Chapter 1
It was a warm, spring day. Marlene sat in her cave, strumming her Spanish guitar. The lovely sound echoed off of the walls of her cave. Although she did love the sound it made, she felt lonely. She set her guitar down and walked outside, feeling the warmth beat down on her. She looked at the other cages. The penguins were having high-five practice, and the lemurs were dancing. Everyone had someone to be with, except for Marlene. Although she was lonely, she didn't like to admit it, especially to the penguins. They would try to help her and Marlene wouldn't like that. Although they were her friends, she did find them a bit annoying. Same with the lemurs. They blasted loud music all day and all night long, and it wasn't Spanish guitar music. Marlene felt an urge to be with someone else.
To kill her boredom and loneliness, she grabbed her Spanish guitar, sat on a rock and started to play it. But instead of a happy tune coming out, she heard a slow, sad tune. She frowned. I can't let this bother me, she thought. I won't live a healthy life if I keep dreaming of someone to be with. Although, she did have her friends Hisser, Cori, Toby, Sahara and Jason to hang out with, they were gone out on a hunt for a hot dog stand. They had asked Marlene to go with, but she had felt like staying home. Also, she would've gone crazy. She sighed. She wished she had gone. She then continued strumming her guitar, filling her mind with sadness.
Fred nibbled on an acorn. Hearing a rustling outside, he poked his head out of the tree and looked down. Below him, he saw a muscular otter with stunning green eyes.
"Yo, Fred, what's up?" He queried with a Spanish accent. Fred glanced up.
"Sky, clouds..." he paused for a moment. "And leaves." The otter began to laugh.
"Oh, you and that sense of humor! I'm kind of bored today. I think I'll play my Spanish guitar. Would you like to listen, Fred?" The otter asked. Fred shrugged.
"Sure, I'll hear, Antonio." Fred answered. The otter pulled a Spanish guitar out from being his back.
"Bueno, amigo," the otter said and started to play. Fred smiled. But suddenly, to his disappointment, he stopped playing. Fred started at him, confused. Antonio glanced at his guitar and sighed. "Suddenly I do not feel like playing my Spanish guitar. I want to do something else, meet someone new..." Antonio's voice trailed off. He set the guitar on the ground. Fred shrugged. He didn't know anyone else, really. Suddenly, Antonio's face lit up. "Amigo, tell me about that girl you dated a few months ago, you know, the one you broke up with?" Fred remembered her. She had laughed at him for no reason.
"Oh, the cat? Oh yes, well, she laughed at every thing I said." Fred murmured.
"A cat? Well, okay, what did she look like?" Antonio questioned. Fred thought for a moment.
"Well, she looked like you, except she had brown eyes and she didn't have a lot of muscles." Fred explained. Antonio laughed.
"That is not a cat, silly! It is an otter, like me! I must go find her!" He began to run away, but stopped and turned to Fred. "Where did she live, again?"
"The zoo." Fred said.
"Adios, my good friend!" Antonio waved his paw and ran away. Fred waved back and returned to eating his nut.
Marlene set her guitar down. She lay on the grass, thinking of something to do. She could swim. No, she thought. The water will be too cold. She stood up and started to walk away to put her guitar back, but instead she felt something crash into her. She screamed and fell forward. She covered her eyes and prepared herself for a loud crash, but she saw a paw reach down and seize her guitar.
