Captain Penguin Flies Again

I have not written in a while....too much school work. I do have a story that Jack wrote back in 5th grade ....good stuff....it was for his History class

Jack Murphy

Social Studies

Block II

September 15, 2006

Captain Penguin Flies Again!

 Beep! Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Went the alarm.

 “Trouble.” thought Captain Penguin. He then ran over to where the alarm was. Turned on the screen on to see where the crime was. “Somewhere in Nevada.” said Captain Penguin.

“Actually it’s the Great Basin sir.” said a voice. 

“Jerkins! It’s you!” startled Captain Penguin (Jerkins was Captain Penguin’s Butler.)

“What’s a basin?” asked Captain Penguin.

“A basin” started Jerkins “Is a low region surrounded by higher lands.”

“Thanks” echoed Captain Penguin’s voice as he ran out the door he then hopped into his helicopter and took off. Jerkins face appeared on part of the helicopter. 

“I hope you know your geography!” taunted Jerkins.

“I do to!” squawked Captain Penguin.

“Ok then what is it?” smirked Jerkins

“It’s. A … it’s … Um” stuttered Captain Penguin “It’s the study of the way people live and use the earth.” said Jerkins in a singsong voice.

“Yeah whatever.” said Captain Penguin “What am I supposed to use geography for anyway?” asked Captain Penguin.

“This villain is an odd one,” said Jerkins “He is part chameleon.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Captain Penguin.

 “I mean that he can blend in with his surroundings.” said Jerkins.

Captain Penguin then started the helicopter and took off. After a while Captain Penguin noticed something strange. There were big bumps along the surface of the earth. Glob monsters thought Captain Penguin. He then put the helicopter in attack position and then aimed at the nearest glob.

“Bombs away!” shouted Captain Penguin and was about to press the trigger when.

“No Captain Penguin don’t do it!” shouted Jerkins

“Why their evil globs!?” asked Captain Penguin “No. No they’re landforms!” laughed Jerkins

“So?” asked Captain Penguin.

 “You don’t know what landforms are do you?” asked Jerkins. 

“Maybe.” said Captain Penguin.

“Ok” began Jerkins “Landforms are shapes on the earth surface.”

“Oooooh” said Captain Penguin. After a while Captain Penguin got bored. “Are we there yet?” asked Captain Penguin

“Why you’re the pilot?” said Jerkins

“Yeah but I’m bored.” said Captain Penguin. 

“Yeah but you’re the pilot you should know how long the trip is.”

“Yeah but I’m bored.” said Captain Penguin.

This went on for an hour until they finally stopped. Then Captain Penguin realized something. A person was moving along the flat surface. Then suddenly the person disappeared then reappeared in a different place. “Jerkins” shouted Captain Penguin. “I see the villain and he is running on a flat thingy!” 

“That is a plain.” said Jerkins

“I know I know!” shouted Captain Penguin. “You probably don’t know so I’ll tell you. A plain is a large area of flat land.”

“Exactly what I was going to say.” said Captain Penguin.

After crossing the central plains, and following the villain along the way, our hero soon came upon another strange thing. A small river flowing then joined to a bigger river and many other rivers connecting to the big river.

Our hero watched this, transfixed in childlike wonder at the bright blue rivers. “Those are tributaries sir.” said Jerkins. “Tribe u tarties huh.” thought Captain Penguin. “I’ll get my rifle I know how to deal with Indians.” said the Captain. Then reached out to part off the helicopter and grabbed a shotgun. Then this childish penguin switched the helicopter to auto pilot. Then leaned out the helicopter and scanned the surface for Indians.

PLEASE DON’T BLAME HIM HE IS ONLY A PENGUIN!

“Captain Penguin what do you think you are doing!!!!” shouted Jerkins.

Before Captain Penguin could answer something interrupted him.

“Helping me win of course!” snarled a voice. Just then something appeared inside the helicopter. “The villain!” shouted Captain Penguin.

“Lucky guess.” said the villain. If you want to know the truth this villain was an ugly one. Half of his face was part chameleon and the other half was part human. He had a chameleon’s tail too. “That’s all folks.” said the villain. Then he busted the controls. After that he jumped out the helicopter and pulled his parachute string. Then the helicopter fell out the air and into the river.

But Captain Penguin was prepared for this.  He pressed a button and inflated a raft around the helicopter landing safely in the river. “Now that we are safe Jerkin’s tell me what a tributary is.”

Jerkins replied, “A tributary is a stream or river that flows into a larger river.” 

They flowed down the Ohio River into the Mississippi River into Arkansas River. On the way Captain Penguin fixed the controls and they took off again over the Ozark Plateau and then the Great Plains towards the Rocky Mountains. He changed the helicopter to a higher altitude and said, “What are these huge rocks? They look like gum drops. Is that sugar on the top?”

“No Captain Penguin, it’s a mountain range, which is a series of many mountains”

“It still looks like gumdrops to me.” whispered Captain Penguin.

After crossing the Rocky Mountains, Captain Penguin spotted the villain. “There he is on that flat surface!” The villain then saw them and disappeared.

“Actually Captain Penguin, It’s a plateau, a flat surface that is higher than the surrounding land. It’s the Colorado Plateau.”

But Captain Penguin didn’t hear the Colorado Plateau part and landed the helicopter on the plateau. Then he rushed out of the helicopter with a flag with a penguin on it and drove the flag into the center of the plateau. He shouted, “I call this plateau The Plateau Penguin.” He then took out a sticky note wrote on it and placed it on the flag. It said, “One small step for a penguin, One giant leap for Penguin-kind”

Jerkins said, “You can’t call it Plateau Penguin.”

“That’s unfair Jerkins, I named it before you did.” exclaimed Captain Penguin.

“No!” said Jerkins, “Someone named it before you did. It’s the Colorado Plateau!”

“Why must you ruin my fun Jerkins.” sighed Captain Penguin. “Oh well, I have a villain to catch!”  He then saw the villain running toward the Grand Canyon and followed in the helicopter.

The villain began climbing into the canyon as fast as he could. Since he was part chameleon, this was quite easy. He hopped into a small boat when he got to the bottom of the canyon.

“Gee what a big ditch.” said Captain Penguin. “It must have taken a group of kids their whole summer vacation to dig that!”

“No!” said Jerkins impatiently. “It’s the Grand Canyon. A canyon is a deep valley with steep sides.”

“Tell me about it.” sighed Captain Penguin. He then pressed a button that released a huge butterfly net, hanging from one side of the helicopter. “I’m gonna catch me a lizard!” shouted Captain Penguin. “YEE-HAA!!!” He then flew the helicopter into the canyon. 

Meanwhile, the villain turned on the motor to his boat and sped off.

Captain Penguin glared at him. “He thinks he is so smart with that little motor. Let’s see what he thinks about this!” He pressed another button in the helicopter and turbine engine accelerated the helicopter toward the villain. He maneuvered the helicopter to capture the villain. “Uh oh!” exclaimed Captain Penguin “I wouldn’t want that to happen.” as he stared at the speed boat motor. He pulled out his shot gun and fired at the motor. BANG!!!! He demolished the motor in a single shot! “They don’t call me dead eye penguin for nothing!!!” He scooped up the villain with his net and carried him off. 

They headed off to jail and on the way Captain Penguin asked the villain a question.  “How come you left Nevada?”

The villain answered, “You took too long. I grew impatient waiting for you. So I came to get you to destroy you!”

“Ha!” said Captain Penguin. “I’m lucky we caught you sooner, because I would have found something on the landscape that I didn’t know and Jerkins would have to explain it to me and make me look like an idiot.”

Jerkins replied, “Never an idiot sir, just misinformed. I hope you are ready for the test you are going to get when we get back.”

“Thanks.” said Captain Penguin sarcastically. “I always could rely on you.”

THE END