“Umm, Foster, I think you’d better come over here and see this.”

Panda was looking at a news article on Mom’s laptop. I hadn’t been paying much attention, so I hopped up onto the desk to see what he was talking about.

“Oh, wow!” I said, reading the headline. A king penguin had been seen on a beach in Southern Australia, thousands of kilometers away from the South Pole! Panda and I looked at each other, knowing what this meant. “We’d better go to Australia!” we exclaimed in unison.

We decided to get up on the bed to discuss our trip. “It has to be them,” Panda said. “Who else could it be?” I agreed. The only penguins who would be anywhere that far from the South Pole were our friends, whom we had originally met on our trip to the Swiss Alps.

“They must have gotten off track again on their way to the South Pole,” Panda continued. “Or else they’re on another undercover assignment like they were when we went to Tokyo.” I nodded. “Yeah, that was an amazing trip. Hey, is that a new shirt? And is that koala bear on it?”

“Yes to both,” Panda replied. “But for your information, koalas are not bears. But pandas are, even though scientists used to think we weren’t.” I was stunned. “Really?” I asked incredulously. “How do you know this stuff?”

Panda turned around to show me the back of his new shirt. “Well, for one thing, I am a panda,” he replied. “I should think I would know if I were a bear or not. And Mom told me about koalas. They are actually marsupials. And they just happen to live in Australia. Maybe we’ll see some when we go there.”

“Hmm. You learn something new every day,” I replied. Then, seeing Mom’s iPad nearby I added, “Let’s take another look at that article.” We studied the photo intently, and then Panda broke the silence. “It has to be them,” he said. “And the sooner we get there, the better!”

After weighing the pros and cons of our different travel devices, we decided to take the trampoline. After all, it wasn’t like Mom ever used it, so we doubted she would notice if it was missing. It took us awhile to get there, but finally we arrived at one of Australia’s modern airports.

We landed right next to a sign we had never seen before. “No vehicles beyond this point without A.T.C. clearance,” Panda read aloud. “Uh-oh,” I said, “maybe we should move the trampoline back a little bit.”

It took us awhile, but we finally got our trampoline behind the sign. “That should be good,” Panda said with an air of satisfaction. “Now let’s go!”

As usual after a long trip, we were pretty hungry. Our first stop was a restaurant where we had a delicious snack of authentic Australian food.

We were enjoying a nice latte after lunch when we were startled to hear someone call our names!

“Hey Foster and Panda! Is that you? When did you get here? Did you come to find the penguins?” Imagine our surprise when we saw our hamster friend from Bariloche, Argentina on the table next to us! “So you saw the article too?” we asked in unison. The hamster nodded gravely. “Yes, it was in the Bariloche papers. I came as soon as I could.”

Our friend got us caught up on the latest news as we wandered through the farmers’ market after finishing our coffee. “As soon as I saw the story, I knew it was them,” he said as he jumped up to sample some delicious carrots. “Who else could it be?” We agreed heartily. All of us knew that, while they’d been trying to get back home to the South Pole since we met them in the Swiss Alps, they kept either getting lost or being called to undercover cases by the police. So far we had run into them in Yosemite, at the San Diego Zoo, Tokyo, Cayucos, California and Argentina.

“Are they still in the witness protection program?” I asked, remembering how the penguins had gone incognito in Tokyo. “They might be a little hard to find if they’re in disguise.”

“That’s true,” the hamster agreed, jumping up to get a better look at the zucchini squash. “We’ll have to remember that when we’re looking for them.” Panda jumped up to examine the onions. “Panda!” I admonished. “Get out of there. You’re going to get in trouble!” Panda complied, albeit somewhat reluctantly. It was time to go look for the penguins, anyway.

When we first arrived in Australia, we had considered renting a jeep, since Panda still had his jeep driver’s license from Basic Training. But when we saw the signs about driving on the opposite side of the road, we decided that would be too confusing. Now, as we prepared to search for the penguins, we decided to take the bus.

“This was a good idea,” the hamster said as we took our spots on the bus stop bench. “I wouldn’t want to try driving here either, and I didn’t bring enough money for a taxi.” We were about to agree when we heard an unfamiliar voice say, “If you get a yearly bus pass, it’s a lot cheaper.” We all looked to the end of the bench at our new acquaintance. “Umm,” Panda began, “not to be rude, but are you a real koala?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am,” replied our new friend. “I heard you say something about looking for penguins. Don’t they live at the South Pole?” Just then the bus pulled up. “Well, they’re supposed to,” I replied. “But our penguin friends have a way of turning up everywhere, and now we have reason to believe they’re here in Australia.”

“Wow!” the koala exclaimed. “Are they the ones that were in the newspaper awhile back? Can I help you look for them?” We answered both questions in the affirmative. “We’d be glad to have your help,” the hamster said as we boarded the bus. “The more of us there are, the better chance we’ll have of finding them.”

When the bus stopped, we got out and tried to blend in with the crowd. We decided to split up and begin our search. “We’ll meet back here in two hours,” the hamster instructed. “Does everyone have their phones?” We did, and we made sure the time was correct on all of them before we went our separate ways.

Panda and I hadn’t gone very far before we came to a large park. We stopped for a moment to watch some kangaroos that looked like they were dancing. When they noticed that we were watching, they stopped and came over to talk to us. “We kangaroos like to dance to show off our strength,” they explained in answer to our questions. “But who are you and what are you doing here?”

We introduced ourselves and explained our mission. “Penguins?” one of the kangaroos said curiously. “Never heard of them. Don’t even know what they look like. But if we see any, we’ll give you a call.” We thanked them and gave them our cell numbers before continuing on our way.

The hamster told us later that he had seen a koala in a tree and had climbed up to talk to it. “I’m looking for some penguins,” he said by way of introduction. “Have you seen any?” The koala looked at him curiously as he described our friends. “No, I haven’t,” it replied. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that there aren’t any penguins in Australia, but here on the mainland, we don’t have the kind you’re describing. But if you don’t mind my asking, what exactly are you?”

“I’m a hamster,” our friend replied as the koala picked him up with its back paw to get a closer look. “I’ve never seen a hamster before,” the koala said, sniffing him with interest. “Would you like some delicious eucalyptus leaves?” The hamster told us he had been a little bit scared, but he replied calmly, “Umm, no thank you. But do you think you could put me down now?” The koala complied, and our friend was soon on his way again.

After talking to the kangaroos, Panda and I came upon a koala ourselves. He looked at us quizzically when we mentioned our penguin friends. “You’re the second ones who have asked me about penguins today,” he remarked. “The first one said he was a hamster, and you look like a cat and a . . . panda?” We nodded politely. “Yes, that was our friend,” I replied, explaining why we wanted to find the penguins. The koala nodded, then examined us for a minute. “Nice shirt,” he said to Panda. “Is that a real sock?”

After we left the koala, we found an animal we had never seen before. “Me? I’m a quokka,” our new friend said in response to our questions. “We quokkas are considered the happiest animals in the world.” Panda and I nodded appreciatively. “That’s amazing,” I said sincerely. “You do look pretty happy. Have you seen any penguins lately?” The quokka thought for a minute. “Penguins. . . are they black and white and they walk kind of funny?” We nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! Have you seen them?” we asked eagerly. The quokka looked thoughtful. “I think I might have,” he replied slowly. “I saw them get off the bus in front of the park earlier today.”

Panda and I looked at each other, incredulous, thinking back to when we got off the bus. “I didn’t see them,” Panda said. “Did you?” I shook my head. “But then, we already knew they could have been in disguise. Let’s go find the hamster and the koala and tell them!”

Meanwhile, our hamster friend had continued through the park until he came across some birds in a hollow tree. “Excuse me?” he ventured timidly. “I was wondering if you had seen any penguins lately? They could be in disguise.” The birds squawked excitedly. “Penguins?” they asked. “What are penguins? What do they look like? And why are you looking for them? Why are they in disguise? Are they wanted for something? Escaped criminals, maybe?” The hamster was startled by their response. “Goodness, no!” he exclaimed. “These penguins are law abiding citizens. In fact, they often work undercover for the police. They have solved several crimes just since I’ve known them.”

Just then a colorful bird from a nearby tree interrupted the conversation. “Wait a minute!” the bird squawked. “Did you say they were in disguise? What about those guys who came here earlier asking if we had any fish to spare? The ones who said they were from the witness protection program? Isn’t that one of them in your tree right now?”

At that moment, to the hamster’s surprise and delight, a penguin with a straw hat on appeared from behind the tree branch. “Where have you been?” the hamster asked joyfully, jumping over to the branch. “We’ve been looking for you guys everywhere! Foster and Panda were getting really worried!”

As soon as the hamster called to tell us he had found the penguins, we all met up in the center of the park. We were happy to see our friends, and we wanted to hear all about how they had gotten to mainland Australia. The penguins explained that they had almost made it home to the South Pole when they had run into some penguins who said they were going to Australia.

“They said it wasn’t that far out of the way,” our friends told us, “and that it would be much warmer here than in Antarctica. So we decided to take them up on it.” But somehow, as they were swimming toward Australia. they got separated from the others. “The next thing we knew, we were on the beach and there were news reporters taking pictures of us!” Since then, they had been trying to find their way back home. “We’ll help you!” we exclaimed in unison.

After having a delicious snack and some coffee, we decided to do some sightseeing while we figured out how to get the penguins home. We took a cruise around the bay, which was very refreshing. Unbeknownst to us, the same boat was leaving for Antarctica later in the day! The penguins had enough money to get a ticket, so after our tour, they continued on their way. “Don’t get lost again!” we admonished as we waved goodbye. Then we decided it was time for us to head home, too.

We said goodbye to the hamster and started for the airport where we had left our trampoline. We were surprised to see that the road was closed, but since we could fit under the sign, we kept walking. Unbeknownst to us, we were in for a surprise.

The trampoline was gone!

(To be continued. . .)

Author’s note: The background photos for this story are from Unsplash.com, a royalty-free photography site.