I'm sorry. I really am. I know I have other things to write about (not to make it sound like I have a bajillian stories to work on. Haven't even reached double digits yet)But I couldn't help it. And yes a little FYI this does include another version of Skippers' family. But hey I have many more than just three. You might find out about them some day. One more hint, hint before the story gets started. Who says a penguin can't have siblings. Though I have to admit, five kids is a lot. Mwahahaha!
Ehhem. Enjoy.
"I'm sorry Marlene but it's not possible." Kowalski argued.
"It is possible old chap. The transfer says that one of you has an unnatural sized family." Mason replied calmly.
"Well the transfer's wrong. Penguins don't have big families like that." Kowalski said annoyed. A penguin had one sibling if any. It was impossible for a family of penguins to have five kids. It was just impossible.
Skipper had remained silent. He didn't help Kowalski argue. He wasn't one to lie. The truth was, Mason was right. The transfer wasn't wrong. There was a family of seven penguins. It seemed so wrong. But it wasn't a lie. He knew. Because he was the youngest. The youngest of five. And people were wrong when they said newbies got all the attention. His parents gave out equal attention. It seemed hard as his older siblings were always competing for affection. He didn't know why either. Skipper was always fine with the amount of love he received. It was enough for him. He never understood why he should compete when it didn't work. Sara didn't compete either. There were upsides to being the youngest, you learned quicker than the older ones. The bad thing was that you were the main target. He had burst through the door to their house so many times when he was a kid. Inside he was safe. As long as he hung around his parents. But there were other times that he didn't make it to the door. That was scary. He was tormented pick on, the basic youngest sibling shenanigans. Stupid stuff. His siblings never broke any of his bones. On purpose anyway. And Sara never hurt him. Not once. He did have fun with his siblings too though. He was part of a wacky family. His parents were pretty weird too. Every one of their names started with the letter 'S'. There was Sam, Sammy, Steve, Sara, and himself, Skipper. 'S', 'S', 'S', 'S', 'S'. He didn't understand that. But he didn't mind it either. He liked his family. No matter how weird they were.
He knew every one of his family members by heart. Even after all these years. Sam was the oldest. He was the strong one. He absolutely hated when people said his name wrong. He didn't like to be called Samuel or Sammy. He would only go by three names. Sam, Kid, and Boy. And he didn't have a problem with their father calling him Son. Sam was a gentleman. He didn't date because so many girls liked him that it wouldn't be fair to have a girlfriend. A lot of girls drooled over him. He was nice, tame, and didn't hit on anyone. Most of all he wasn't afraid to be who he was. He was a mild tempered person, but he didn't laugh a lot. He smiled and grinned or chuckled sometimes. But it was rare to ever see him laugh. He taught Skipper that you don't have to laugh all the time to be happy. Sam was a very happy person. Just not obnoxiously so. And although he was mild tempered, Sam had his spouts of anger, as all kids do. He would fight with their father or get in trouble with someone every now and then. He was only a gentleman at school and when he worked, otherwise he was still a kid at heart. He was good at getting on peoples good sides so he never really got in trouble. He just got caught. Overall Sam was a good, normal kid. But he would chase Skipper and torment him, and he would steal things sometimes, so he wasn't an angel. He was wild, they all were. Just in different ways.
Sammy was the oldest girl. She was nice but not favored by guys. Sam was her brother so she wouldn't drool over him. She probably wouldn't anyway. She didn't like guys mostly because there weren't many gentlemen in their small town. Her friends were just like her. They didn't drool over Sam. Sammy was usually calm. She minded her own business most of the time. She didn't try too hard in school, averaging her scores on tests and overall grades to stay under the radar. She didn't like when people noticed her. Her and her friends liked to keep a low profile. They weren't gothic or suicidal. They were actually quite happy living without the drama. One thing that Sammy hated was being called by her real name. Samantha. It was too girly for her. And truth be told no one believed it was her real name anyway. She acted like a tomboy. She was one. She liked being active and doing things herself. Wasn't afraid to go on if everyone else backed out. She was brave, by the standards of women in the town. Like their mother. She would climb mountains with the guys, her friends would too. They were the only tomboys in the town. The other girls were sissy's. The guys never messed with Sam. She was clever and could hurt them without being caught. All the guys knew that. But she wasn't evil. If she hurt someone she had a reason. For example, she tormented Skipper because he was her brother. It was a reason after all. She did know when to stop though. She and Sam both knew where Skippers breaking point was. They respected it and kindly backed off before going too far. Sammy was a nice, strong girl, who also knew how to be herself but preferred to stay under the radar with school drama.
Steve was the middle child. He didn't get the neglect that middle children usually claim to get. Their parents treated each one of them equally, even though they each had their own problems. Steve was pretty wild. He was the trouble maker of the family. The class clown too. He wasn't favored by teachers. But the town workers liked him. To them, Steve brought laughter to a normally boring painfully slow day. And he was favored by classmates too. He knew how to make people smile and laugh at himself. He liked doing so. He never fell victim to embarrassment. And their parents weren't too hard on him for disrupting class. He got good grades even though he acted like he didn't pay attention. He also knew when enough was enough or if a teacher was having a bad week and he needed to give them a break. Steve was smart. He knew how to make even the teachers smile. He could make the most uptight, angry, businessman laugh. He had a real talent. But he was wacky. He sometimes didn't stop the funny business even when he knew he should. He wanted to have fun all the time and no one else did. He and their mother fought a lot about that. He didn't have an off switch. Grounding was actually his off switch. Or the threat of grounding. Steve was the happiest one in the entire family. He was the most hyper one too. He was the kid who bounced off walls. And as for the troublemaker part. He would take things while everyone was watching and go somewhere in sight but out of reach. People loved him and hated him. He could be funny, but also annoying. And he laughed all the time, at his own corny jokes. He was an annoying brother, but nice to have around at the same time. Good for when one of them was feeling blue. But, he also helped in the tormenting of Skipper. And Sara too. They all tormented Sara too.
Sara was very calm. She was shy and did well minding her own business. She liked being in solitude at school and when she was away from the house. She had only one friend, but she preferred to walk with or talk to Skipper. He was her true friend. She knew that she could trust him. Sara was also a good student. Well average even when she tried her best. She did have trouble in school sometimes. But everyone does at some point. She always seems fragile. Like if she was knocked over she would shatter into a million pieces. But she isn't made of glass. And she can hold her feelings inside her very well. She only talks to Skipper and Sammy about her feelings. Some of them bubble inside of her all day like steam from boiling water. Aching to escape the cover and be released. She was also a very talented artist. She would normally draw before talking to anyone. She was an inside person. She kept herself presentable and quiet. Presentable. She was good at acting like an angel. The truth was, she was an angel. She was sweet and loving around other people, but shy around kids her own age. Kids were jerks until they were older. She realized that quick and decided to wait for the kids around her to mature before she let herself out. Maybe that was a good thing. Sara was normally open with their parents. She told them what she did and her basic feelings. She went more in depth with Sammy, even more with Skipper. She was calm and collected most of the time. Mild mannered. She wasn't afraid of presentations or doing projects for school and letting everyone see them. She was just afraid to talk one on one with other kids. Sara liked to watch things. She liked sitting up somewhere and watching the world go on around her. She didn't feel out of place or in the way. She just liked watching things, not having to worry about being part of the world that she was watching. For the time being. Sara was a mild, quiet, shy little girl. But she knew who she was, even if she didn't show it to everyone. She knew that one day she would be able to show the world. But she also knew how to wait. How to be patient, controlled. She knew how to bottle her feelings and let them out later. Open the bottle to people who would respect her outlook on life and the problems that she was facing.
She and Skipper had a lot in common. They were also opposites.
Skipper had learned the hard way that kids are jerks. And he paid the price. He had bullies and was a constant target. But Sara and Sammy helped see passed it. He didn't have any friends growing up. His only friend was Sara. They spent a lot of time together and enjoyed it. They didn't need friends. They both liked watching the world turn as they looked down from above. They were both good climbers. Both quiet. And after a while, Skipper learned to bottle his emotions too. Letting them out to people who would help him with them. Sara. He and Sara would often just sit up somewhere high above the people of their small town and watch, talking about what bothered them, giving each other advice, listening. Skipper was mild mannered too, most of the time. He could be wild like Steve. That's a trait that separated him from Sara. He wasn't a complete angel, though he made a first impression that he was an angel. He would let himself get hyper, even though he knew he should control himself and most times wanted to. But he didn't want to be a copy of Sara. He knew that people who are exactly the same get annoyed with each other. And he didn't want to get annoyed with Sara. They had fun together. He liked talking to her and playing with her. It didn't take much to make himself different though. He was naturally different. More like Steve than Sara was. He could make Sara laugh better than anyone else. Even Steve. Sara laughed around Steve. It wasn't fake either. But Steve was a really funny guy. Sara needed softer happiness sometimes. And Skipper could do that. Skipper and Sara made each other happy.
In a family of five siblings there are usually three groups. The targets, the civils, and the tormentors. Sara and Skipper were the constant targets, that never changed. Steve was border lined between Tormentor and civilian. He would join the tormenting some days. Other days he would ignore it. It depended on whether or not he felt like joining. And you could never predict when he would just pass by or jump in. Sara and Skipper did a lot of sibling bonding with Sammy. She may have been an all-out tomboy, but she was also very understanding and a great secret keeper. They all shared different bonds with each other. Each one having different strengths and weaknesses. They all knew how to have fun as siblings, all five laughing together. Playing games or running around or even driving their parents insane and getting grounded for a month or two. They knew how to have fun as a whole. Or gang up on their parents. Both were fun.
Their parents, Max and Maria, were good parents. Max was a pretty loving father. But he was the punisher. Or the more strict punisher. He would give you a real beating if he had enough reason. But he knew what punishment to give and how bad it needed to be. Very smart man. He also knew how to be a loving father. And how to ignore some things. He knew when someone was keeping a secret and could tell whether or not he needed to chase it or leave it alone. In the end he always knew what was going on, even if it was just the basics. He was the school man too. He struggled to make a better life for his family before Sam hatched. Struggled being the key word. It was hard for him because he didn't know a lot of things. He dropped out at a young age and went to work. Not a very smart move. So he made sure they all were educated. So they wouldn't have to struggle the way he had.
Maria was the nicer one. She was capable of a feared punishment but usually didn't like to resort to it. He had the bossiness of a hospital nurse. Making sure everyone was healthy and energized. Anything could happen. She was a preparer. She liked to know that if something happened everyone would be able to snap to their wits and not run around like a scared little child. Even thou Sara and Skipper were still little children. She made sure they were ready too. Not to fight. No, to hide efficiently and quietly and stay hidden. Prepared for the worse. But she also made sure they could forget about worrying and be carefree. She believed that if a child knows what to do they will be prepared and as long as they can pull the knowledge from their brain, have the right to forget about troubles. She believed that every child had the right to be carefree. She, unlike Max, wanted to know details. So just basics hardly worked for her. Skipper and Sara were angles by second nature. So they were able to fool her without really trying to or even fully meaning to. Seeing her kids happy was usually enough for her.
All seven of them made a good family. Others would probably think that they were a family of wierdos and misfits. But that's what they were. And they were completely content with that. After a while everyone else would be too.
"Skipper. Skipper. Skipper!" Kowalski called. Skipper seemed distracted, dazed. And he wasn't answering to his own name. Something was wrong.
Skipper shook his family out of his head. For now. He could wait a little longer to tell everyone. The transfer papers weren't mistaken. A family of penguins could be as big as seven lives. It was possible. And he had six people who could back up that fact. But right now he decided to keep that tid bit of information to himself. "What?" He asked still a little captured by thoughts.
"Are you alright?" Mason asked, concerned. Skipper didn't seem the type to just lose himself in thoughts like that.
"Is there something wrong?" Marlene asked. Skipper never zoned out. There was something fishy going on inside his head.
"No. I'm fine." Skipper replied calmly. They didn't need to know. Yet.
"Are you sure?" Marlene asked giving him another chance.
Skipper eyed Marlene. She wanted something from hm. Information. She wanted to know what he had lost himself in. sadly for her she would have to wait to receive that information. "I'm sure Marlene." He replied, still eyeing her. Maybe she was being too curious.
Marlene rolled her eyes. "Yeah ok." She remarked. "When did you say this even was taking place Mason?" She asked.
"Three weeks from now. For two months. Then everyone goes home and life continues." Mason replied.
They went on talking more about that. But Skipper didn't pay attention.
Three weeks? Why not just shoot me and get it over with. My family is going to drive everyone insane. Or at least Steve will. Kowalski will be stunned. Or driven insane by the pure fact that I have four siblings. I have four siblings. This is going to be a disaster. And I can't stop it this time. It would seem to suspicious. And maybe seeing them again won't be so bad. I mean they've changed a little. They had to have changed at least a little hopefully. Maybe not Sara. She's the only one that I'd be fine with staying the same. If Sam acts the same it would be weird. No one is going to drool over him here. And Samantha might actually be able to get along if she hasn't changed. Marlene might like her. Then again if she hasn't changed Ringtail's going to die. Steve…he's probably going to drive everyone up a wall. Skipper thought.
"Yo! Hey! Skipper!" Marlene shouted.
Skipper blinked shaking away from his thoughts again. He stared at her. What did she want now?
"What's up with you? Why can't you pay attention today? You're usually the one who's most focused at these info things. Now you're acting worse than Julian." Marlene stated.
Julian perked up at the sound of his name.
"So I'm…a little distracted. I'm allowed to be." Skipper replied defensively. He didn't have to be focused all the time.
"Yeah. But you never are. So what's up?" Marlene asked harshly.
Everyone stared at him. He didn't understand why it was such a big deal. Jeez. You'd think it was against the law for him to be unfocused. "Nothing Marlene." He replied calmly. "I'm allowed to be distracted."
"By what?" Marlene asked, not buying the fact that there was nothing serious on his mind.
Skipper thought to come up with an excuse. He found one. But it really wasn't an excuse. He had thought about it when the topic was first mentioned. "Think about it Marlene. Everyone has a family. Everyone's family is going to be crammed into this zoo. Not everyone one is going to get along. You may want to kill your own families. Different families don't tend to get along very well at first. And we don't need an all-out brawl the first few days of their arrival. You aren't the one who is going to be called for help. To solve the problems or to stop fights from becoming wars. And we'll have our own families to worry about. Think about that. How many problems pop into your head. And double them. That, if gone unsolved will create pandemonium. A perfect disaster. This zoo isn't big enough for that. So I think I have the right to distract myself with thoughts." He finished.
Marlene didn't exactly know what to say to that. But what he said just made her angry. He could turn any bad situation that he was in and turn the tables completely without seeming to try very hard. It annoyed her. "Who asked you to solve our problems?" She asked hatefully.
"Most of the time. You do." Kowalski replied.
"Or we hear something, go to it then get asked to help." Private added.
Marlene growled. She really hated their problem solving abilities. It made everyone else look like cowards and idiots. He marched up to Skipper. "I know that's not the real problem." She growled, poking his chest. "And I'm going to find out what it is." Then she marched out.
Skipper was confused, and concerned. Marlene was angry because… he had told her a perfect excuse? What was it? He never could fully understand her. He was concerned because she had seen through the excuse. That wasn't good. But although he didn't want to. He would just have to wait and see. He had three weeks to tell them about his family. But that wouldn't be enough time. He just knew it.
"Well?" Mason asked. "So who is it?"
Skipper was still staring at the door of the zooveneer shop. "No one. It must be a mistake." He replied calmly, not really thinking. "I think we can end this now. Is there anything else Mason?" Skipper asked looking up towards the chimp.
Phil scanned a piece of paper. He shook his head.
"Nope." Mason replied. "Looks like we don't have to stay here."
Skipper nodded. They all went back to their habitats.
But he couldn't stop thinking about them. Hoping they changed a little but not a lot. Hoping that they were still his family.