Mr. Popper's Penguins Read Free Page A

train him,” said Mrs. Popper. “Bad, naughty Captain,” she said to the penguin in a loud voice. “Bad, to eat the goldfish.” And she spanked him on his round black head.
    Before she could do that again, Captain Cook hastily waddled out to the kitchen.
    There the Poppers found him trying to hide in the still opened refrigerator. He was squatting under the ice-cube coils, under which he could barely squeeze, sitting down. His round, white-circled eyes looked out at them mysteriously from the dimness of the inside of the box.
    “I think that’s about the right temperature for him, at that,” said Mr. Popper. “We could let him sleep there, at night.”
    “But where will I put the food?” asked Mrs. Popper.
    “Oh, I guess we can get another icebox for the food,” said Mr. Popper.
    “Look,” said Janie. “He’s gone to sleep.”
    Mr. Popper turned the cold control switch to its coldest so that Captain Cook could sleep more comfortably. Then he left the door ajar so that the penguin would have plenty of fresh air to breathe.
    “Tomorrow I will have the icebox service department send a man out to bore some holes in the door, for air,” he said, “and then he can put a handle on the inside of the door so that Captain Cook can go in and out of his refrigerator, as he pleases.”
    “Well, dear me, I never thought we would have a penguin for a pet,” said Mrs. Popper. “Still, he behaves pretty well, on the whole, and he is so nice and clean that perhaps he will be a good example to you and the children. And now, I declare, we must get busy. We haven’t done anything but watch that bird. Papa, will you just help me to set the beans on the table, please?”
    “Just a minute,” answered Mr. Popper. “I just happened to think that Captain Cook will not feel right on the floor of that icebox. Penguins make their nests of pebbles and stones. So I will just take some ice cubes out of the tray and put them under him. That way he will be more comfortable.”
     

Chapter V

Troubles with a Penguin
     
    HE NEXT DAY was quite eventful at 432 Proudfoot Avenue. First there was the service man and then the policeman and then the trouble about the license.
    Captain Cook was in the children’s room, watching Janie and Bill put together a jigsaw puzzle on the floor. He was very good about not disturbing the pieces after Bill had spanked him for eating one. He did not hear the refrigerator service man come to the back door.
    Mrs. Popper had gone marketing for canned shrimps for the penguin, so that Mr. Popper was alone in the kitchen to explain to the service man what he wanted done to the refrigerator.
    The service man put his tool bag down on the kitchen floor, looked at the refrigerator, and then at Mr. Popper, who, to tell the truth, had not shaved yet and was not very tidy.
    “Mister,” he said, “you don’t need no ventilating holes in that there door.”
    “It’s my icebox, and I want some holes bored in the door,” said Mr. Popper.
    They argued about it for quite a while. Mr. Popper knew that to get the service man to do what he wanted, all he had to do was to explain that he was going to keep a live penguin in the icebox, and that he wanted his pet to have plenty of fresh air, even though the door was closed all night. He felt a little stubborn about explaining, however. He didn’t want to discuss Captain Cook with this unsympathetic service man, who was already staring at Mr. Popper as if he thought Mr. Popper was not quite right in his head.
    “Come on, do what I said,” said Mr. Popper. “I’m paying you for it.”
    “With what?” asked the service man.
    Mr. Popper gave him a five-dollar bill. It made him a little sad to think how many beans it would have bought for Mrs. Popper and the children.
    The service man examined the bill carefully as if he didn’t trust Mr. Popper too much. But at last he put it in his pocket, took a drill from his tool bag, and made five small holes in a neat pattern on