13 . THE OPENING

 And then the big day came. All penguins were washed clean and well in time at de Dierenhuis
It was already crowded. Everyone on the street was invited. They saw the club members of senior daycentre De Lauwerkrans, the young couple with their baby from the 1970s house and also the lady of het Kanthuisje. They had not met her yet.
They never went to het Kanthuisje. It was such an elegant place with all the beautiful laces. Very distinguished customers came in expensive cars to the shop. But the lady from the lace shop was really nice.
And so they were all waiting for what was to come.

The house was beautifully decorated, but the wait was very long. Fortunately, Melvin, the administrator of de Lauwerkrans, had set up chairs for the oldies.
The dachshund from the 70s house and the little one entertained everyone.
They ran after each other and between people. Everyone laughed at them. Until ... ... they finally heard the scooter of the lady of the ASC.

There she was. She had a kind of confused story about why she was so late, which no one understood.

 After a speech that fortunately did not last very long, she declared Het Dierenhuis open and the penguins were finally allowed to view their new home.
"Let's go and have a look," said the lady. "Follow me."

"I smell fish" cried the adolescent who was suddenly completely distracted. And the other penguins also wanted to go straight to that nice fishy smell. They had not eaten fish for so long. But no, that was not allowed. "We will first look at the house," said the lady, "that fish will come soon."  That was hard.

They thought it was a beautiful room. A nice smooth floor that you could slide on. Fun! And beautiful wallpaper in the colour of the South Pole. Also nice.
And meanwhile they were right above that wonderful fishy smell. It made them restless. Could they already leave?
"Joehoe, we are also coming to see", they heard from the stairs. More people came to see their house. Now of course they could not go to the fish for the time being.

The lady from the lace shop, Melvin of de Lauwerkrans and the young couple from the seventies house came up the stairs. It is a beautiful house, but very empty, they thought. But they didn't say that. Because the penguins came from a completely different culture and they might have wanted it that way.

 "Beware, the little one is almost falling," said the lady.

And then it got really pleasant. The penguins immediately flew to the fish and soon they had eaten everything. Luckily, a lady had brought de Lauwerkrans serving rollator with tasty wine and chocolates and biscuits. A real good party!

 A woman asked to the adolescent why he wore only 1 mitten. Adolescent told the story of his grandmother and the mitten he had lost in the sand. She was very sorry for him . Fortunately, she had a sticky candy in her bag. Adolescent accepted the candy and thanked politely. But he didn't put it in his mouth. She would not notice it, he thought, much too old.

"Why do you always wear that backpack," asked a lady. The serious penguin blushed and stuttered a bit: “I'm so used to that. Actually I dare not take it off because I will feel completely naked. ”

And so they all had something to chat. The widow went to an old gentleman from the Lauwerkrans. She thought he looked a little sad and wanted to cheer him up.
But the man was so startled that he almost slipped from his chair. He was not used to refugees.

And then the party was over. Everyone went home. The little flags were removed and the food cleared away.
The penguins noticed how tired they actually were.
They walked to their room and, out of habit, gathered together. That's how they always slept. Like at the South Pole. That way they protected each other and kept each other warm.

                                                       Good night.

That was a long chapter! You can read former posts by using the "blogarchief "on the right.
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