Putting Away Childish Things

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Penguin ruled from his shelf, way up high where no one could reach him. He had ruled since the day he'd been placed on his perch. He was shiny and glazy and never dusty, with big eyes and little wings which were folded over his tummy. And he was an expert reader of the New Cadet's Orientation Manual.

After Alligator fled, he opened it to a page he knew well, and started reading.

The naïve preach of a world in which the concepts of good and evil have been rendered obsolete.

Everyone looked up at him.

"There will be no parade," he said, finally. "Because of this evil attack, we'll have to have a war."

No one argued. Penguin immediately began to build an Anti-Alligator Army.

First, he ordered construction of an attack fighter fleet. His fighters were simple ships; two eight-pip legos laid in a T-shape, then capped with a four-pip square. Five squadrons were made, identified by the color of their capbrick. White squadron, blue squadron, red squadron, black squadron, yellow squadron.

To keep work running quickly, Porcelain Penguin occasionally read relevant passages from the Orientation Manual:

Teamwork is represented by the bridge on the Stanley crest. The team player will be valued both professionally and personally.

The fighters were laid out in neat rows inside a tinkertoy hangar. Around the hangar, a big circle of assorted figures—firemen, bakers, motorcycle riders, and musketeers—had been arranged. They were serving as guards, in case Alligator tried attacking right away.

The construction was a long job, requiring much rooting around for spare components, and it was not done until nearly lights-out. Penguin knew that this was when Alligator came out for his swims, so he called for SAM, the Sea-Action Man.

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