The neighbour had just popped in to visit his friend.
He had only just sat down when a bell sounded somewhere and he was left sipping his coffee while the man went to answer the phone. A minute or two later his friend’s daughter wandered into the room clutching a soft toy.
She seemed to be rather precocious as she came up to him holding it out to show him what it was.
“It’s a penguin,” he blurted.
She hugged it, saying, “Yes, he’s only a baby.”
He was feeling awkward. Now that his wife was gone and his children were living overseas, he had lost touch with the earlier generation. Nevertheless, he took a leap of faith.
“There’s a funny thing,” he began, “you’ll never guess what happened to me the other day when I was driving home.”
She cuddled her toy, saying, “What happened?
“Well now, just standing there in the middle of the road was a baby penguin!”
The girl’s eyes widened. “A real one?”
“Yes, a real one?”
“What did you do?”
“Ah! That’s the interesting thing, you see. The next day I took him to the zoo.”
The girl sat enthralled. He sat waiting for her to break the silence. She did. “What happened then, was everything alright?”
“Oh yes,” he replied, “it certainly was. He enjoyed it so much I’m taking him to the cinema next week!” He chuckled. She wasn’t laughing. “What do you think of that, eh?”
The girl looked perplexed. She said, “What about its mummy and daddy?”
He frowned, “What do you mean?”
“Where’s its mummy and daddy?” Her eyes began to water. “If it was only a baby and all alone, someone has to find its mummy and daddy.”
Just then he heard his friend hanging up.
“Yes, OK,” said the story-teller quickly. “I’ll do my best to find them.”
“That would be nice,” she said, wiping her eyes. “It must have its mummy and daddy,” she repeated softly as she wandered off.
The father came back, shaking his head. “Sorry about that. It’s supposed to be my day off! Trouble in the office; turns out it was only a misunderstanding. They can creep up on you, can’t they?”
The neighbour said under his breath, “They certainly can.”