The Prettiest Walrus

            by Sophie Meryash

 

There once was a colony of walruses that lived in Northern Antarctica. This colony was fairly normal. They ate clams and took daily swims in the cold Arctic sea. But they had one distinct feature, for in there colony was a small walrus named Petunia who loved to paint herself bright red. All the other walruses were ashamed of Petunia; they teased her and called her names. “Not so pretty Petunia”, “poor little Petunia”, “far from perfect Petunia”. But Petunia didn’t care at all. In fact she loved one of the names the colony had made for her, “peculiar Petunia”. She smiled at the thought of being peculiar. She painted herself bright red not because she loved the color, but because she enjoyed being different. All the other walruses were a plain brown. They all looked the same she thought. Painting herself red made her different, and she loved being different, she loved being “peculiar Petunia”.

 

                                     

 

 Every morning when the sun rose, making the ocean glow with light, little Petunia coated herself with the bright red paint that made her special. As the other walruses arose from their deep sleep peculiar Petunia would already be done painting. She ate with the other walruses and swam along side them, but everyone knew she did not fit in. She was alone in her peculiarity.

 

                                     

 

 One day as Petunia coated herself with the bright red paint that she so dearly loved a little walrus from the colony approached her.

“Why do you paint yourself with that ugly red color?” The little walrus asked.

Petunia smiled and replied. “It makes me happy to be different, painting myself this color is a way to make me oh so peculiar, the way I like to be.”

“Do you think my pretty brown fur is plain? Why don’t you just give up this nonsense? All you do is get teased, I can’t see how being such an odd color is worth it to you.”

“I don’t think that our fur is ugly, but it just doesn’t fit me. The entire world can point and laugh at me, but just as long as I know I am different I’ll be happy. I don’t want to be like everyone else, sure it’s easy, but where’s the fun in that?”

The little walrus looked up at Petunia and sighed. “I guess you’ll never change.”

          Petunia did not mind their disapproval and as the little walrus retreated back to his little walrus friends’ petunia smirked at her special paint.

 

                                    

 

But the other walruses did not see her paint as special; they saw it as an embarrassment to the colony. And as the sun set and the sky turned dark all the walruses got together for a secret meeting, all but one. Petunia soundly slept as the walrus colony devised a plan to get rid of Petunia’s peculiar paint. After the meeting a few of the walruses quietly crept towards soundly sleeping Petunia. As they approached her one of the walruses pulled out a can of brown paint. However, this paint was not ordinary paint, it was a special paint that could not be washed or painted over. They covered Petunia with the brown color until there was no red showing. She finally looked like the rest of the colony. The walruses retreated to there beds and fell asleep, happy with Petunia’s new color.

 

                                     

 

The next morning when the sun rose and the ocean glowed, Petunia awoke to paint herself red and go about her day as usual. But when she opened her eyes she was stunned to see that her color was no longer a beautiful red, it was now the same plain brown as all the other walruses. Petunia frantically tried to wash of the paint, and when that didn’t work she attempted to paint over it. But because this paint was so special it stayed on her, and Petunia was left plain brown.

“Please let me be unusual again”, she pleaded. “I don’t want to be plain brown.” But nothing changed, Petunia remained the same.

One day passed, then another, and another, and Petunia was still brown. Her salty tears did nothing to the paint; it remained the same old brown as when it had been painted on. The colony went about their business as usual, happy to see that they no longer had such a peculiar member. But Petunia did not dive for clams or go for swims. She just lay around on the brown rocks into which she blended, and cried.

 

                            

 

One day when the sun was blazing hot, all the walruses dove into the water for a swim. As they swam in the cold Arctic, a special type of algae began to float around the sea. The water changed colors, first to a light pink and then to a dark red. Horrified, the colony jumped out of the sea. They were all the color of bright red apples. They tried to paint themselves brown, but because the algae had turned the sea a special color, the color could not be washed off or painted over. All the walruses were bright red, all except Petunia. And again Petunia was not like the other walruses; she was peculiar, just as she liked it.