It is July. In Antarctica you felt quite comfortably warm, like a gentle sunshine on an autumn day. Of course there couldn't have been sun, since it was in fact winter and not autumn, and you couldn't see much from the inside of the shell. It has been two months, maybe a few days more or less, and you felt the legs wrapping around you were getting just a bit thinner every day. That's fine, you think, I'm still warm. But then an alarming thought slid into your head and you did realize that there wasn't much room left in the egg anymore, not even to stretch your flippers like you did some time ago. What if... what if you were to grow so big and burst out of the egg? What would happen? Would the warmth and food still be here? You didn't dare think about it, and proceeded to curl up as small as you possibly could.
Some more time passed. You did not know how much anyway, since you were much too worried about accidentally breaking open your own egg. But then the day came. The day when you could not stand being stuffed so much anymore and pecked the egg's wall in anger. Crrraaackkkk... it all broke open, just like that. As your safety bubble shattered into pieces, you saw black feathers all over your face, then got slid out of the egg by the legs' small jump of surprise.
'Our baby! It has hatched!' 'Oh, how sweet! Keep it warm darling, I'll clean it up.' A big female penguin, which you assume to be your mother, pecked gently at your baby gray feathers and looked at your adorable little face. 'Let's look at those webs. I bet they're wonderful and powerful, the perfect fit for a future Dive Dealer Penguin. My chick will catch more fish than its own parents!'
Hearing this, you felt quite happy and proud and chirruped playfully. But your mother was suddenly not in the mood to play.
'Darling, can you find our little chick's feet?' To which your father picked you up by his beak and inspected you very carefully. He looked over and over again while your mother's face turned more and more worried. Several other penguins brought their chicks over to see what the commotion was about. They rolled you over to check your body and turned you upside down to try and shake your feet out. Alas, it was to no avail. They could only gasp. How would you be able to dive? How would you be able to participate in all the competitions in diving and fishing? How would you even get fish for yourself to eat?
'Our chick doesn't have feet!' Your mother cried. The penguins around expressed their condolences, but there was nothing they could do to help. As your father went to dive after two months of fasting, your mother covered you with her brood patch to keep you warm, but she did not say anything again until your father came back.