Anyone Know Where I Can Buy a Live Penguin?

Matthew has announced that he wants a new pet. A tiny penguin. A real one. I've tried to explain to him that we can't support a penguin -- Mama doesn't want to buy that much raw fish and ice. Plus -- I'm not sure -- but I think that the black market price for a penguin is way over the $22.74 I have in savings.

So I suggested that we "adopt" a penguin at the zoo. We've already adopted a puffin and the puffins and penguins live together in the same exhibit, so they can visit each other all the time. Brandon's immediate response to Matthew was, "Adopting a zoo animal is a rip off. You don't actually get to play with it. You only get a little picture of it. If I wanted that, I could print one off the internet." Not wanting to quash the spirit of the animal adoption, I launched into explaining how we were supporting wild life, and giving the puffin a good home, with plenty of puffin chow and paying people to take care of the puffin. Matthew's response was, "We can get ice."

I'm afraid Matthew is going to be disappointed that we won't get him a real penguin, but sometimes a parent just has to draw the line at having wild animals in the house. Children are enough work.