There Ain't Been One Day
There ain't been one day when I done right by you
As Memphis watched his son walk away, those happy feet of his dejected, shuffling without rhythm, he tried to convince himself he had done the right thing, tried to ignore Norma Jean's broken hearted glare, but it was impossible. That was the day Memphis lost his song.
He was ostracised, pushed into a little cave and forgotten about by all but a few, for as every penguin knows, a penguin without a song is hardly a penguin at all and a penguin without a song can't sing to bring back the fish.
Memphis knew Norma Jean loved him, but he also knew that she hated him for helping to push away Mumble. He didn't blame her, he hated himself more and more with each passing day, but Memphis had a special, obsessive hatred reserved for Noah and the elders. His Mumble hadn't been hurting anyone, but they had acted like he was responsible for the fish disappearing. He had found a song with Gloria, the penguin he had loved for all his life, found acceptance with the younger penguins, they had even joined in his dance and the elders had destroyed all of that. Memphis knew he was no innocent when it came to Mumble but Noah and the elders were the real villains.
One day he had gathered what energy he had left, gone to Noah and told him that, Guin be damned, there was nothing wrong with his Mumble, Noah, enraged, had forbidden him from ever leaving his cave ever again. That was the day Memphis stopped eating, unless he was forced to by Norma Jean.
The came the day that Mumble returned, he could hardly believe it and thought that maybe he had finally gone mad, but there he was. The fluffy down feathers that he had never quite managed to shed and that hopeful look in his clear blue eyes, forever wanting acceptance that he had never given. He looked away, ashamed. Maybe Mumble had returned and maybe he had found the aliens who were taking the fish and maybe everything was going to be OK again, maybe the famine would soon be over, but not for him, his time was over. His song was gone.
But Mumble didn't give up on him, after everything he had done to him, Mumble didn't give up on him. Memphis raised his head, looked his son in eye and finally, finally did what what he knew he should have done from the start. Slowly, helped by Mumble and encouraged by Norma Jean, Memphis started moving his feet and danced.