Write or Die - January and February

For January, our writing group picked "Winter/finish an unfinished story" as our prompt...and I neither finished a story or wrote something new about winter. 😐 February's topic was Love, so I wanted to incorporate winter if possible...including snow counts, right?...to have a 2-for1 story. 

I ran across a photo that inspired this (very, very) short story, which I included below. I'd definitely suggest reading the story first before checking out the photo and details about it. 

Winter of romance 

She sighed quietly, looking out over the bay. How many times had they sat there on a night such as this, enjoying the view and each other's company? She listened to the water lap gently against the beach, tiny droplets splashing up and melting the snow that dusted the sand. The stars twinkled almost as brightly as the lights of the city on the opposite shore, giving the night a festive air. 

This has been their spot and it evoked a tumbled combination of comforting familiarity and heartbreaking loneliness. Their home was close by, which made it easy to wander over to the promontory most evenings. The salty smell from the ocean brought to mind their meals eaten outdoors and the lull of the waves being the last sound they heard before falling asleep. She hadn’t expected to continue these traditions in her twilight years without him by her side.

Just as she was about to stand up and waddle home, she heard the sound of gravel falling and someone scrambling over rocks up onto the bluff. Her heart warmed as a friend popped into view. He’d recently lost his partner as well and was welcome company on this cold evening. She bowed her silver crested head at him as he settled beside her, making room for him on her rock. She accepted his friendly side hug, appreciating his presence as he too took a moment to miss his mate. They sat with each other in silence for a while, each lost in their thoughts. 

As evening turned into night, they rose to head back to their burrows, their flippers slipping as they stumbled back over the rocks and down toward the shore. Their swat bodies looked quite formal as the fairy penguins bowed to each other as they parted, renewing their unspoken pact to meet again to mourn and remember together.

I'm putting some space in to hopefully keep you from seeing the photo before reading the story. 

Have you read it? If not, stop scrolling until you finish! 😊

“The year 2020 has produced many poignant and powerful photographs.

But a shot of two widowed penguins appearing to comfort one another in Australia has been picked out as one of the winners in Oceanographic magazine's Ocean Photography Awards.

The photo was taken by Tobias Baumgaertner in Melbourne.

He was told that the two penguins had recently lost their partners and often appeared to be comforting each other.

The German photographer won the magazine's Community Choice Award.

"A volunteer approached me and told me that the white one was an elderly lady who had lost her partner and apparently so did the younger male to the left," Mr Baumgaertner wrote on Instagram.

"Since then they meet regularly, comforting each other and standing together for hours watching the dancing lights of the nearby city."

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-55416365

~ Katie Q. 🐧