Awkward Penguin Encounter

I looked down at the penguin at my feet. It was cute, anyone that didn’t think it was cute would obviously be a psychopath. However, I didn’t think it was any cuter than the baby bunnies that sat under my backstep in the evenings. I looked over at my husband to see if he was enjoying himself. He had his phone out filming the penguins. He began sending pictures to his coworkers. This was what he wanted. This penguin encounter had cost me about a days' worth of work. It was awkward. The room smelled of fish. A girl a little older than me looked at us almost hauntingly standing on the other side of the room. She was a zookeeper person or at least a penguin encounter worker. Either way, she was very possessive of the penguins. I didn’t blame but it should have been called the “awkward penguin encounter”. I looked out the window and watched as a child pressed their smudgy fingers into the cool glass watching me. He had enthusiasm I wished I possessed about the smelly birds. I looked at my husband resending the pictures to more people. I looked up at the zoo keeper.

“If I leave can that little boy come in here?” I ask the awkward encounter girl I named her in my head.

She looks at me personally insulted and so does my husband. It was as if I had stood up and yelled "screw your stupid penguin's lady' and then turned to my husband and told him I was sleeping with his best friend. Which I wasn’t.

"You still have 15 minutes of your time. Don’t you want to enjoy the penguins for 15 more minutes?” She said almost like I was stupid.

My Husband looks at me confused. “Aren’t the penguins your favorite part of the Aquarium?”

“Yes, I was just saying that it would probably make that little boy's week if he got to pet a penguin today… Plus I think we got enough pictures anyway.” I say

He stood up. “Well if you're done I guess we can leave. This was our anniversary gift but if you wanted to just give it up because you are bored....” He trails off.

“No, if you are enjoying yourself let's stay,” I say manically.

The timer beeps to let us know we have 10 minutes left. The penguins pic and poke at the fish I held in my gloved hands. This was a striking resemblance to feeding lettuce to a flock of chickens except for the fact that feeding chickens are free.

“Alright, we can leave,” He said as he lumbered out of his chair.

“Do you want to give your time to that family?” She asked

“Yeah, I’ll tell them,” He said

“Let's just leave and let the penguin people tell them” I laughed nervously

“I don’t want them to feel bad or something like that." I state a little frantically

Well, I paid for it so I’m gonna tell them I’m giving it to them” He throws off his gloves and walks out the door.

I watch as he points at the enclosure and explains. I feel kind of mortified. The woman walks in with her little boy and thanking my husband over and over. I take off my gloves and exit the small glass room. I was mortified. I didn’t want to have a big “Thank you, Thank you, party” I just wanted to leave. I was done feeding the smelly sea chickens.

My husband finally came out. “Everybody at work loves the penguins,” He said excitedly

He continued texting while we walked into the small amphitheater with the penguin enclosure at the center.

“Why would you want to just watch the penguins when you could be petting them right now?” He asked

The penguins were my favorite exhibit at the Aquariums we had visited. They were probably my favorite at the zoos as well. We had been to 4 Aquariums since March. This one was probably my favorite.

“I just like watching them. It kind of looks like where they would live naturally you know?” I say

“I don’t understand” He mumbles

“Like, I think they are happy,” I state again

“You know penguins mate for life. Like me and you,” He says

“I don’t think all penguins do that, and even the ones that don’t spend a lot of time together,” I say

I look over and he's texting someone and smiling. “What,” He asks

“Nothing” I mutter

“Hey, I was thinking we could go to a nice restaurant after this maybe for our anniversary?” I ask

He rubs his knee. I dunno. I kind of just want to sit and watch tv tonight maybe get take out?” He says

“Yeah but it's our anniversary. I think it would be fun to get a nice dinner since we are out of town.” I say in a pleading way

“Okay, but I’m not dressing up.” He says

I look at him in his bright blue “I petted a penguin today shirt” and evaluated how much I wanted to go out vs. how much I wanted to be embarrassed by him.

“I guess take out would be nice,” I say

4 years later I set in my studio apartment with my best friend and her boyfriend.

“When I get married I want to have dark green dresses for the bridesmaids.” She says

“Already wedding planning you two” I ask

Her boyfriend takes a drag off his vape pen and blows it into the air and smiles machiavously at me like a little brother would.

“I told you to do that outside!” I said but it was hard to get mad at him.

“At my wedding I didn’t have a maid of honor or anything,” I say

They both look at me surprised. “You were married,” She asks

“Yeah, if you can believe it, I was with him for 4 years.”

She shook her head. “I can’t believe you're just mentioning this. Like what?”

“I don’t know it’s just not who I am anymore. I don’t like to think about it.” I say as I strain my pasta over the sink

Her boyfriend looked down at his phone. “Hey, it's half-price at the Aquarium this Saturday! You guys want to go?” He asks

“Nah, I’m good I’m going to try that new sushi place this Saturday,” I say

“Oh come on, I don’t want you to spend Saturday alone” She begs

“Nah, I think I’m good” I say.