Chapter 1: Scaring Skipper

It was a fine day at the Central Park Zoo in New York and everyone was buzzing around the habitats. It was a crisp fall day with many colorful leaves decorating the walkways. A big crowd was congregating at the center habitat of the zoo where four penguins lived happily. They were doing cute and cuddly high jinks for the crowd, only to be rewarded by stacks of fish, mainly sardines. This was the best time of the day for the penguins.

"Good job today, boys, we really knocked 'em dead!" a short-ish, sort of chubby, flat headed penguin said.

"Yes, I have estimate that we got more than usual today, Skipper." The tallest and most intelligent replied, sliding beads across the strings of his abacus.

"Fish!" one that was almost as tall as the tallest sang happily. He had a feather Mohawk on the center of his head and a scar on the left side of his beak.

"We have enough to last forever!" the shortest, chubbiest, youngest and cutest penguin said in a British accent.

The one called Skipper walked over to the pile and said, "Dig in boys, plenty to go around!"

And with the order, the rest of the rookery dug into the feast, eating their fill. It was their number one favorite food because of the salty tang. It was perfect.

The zoo was still buzzing until about 1500 hours, (3:00pm), closing time. The red-headed and quick-tempered zookeeper started ushering people out of the zoo. She didn't care much for the visitors. Soon, the zoo was quiet and felt dead. The penguins fell back into their secret headquarters underground. There was a hole with a ladder leading down into the concrete lair. It was air conditioned, had a T.V., four bunks carved in the wall, a table that was held up by cinder blocks, and a lab for the tall, intelligent penguin, Kowalski, to experiment. He was a self-proclaimed scientist.

Once inside, the four sat down at the table and played a strange game of cards that Skipper had learned at one of the weird places he'd gone in his glory days. He wasn't old, just more experienced and the leader. The one called Rico with the feather Mohawk stood and walked up the three stairs to a periscope and peered through it. He swiveled it around to look outside, which was pretty entertaining.

All of a sudden, a brown, feathery thing obstructed his view. He jumped away, startled, and stumbled onto his back.

"What is it, Rico?" Skipper asked instinctively.

Rico spoke gibberish due to his unavailability to speak. He pointed to the periscope and jumped up and down. Skipper moved to the periscope and looked through it. He saw the feathery brown object as well, and turned to his team.

"Topside! Go, go, go!" He barked his order sternly.

The four burst out the fishbowl entrance and landed on the concrete in fighting stances. A large bird and a few others like him only slightly shorter stood on the concrete island before the penguins. The large brown bird turned around to face them and the shorter birds fell silent.

"Howdy!" the large bird greeted. He was a turkey, a wild one, in fact.

"Um, hi, what are you doing here?" Skipper asked curiously.

"Ah, yes..." The bird began, then dropped to his 'knees', "You've gotta help us! We need to hide and we don't have much time!"

"What?" Skipper eyed the bird curiously.

"Don't you know what happens to birds like us during Thanksgiving?" the turkey asked importantly.

"Yes, they feed us lots of yummy fish!" the shortest said.

"FISH!" Rico sang.

"Exactly, Private. You see, turkey, we have nothing to fear, so neither do you." Skipper declared confidently.

"Okay, one, my name's Fred. Two, that's not just a meal, they're fattening you up!"

"What?"

"Yessiree, I escaped from the forest, but there are hunters hot on my trail! And a really creepy man who wears a blue badge..." Fred trailed off.

"Skippah! That must be Officer X!" Private yelled.

"Right, we'll help you as long as you stop with all of this 'people eating us birds' nonsense." Skipper agreed. He looked down to his feet and noticed he was being looked to.

"Okay, how?"

Skipper thought for a moment. "Kowalski, options!" Skipper ordered his lieutenant.

"I suggest we disguise you as ostriches due to your similarity. Alice will never notice due to her lack of attentiveness." He pointed to his clipboard that seemed to appear out of nowhere. It had two birds and an arrow pointing from the smaller one to the larger one.

"Excellent! Execute!" Skipper said.

The rookery of penguins and the flock of turkeys walked through the zoo almost unnoticed. They were close to the ostrich habitat when…

"Hello, neighbors!" 'King' Julian, a ring-tailed and scatter-brained gray lemur in a crown shouted.

"Ringtail?!" Skipper yelled. "What're you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just wondering who my new subjects are!" Julian replied.

"New…subjects…?" Fred asked, confused.

"Yes, of course, silly bald bird! I am king!" Julian said.

Fred looked at Skipper and Skipper gave him a look that said, "Don't worry about this yahoo." Fred smiled largely and nodded. He understood that this guy was a nut.

"Well, sire, I hope it doesn't bother you that my flock and I'll be staying for a while." Fred bowed and played along.

"Ohohoho! Fancy treatment! I like it!" Julian said.

"Yes, well, we must be going now, sire." A beautiful female turkey said from behind Fred.

And with that they walked away, the flock giggling at the play they just put on. The female who had spoken up before walked to the front and brushed up against Fred's flank. He looked at her comfortably.

"Thanks, honey." Fred said to the lady, retuning her embracement.

They walked side-by-side, content with the fact they were together. Finally the birds reached the ostrich habitat and got a curious eye from the inhabitant.

"Hi, Rico…and…others. What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Listen up! You have new roomies! This is Fred and his flock. Kowalski, explicate!" Skipper said to the much, much larger bird.

"These turkeys wish to hide from the humans and need to hide here. I assume that they'll blend in due to your similarity in appearance. Do you accept?" Kowalski said smartly.

"Oh yeah sure! I never pass up an opportunity for new friends!" The ostrich accepted.

"Hooray!" Fred's mate yelled and they hugged each other. A tiny bird pushed her way to Fred's side and looked at him with her beautiful eyes.

"Mommy, Daddy, do we get to stay here?" the child asked.

"Yes, sweetheart, we do." Fred replied to her with a heartwarming smile. It was official, the turkeys had to stay.

That night the penguins piled into bed and Skipper set his alarm clock. 0500 hours (5:00am), it said. He claimed his bed on the bottom bunk, lying on his back. He tried to close his eyes, but it did no good. His eyes remained open and his mind buzzed with voices. One voice rang louder than all of the others.

"Don't you know what happens to birds like us during Thanksgiving?" The voice finally faded when Skipper fell asleep.