The Pearnguin.

All my life I've wanted to meet a pearnguin but I wasn't even sure they existed. Like, a mermaid. Or a wolfman.

One day last week I went shopping and there he was. Just like that, I find a pearnguin.

Hands shaking, I gently lifted him up and paid the fifty cents. (I don't know how I knew he was a he, I just did.) And rushed home.

"Hon! I FOUND A PEARNGUIN!"

"The fuck's a pearnguin?"

I showed him, and he smiled. The pearnguin needed some time to be coaxed out. I let him sit for a few days, until I bought the right size black marker for Dave to coax him out.

Pardon? You've never seen a pearnguin either? Here he is.

See him in there? Did you know there's always things in things?

His eyebrows could now raise. He was smiling. His wings were long and thick. The boys loved him so much, I had to save Mr Pearnguin twice from being eaten.

I knew he couldn't stay forever. Nothing can. And I could tell straight away he was as melancholic, as deep-thinking as me. That's going to get him into some trouble.

It was time. We didn't say goodbye, and I just watched as he jumped down from the table, rolled down the back garden stairs, and waddled off without looking back. Searching for his kind.

We all gotta search for something.