbow appeared in the sky. We celebrate rainbows here. Come! Dance with us now that you are all better!”
Twiggy let himself be led into the midst of the colorful dance, caught up in the kaleidoscope steps. He was so involved that he had lost all attention, just letting himself be carried by the dance, when Prism suddenly stopped and gasped loudly. He opened his eyes, questioning what was happening, when she broke into laughter and started hollering to everyone.
“Stop! Look! Look at Twiggy!” she said, laughing and clapping. Twiggy looked back around at his shell, and saw that his shell had been transformed into a gorgeous mural of reds, greens, blues and purples, all milling together like watercolor. He stood transfixed, a smile growing across his face as the rest of the penguins burst into applause, coming up to hug him. Then they all began dancing again, and his spirit was lifted into the sky, merging with the rainbow that shown brightly above them.
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