"Up to You"
Written September 21, 2011
As the penguins slept several hours after they had sent Hans to live out his life in the cesspool of Hoboken, Skipper suddenly awoke. "My gut tells me something is not quite right," he thought to himself. "But what?"
Skipper climbed out of his bunk and glanced up at his slumbering team; all were accounted for. He checked the HQ's various security systems; all were on and functioning properly. The coffee maker was set to brew at 0600. Kowalski's Bunsen burner was not lit and the gas was off. The lemurs' boom box in the adjacent habitat was silent.
Then suddenly, Skipper knew what it was. "Marlene!" he shouted. With all that had to be done to take down Hans, he and the other penguins had forgotten that Marlene was still trapped inside Julien's plastic volcano.
Quickly, Skipper grabbed a flashlight and then headed out into the dark. After waddling over to the lemur habitat, he climbed up the side of and then down into the hollow decoration. "Hello, Marlene," he said as his feet made contact with the bottom.
Marlene had half a mind to clock him for such a casual greeting, but she knew better. "I've been stuck in here for hours," she said. "I can't help but feel forgotten, but I really don't want to spend any more time in here complaining about it. I just want to go home, so please carry me out of here."
Skipper shook his head. "No."
Marlene crossed her arms. "Skipper, that's not funny."
"It's not that I don't want to help you, it's that you have to learn how to help yourself. You're going to have to get out of this one on your own."
"And how am I supposed to do that? Sprout wings? Regurgitate a pre-swallowed length of rope and a grappling hook?"
Skipper took one of Marlene's paws in his flippers. "You're a quadruped with claws. You should have an easier time getting out of here than I have. All you have to do is climb up the wall to the top and then down to the ground."
"But why? I thought you were in the business of helping others out of bad situations."
Skipper placed a flipper on Marlene's back. "I am. I would never abandon someone who needs me. But what if I were not around and you found yourself trapped and truly alone? Marlene, I wish I could say that I'll always be there for you, but there are going to be times when it's just going to be you and your shadow. And since you can't stand on your shadow's shoulders, it's ultimately going to be up to you."
Marlene smiled and then walked away from Skipper. She placed a paw on the wall of the volcano and then looked back at him. "You'll at least be willing to catch me if I fall?"
Skipper nodded and then pointed his flashlight in her direction. Marlene then placed all her paws against the wall and carefully began her way upward.