Penelope Pussycat and Pepe Le Pew were both on a boat that was headed towards the Untied States, or more specifically, New York City. The boat was about two days from arriving on Ellis Island, where immigrants could get the final approval to enter the country. Penelope and Pepe were both born and raised in Paris, France but both decided a few years back to come to America to try to get a job in show business.
"I wish this ship could travel faster! I can't seem to wait anymore!" Penelope said excitedly.
"Mon cherie, you must be patient. Zhe wait shall be worth it. We are only two days away." Pepe said reassuring her.
"I know, I know. But from the letters Louis has written us and that travel book you got in Paris, New York sounds like a wonderful place!" Penelope smiled at him.
"Oui, oui. Zhere is only two more days and zhen we shall be on Ellis Island. We have to pass zhe inspection first, cherie."
"I know I have no illness of any kind or you either. What if they have to examine you because of your smell? They could send us back to Paris."
"Mon cherie, everything will be alright." Pepe said as he looked up at the night sky. "Why don't you head to bed? You need all zhe rest you can get."
"Alright then. Goodnight." Penelope said as she kissed him good night.
Two days had passed and Penelope was wide awake, despite the fact that she'd had barely slept the night before for she was just too excited to see the city! Penelope and Pepe had their luggage on them and their ID tags around their necks, looking towards the horizon.
"Reaching New York! Reaching New York!" a voice was heard saying.
Soon enough, the skyline of New York City was seen by all the immigrants on the ship. There was many ooo's and aww's heard. Penelope's smile was so huge that it seemed to take up the entire lower half of her face. This made Pepe laugh as he had never seen her so happy before. The ship soon passed by the Statue of Liberty, letting everyone know that this was America and they could all start new lives over here. After what seemed like forever, the ship pulled into the Ellis Island harbor.
Many people were yelling in different languages from on the pier. The message was basically the same: "All passengers must go to the into the Great Hall inside to be inspected!"
Penelope and Pepe followed the crowd of immigrants with their luggage on them. They entered a rather large building and soon stopped when they noticed there was a long line ahead of them as people were being inspected by what looked like doctors.
"I wonder who those people are and why they're marking some people with chalk?" Penelope asked curiously.
"I think zhey are doctors. Zhey are wearing doctor uniforms." said Pepe.
"What'll happen if they mark one of us? Will we have to go back to Paris?" Penelope said as she watched a person be marked and had to head towards somewhere else.
"It's ok, pigeon. Everything will be ok." said Pepe reassuring.
A doctor came up to the two of them and looked at them for a few seconds and said, "That smell! It's horrible!" he said as he marked Pepe with a P for "pew." He also put the same mark on Penelope since she was always near him, the scent rubbed off onto her too, but she had gotten so used to the smell, she never really noticed it. The doctor soon walked away from them and onto the other people.
"Oh no! We've been marked! What do we do? What do we do?" Penelope panicked.
A nearby worker has heard Penelope panicked and walked over and noticed the P's on them. He cleared his voice, grabbing both of their attention. "Don't worry. The P here is for 'pew.' You two will be taken over to the hospital and given a tomato juice bathing and then you can carry on. They just want to make sure you don't smell too bad." he laughed.
"We're not gonna be detained?" Penelope asked fearfully.
"I don't think so. You both seem intelligent enough to be good citizens of America." the worker smiled as he saw another doctor coming. "That must be the doctors for you. Have fun!"
The doctor saw the marks on Penelope and Pepe and immediately escorted them to the bathing area of the hospital. They both set their luggage not too far away from themselves to make sure nothing had happened to them. Two nurses that were there made them each get into a separate large tub and they were both quickly soaked with tomato juice, as it was the only thing that could stop a skunk's smell, at least for a little while.
"Yummy! Tomato juice!" Penelope said as tasted the juice on her lips.
"Please don't drink it, madam. We need it to remove this horrible smell!" the nurse said as she scrubbed Penelope's tail.
"At least this smell is disappearing!" said the other nurse.
"Is vous saying moi smells?" Pepe asked.
"Unfortunately, you do indeed smell horrible." she said as she finished with Pepe's tail and could finally breathe again. "Done! Now that horrible smell is finally gone from you!"
"And you as well, miss." said the nurse as she grabbed Penelope's dress and Pepe's shirt and trousers. "We need to have these washed to remove the tomato juice. We'll have these back to you within an hour. Meanwhile, you can head down to the hospital cafeteria for some American favorites! Just follow the signs and please do not leave when you get there."
Penelope and Pepe both grabbed their luggage and followed the signs that lead towards the hospital cafeteria. A few people were down there, a skunk and others that seem to have a slight cold. They both were able to grab some food and sat down at a table that were away from the other patients of the hospital.
"Are you feeling ok, cherie?" Pepe asked.
"Besides smelling like tomatoes, I'm ok. I'm glad it was only a de-smelling bath and not anything else! I was so worried back there!" Penelope laughed slightly.
"It is alright now, cherie. We shall be in zhe city very soon." Pepe said as he leaned across the table and kissed her.
After a awhile, the nurses from before came back and instantly spotted the two of them. They had their clothing all tomato free and helped them back into them. The nurses smiled at them.
"Just follow me and I'll show you where you can do your legal inspection." said the nurse.
They both followed the nurse to another room in the hospital where two custom officers resided. They immediately noticed Penelope and Pepe and knew they had two more immigrants to process through.
"Names?" one of the officers asked.
"Penelope Pussycat."
"Pepe Le Pew."
"Well, your names are easy enough to say so there will be no name changes today." said the other.
The custom officers asked them a bunch of more questions asking where they were from, if they had money on them (and had to show to to them), and other personal questions. The questions were soon over and one of the officers smiled at them.
"Welcome to America, Penelope and Pepe. If you go out this door and follow the signs, you can exchange your francs for American dollars. Have a good day." the custom officer said.
The two grabbed their luggage and walked out the door. The followed the signs and came to the Money Exchange. They traded in the francs and it turned out they each had about $300 on them each, which was about three months salary for an inspector. They got their money back in American bills and skipped picking up their luggage, as they already were carrying their luggage with them and headed for the ferry which would take them to the docks and start their new life in America.
While they were waiting for the ferry, the two of them began talking excitedly about their new life in America.
"I can't believe we're in New York City! It really hope it's all I have heard about!" Penelope smiled.
"Oh cherie, it shall be a wonderful and exciting new life for us!" Pepe said, matching Penelope's expression.
"I can't wait." Penelope said as the ferry pulled up.
These are not complete accurate accounts of immigrants were processed through Ellis Island and a good part of it is true, up til the bath part. I hope you enjoy this new story! Please review! Thank you!