Our Iceberg Is Melting by Kotter John P. & Rathgeber Holger

Author:Kotter, John P. & Rathgeber, Holger [Kotter, John P.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-01-04T16:00:00+00:00

Good News, Bad News

Thirty to forty birds began to work in small groups to plan for the selection of scouts, the mapping of trips to find new icebergs, and the logistics of moving the colony. Louis was cautiously optimistic, not least because so many of the birds were actively, enthusiastically helping with the work.

Over the next week, there was both good news and bad.

Good: Although some birds were still anxious, an optimistic energy among the core group of planners continued to grow and grow.

Mostly Good: Nearly two dozen birds expressed interest in being scouts—the job of looking for a new home for the colony. Unfortunately, at least at first, the group was mostly made up of adolescents who showed less concern for finding a new iceberg than for putting more excitement into lives that lacked video games and Nikes.

Not So Good: NoNo and a few of his friends seemed to be everywhere forecasting storms and dangerous currents. Many penguins ignored them, but far from all. Some mid-level birds, with much of the responsibility of making the colony function on a daily basis, often at least listened when NoNo screamed, “This nonsense is creating chaos!”

Mysterious: A few of the very young penguins started having scary dreams. When Alice looked into the problem, she found that the kindergarten teacher had developed an affinity for telling the children horror stories about ghastly killer whales hunting young penguins. The nightmares caused much uproar among the parents, including some who had volunteered to become scouts. Why was the good-natured teacher creating this problem?

Not Mysterious at All, but Certainly Not Helpful: Some members of the Leadership Council thought the scouts would need a boss. When they began to lobby for the role of Head of the Scouts, irritating conflict among the Council members grew.

And finally, there was . . .

Very Troubling News: Penguins need a lot of food to build up fat for the winter. Someone pointed out that the difficult task of exploring the vast territory around the iceberg would leave the scouts with insufficient time to fish. This problem was made much worse because of a long-standing tradition in the colony that birds shared their food with their children, and only with their children. No adults caught fish for other adults. It simply was not done.

The effect of the good news at first outweighed the bad. But then NoNo’s antics, anxious children, anxiety among the parents of anxious children, infighting in the Leadership Council, the raised eyebrows of some mid-level penguins, and the feeding-the-scouts problem began to take their toll.

NoNo and a few of his friends saw the obstacles and were encouraged. Maybe if they worked a little harder . . .

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