Amber and Skipper carefully walked through the zoo, holding the American flag high up as it waved in the breeze. They were careful to make sure the flag wouldn't drop or touch the ground as they moved. They finally stopped at the center of the zoo, which was just in front of their habitat, and placed the flag in a holder that Flora and Kowalski had made. The penguin habitat had many red, white and blue balloons hanging around and was decorated with various colored plastic stars.
"That should do it." Amber made sure the flag was firmly in place and tested it with a light tap. She smirked in satisfaction and admired the flag for a moment. "I think we're all set Skipper." She turned around and saw Skipper staring at flag with glazed over eyes. She felt a trace of concern wash over her. "Skipper?"
Skipper snapped out of it and looked at her with faint surprise.
"Are you alright Skipper?" Amber inquired and crossed her flippers across her chest, eyeing him with concern that she rarely showed.
"I was just thinking about the day me and the boys witnessed history," Skipper sighed. "The horrid day that is September 11th."
Amber waddled to him and placed a flipper on his shoulder comfortingly. "It must have been hard. Look, I know I wasn't there, but what those terrorists did is a sick and twisted thing. No one should have to deal with that. You're being really strong to do what your doing today Skipper," Amber told him comfortingly and squeezed his shoulder.
Skipper smiled warmly at her, which she returned. "Thanks Amber."
The two penguins turned around when they heard the screeching sound of the fishbowl being pushed aside.
"What's this?" Sara asked as she poked her head out from the fishbowl entrance.
"Do you know what day today is?" Skipper asked and turned to the small penguin. He looked through the bars that separated him and Amber from an innocent Sara.
"September 11th," Sara replied in a tone that suggested she felt the answer had no meaning. "Why are you asking?" she asked, completely innocent and naïve to not have known what had happened years ago.
The commanding officer felt compelled to explain the entire historical event. "On September 11th 2001..." Skipper started solemnly.
"Terrorists had hijacked four planes and had sent them to important parts to America by sending them on Washington D.C. One of those planes crashed into the South Twin Tower and later the North Tower with another plane," Amber finished for him.
Sara had her beak slightly agape from those words. Why would people do such a thing?
Flora came up with Kowalski and jumped out of the HQ, having heard what Amber and Skipper had said. "A lot of people were killed that day," Flora murmured sadly and looked at Kowalski. She nodded her head slightly, signaling for him to continue the historical lesson.
"Two planes hit the Twin Towers here in New York, which was the World Trade Center. The Twin Towers had collapsed and still held people in there to make matters worse," Kowalski added and returned Flora's stare mournfully.
Flora looked back at Sara and added, "And another one had hit The Pentagon in Washington."
"But thankfully…" Skipper started again, earning their attention. "The fourth plane didn't hit its intended target."
Private came up at the time and looked at Sara. "But it still crashed when the people tried to take control of the plane, so those people died for their country," Private informed sadly in his British accent. Tears threatened to come down his face at the memories. It had not only been terrifying to the whole Zoo but to the inhabitants of New York.
Sara stayed where she was, shocked at what she learned. Once the information sunk in, she slowly got out of the fishbowl entrance with Private and started sobbing on his chest. "That's so sad!" She sobbed harder as Private patted her back comfortingly, hugging her.
"So we're going to honor those people that had tried to save the people in the towers and the ones who had redirected the airplane," Amber explained, making a gesture to the decorations that surrounded their lovely habitat and turned back to the flag. Kowalski, Flora, Sara and Private jumped over the habitat fence and stood next to the flag as well.
"Do you have the microphones, Kowalski?" Skipper inquired, folding his flippers behind his back.
"I'll go get them, Skipper." Kowalski saluted and went back into HQ to get some microphones.
The remaining penguins looked over to their left, where they saw Rico and Madison leading all the zoo animals to the flag. Rico was in front, yelling out gibberish and trying to get the animals to understand what was going on. Madison was in the back, forcing the animals to move forward. If one stepped out of line, she would growl and force the animal back. The two psychotic penguins soon got the animals in front of the flag, ran over to their leaders and saluted.
Rico's tongue lolled out as he grunted, "Ready!"
"They really are quite the pair," Flora chuckled.
Kowalski came over the habitat fence and jumped next to the other intellect. He handed her a microphone and did the same for the other penguins, except Madison and Rico of course.
The animals murmured amongst themselves and looked around curiously. They had yet to be informed on what was happening.
Skipper tapped the mike to see if it was on. "Do you all know why you're here?" Skipper asked into the mike once he was sure it was working properly. Most of the zoo animals shook their heads; the others nodded sadly. Some of the Zoo animals weren't in the Central Park Zoo at the time to know.
"Well you should," Amber spoke into the microphone with faint hostility. "It's September 11th and that's when terrorists hijacked four planes to attack the Twin Towers and The Pentagon."
Flora hesitantly took a step forward to speak in front of the large crowd of animals. Her voice wavered as she said, "Some of you may not know what these places are, but you should know that many people were killed that day."
"Around three thousand people had died that day," Kowalski added and squeezed Flora's flipper comfortingly.
"A man by the name of Osama bin Laden had lead this attack," Amber told them in a depressed tone. "In May 2011, he was found and killed for his terrorist's acts against America and, personally, I'm glad he got shot in the head."
Some of the animals became uneasy on that last statement but their attention was diverted.
Skipper stepped forward and faced the animals with a brave look to him. "As a penguin, I couldn't do much," he admitted. "This was beyond our abilities to stop and all my boys and I could do was witness the destruction on the television. We watched the South Tower fall, then the North Tower. The towers collapsed due to two individual planes crashing into them. Then we saw a plane hit The Pentagon, and we finally witnessed the fourth plane crash into a field. We had felt the Twin Towers crash and smoke had covered our zoo."
The animals were completely silent.
"The fourth plane had its course changed by the people, who knew it would hit its target unless they did something about it. They succeeded and changed course but it ended their lives as well. All the victims of the plane were innocent people, so we are here today to honor these people."
"And I thought," Amber stepped forward and gained the zoo animals attention once more, "that maybe we could sing a song."
Skipper gave her a funny look, but she only winked at him. She gestured for Flora and Sara to come up to her. Madison stood by and held a sly smile on her beak.
Amber opened her own beak to sing. "God Bless America, Land that I love," she sang gently and in a harmonic tone, which she rarely used.
Flora got where this was going and stepped forward nervously. "Stand beside her, and guide her thru the night with a light from above," she sang with her voice wavering. Flora would deal with people staring at her for this occasion.
Sara sung, "From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam." Her eyes glistened from the light that seemed to shine on her and the other flightless birds.
"God bless America, my home sweet home," Amber sang with Skipper in harmony.
There was a brief silence before all the animals clapped and cheered for them.
"Now let's have a moment of silence for those people," Skipper said. Everybody went silent and closed their eyes, silently thanking the people for their sacrifices and honoring them silently.
A minute passed before anyone spoke again.
"Thank you for coming here today," Sara whispered into the microphone, making everyone look up. "I may be a penguin, and I had no ties to the Twin Towers and neither does Skipper, Kowalski, Private and Rico, but I still feel bad for what had happened. I'm glad to have this opportunity to honor the people who had witnessed and had dealt with what had happened. I salute to America." With that, Sara finished her little speech with a salute to the flag. The penguins gawked at how those words would come from her beak.
That didn't stop Amber from saying her own speech.
"Today we honor the people, and I will admit I'm not a fan of them but that doesn't mean I don't take pity them," Amber said honestly. "You may bring sorrow from the past but there is always a brighter future, just waiting for the opportunities. Still, there are still horrible things that could happen as well. Take care of your loved ones and enjoy days to their fullest. You never know when a disaster might happen, and you would never see them again. Live life for something or don't live at all."
Skipper smiled at her speech. "Thank you for coming here today. This meeting is dismissed." He then dismissed the animals with a wave of his flipper.
The animals slowly walked away back to their habitats and a silence went through the Zoo, even the lemurs were quiet.
"How about we do one more song girls?" Amber smirked at her own team. Flora, Sara and Madison nodded, grinning. Amber opened her beak to conclude the ceremony.
"O say can you see...by the dawn's early light," Amber sang with her beautiful voice that echoed across the whole zoo, sending both a haunted message but touching the animal's hearts, even Joey's. "What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming."
"Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight," Flora sang with her confidence restored. "O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming."
Sara's eyes sparkled with that fiery young soul she had and started to sing, "And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."
"O! Say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave! O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!" the girls sang together, much louder then before with passion in every note and lyric as they held a rather long and high note together.
Skipper, Kowalski and Private then joined in. Rico and Madison stood nearby and held serious expressions, saluting the flag the entire time.
"On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep," Skipper and Private both sung. "Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes."
"What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep as it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?" Both intellects shared a look and grasped each other's flipper tightly.
"Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam," Sara sung.
Amber smirked at Sara and approached the young avian. "In full glory reflected now shines in the stream."
The silver bird gripped the younger's shoulder and they both exchanged brief grins. "'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave!" the two females sang together, looking up at the sky.
"O'er the land of the free and the home of the where is that band who so vauntingly swore." Skipper nodded to Amber and both let their voices mix together in a perfect sync that it almost seemed practiced. "That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion. A home and a country, should leave us no more?"
Private looked like he was about to cry as he sung, "Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' refuge could save the hireling and slave."
Sara approached Private and gave him a tight hug while singing, "From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave." Both young flightless birds joined their voices. "And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
Skipper and Kowalski did the rare chance of singing with one another. "O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war's with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!"
"Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just," their voices rang out loudly across the whole zoo. "And this be our motto: 'In God we Trust' and the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the...brave!" their voices held the note for a long time till they were out of breath. The song had echoed throughout the whole zoo because of its silence.
Madison and Rico put their flippers back to their sides and ended their salute.
"Let's go back into HQ," Amber suggested.
The other girls nodded and went into the HQ with Kowalski, Private and Rico. Amber stayed on top of the habitat fence with Skipper. The male commanding officer looked straight ahead at the American flag that continued to flap around in the breeze. He kept his flippers folded neatly behind his back, giving him an air of authority.
"Thanks for doing that Amber." Skipper finally looked at her after a while of silence.
Amber rolled her eyes. "Any good penguin would do that." She smiled fondly at him.
Skipper smiled softly at her. "So that was really how you felt about what had happened?" he inquired to her.
Amber crossed her flippers over her chest and tossed the microphone to a distant habitat. "Of course. It was a terrible act and, even if I hate people, it was just sickening to know that someone or some people would do that. Thanks again for telling me about it," she thanked him for once in her life.
"You had the right to know about September 11th," Skipper answered truthfully.
"Let's go back into HQ. I bet there is a cup of coffee in there with your name on it." Amber jumped onto the concrete floe and pushed the fishbowl aside for Skipper.
Skipper looked at her, then back at the flag. He snapped up and saluted the flag, whispering, "God bless America." He jumped over to Amber, and she went back into the HQ. Skipper took one finally look at the flag, and he could have sworn that the flag was glowing.
"Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It's a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It's also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend–even a friend whose name it never knew. "
- President George W. Bush, December 11, 2001