Beat The Clock.

September 23 - Penguin

The clock on the nightstand blinked 4:52 in the morning. The damn thing never seemed work right, even after I'd left for a year to work in the Antarctica. Somewhere in the back on my mind, after months and months of the cold, I had hoped the clock would stay exactly the same. A little piece of reality, you know? Yet, know that I'm back home, its just another reminder of my missing of the most desolate places in the world.

I switch over to my right side, bringing the rest of the sheets with me. Maybe in this position I'll be closer to sleep than I was an hour or so ago. Its hard to sleep on such blissfully soft mattress when I'd had grown so use to a worn-out sleeping bag and cement floor for support. My bed now was simply was too soft. Who would ever this there was such a thing.

Once I came home from my exploration, I took nothing back but my cameras, my films, and the memories of being out there on the crystal-like frozen waters and pristine snow. I felt like I shouldn't have been there, tainting one of Mother Nature's true treasures by my film crew's presence. Luckily, the harsh chilling winds, we were able to capture the brilliant majesty of the place. Even go a candid portrait of my best friend.

The pure air and untouched snows haunt me like the kiss of a long lost lover. I would give anything to go back and feel that alive again. And as I look at my best friend's portrait hanging on my wall, the high-definition printing bringing our the deep black of his suit and the white of stomach, I can hear his bleating-like voice in my ear; its comforting, bringing the ice wilderness back to me in a flash

Suddenly, I feel my eyelids droop. Marlowe the Emperor Penguin, I think, will possibly be the last thing I see for the night. I smile sleepily and ask him to watch over me while I dream. Silence greets me, but I do I expect from an Emperor?