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Susie Smith's Children's Stories

Barkley's Christmas Rescue

This story was published in the December,2005 issue of "Holiday Crafts 4 Kids", which also runs "Fandangle Magazine." They are wonderful, free online magazines for children. You can find them in my Links section.

    Barkley was a young Adelie Penguin. He lived in a large colony in Antarctica. Barkley loved to swim and sled down snowy hills on his belly. Sometimes he liked to go exploring alone. With thousands of penguins around all the time, he needed quiet time by himself.

   One day, Barkley wandered too far. He was having so much fun sledding, he didn’t realize how far he had gone. When he started getting hungry, he decided to head home. But which way was home?

   Barkley looked around for a sign of where he had come from, but there were so many hills that he had slid down, he couldn’t tell.

   He was scared and lonely. He really missed his family. Not knowing what else to do, he sat down in a snow drift hoping someone would come looking for him. It was getting dark. Soon Barkley was fast asleep.

   He was awakened by a voice. “Hello, little one. What are you doing out here all alone?”

   Barkley looked up to find a big human in a red suit. “Who are you?”

    “I’m Santa Claus. I was flying over when I spotted you and thought you might need help.”

    “I was playing and got lost. I can’t find my way home.”

    “I might be able to help with that. I saw your family not far from here. I’ll take you home.”

    Santa gave Barkley a ride on his sleigh. His family was very glad to see him. After that day, Barkley never wandered away from his family again.


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