Nigel had promised himself. He promised himself that he would scour the whole London Zoo, maybe even the whole Earth if he had to, to find Private and bring him home. The weeping of Angela on the couch disturbed his thoughts every now and again. He would turn to her and tell her it was all right, but he wasn't really sure of it himself. By now Private could be in the snow leopard habitat! Nigel gulped and pushed the thought away along with a few woeful tears. He had to find Private, he just had to!
After thoroughly scanning through the igloo home, Nigel came to the conclusion that Private must be outside. He burst across the threshold and out into the clearing of the village, achieving strange looks from the others of the rookery. Like that wasn't normal. Nigel really didn't notice all of the other penguins' gazes on him; his mind was too clouded with fear for his new-found nephew. Nigel huffed and puffed, sprinting past igloo after igloo hoping that Private would coincidentally be there. Soon he came behind Hyacinth's house hold. Nigel was gulping in every breath he could get and kept himself propped up with a flipper on the cold wall. He was sweating a waterfall. He heard a small babble coming from in front of him. He lifted his head and saw Hyacinth playing patty-cake with a young toddler, most likely her son. She and the toddler eyed him curiously. The little one toddled over to Nigel, who barely caught him when he stumbled.
"Nigel! Whatever happened to you? You look like you were hit by a bus!" Hyacinth cried out, taking the toddler from him.
"I...I…was looking…f…for…P…Private!" Nigel said, kneeling down and talking between gasps.
"How's that?" Hyacinth was puzzled by his stuttering, but a wave of understanding washed over her face. "Ah! That child from the other day! Oh he is the cutest little thing! …other than my son, of course."
Nigel snickered. "My sistah would probably beg to diffah." Nigel got his train of thought back and looked solemn. "Have you seen him? Private, I mean."
Hyacinth was thoughtful for a moment. "Hm…I think I saw him go…that way!"
Nigel looked perturbed. "You mean you watched him crawl out of the habitat?" Nigel yelled.
Hyacinth looked a little irritated. "I was a bit busy with my own baby, thank you very much!" she gestured with her head towards the little toddling chick that kept falling down.
Nigel nodded. He began towards the entrance when Hyacinth called after him, "Wait! I have something to tell you!"
"What is it?" Nigel asked, bounding back.
"Before the baby, there was a tall and muscular penguin, beckoning him towards the entrance of the habitat. Does that mean anything to you?"
A shot of angry recognition hit Nigel right between the eyes. It was the commissioner! But why would he do this now? Nigel had expected more from his commanding officer who was so far above him in the ranks. Stealing a child was such a lowly thing to do. Nigel pushed away his thoughts and raced to the entrance with new ideas in mind. He would fight the commissioner if he had to, even if it meant he'd have no job. Anything was worth getting his nephew back.
When he was out in the warmer climate of the zoo, he looked around. Across the way was the snow leopard, her black and white coat shimmering in artificial lighting. She spotted Nigel and asked him over. He thought and walked over with a hurried mind.
"What is it?" he snapped.
The young snow leopard's eyes showed slight shock in the sense that Nigel had said it like that, but she went on.
"What's going on? I saw an old guy carrying a baby out of your habitat, then you show up, the penguin who nevah leaves home, looking like a man on a mission." She said, rolling over on her back cutely.
Nigel thought of a way to answer in which she would understand. He looked at the ground and then back at her. He nodded and dashed off again. The snow leopard sat there with a confused look on her face, licked a paw and drew it over her ear. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, returning her gaze to the old bird.
"Now what have you gotten yourself into, you old coot?" the snow leopard muttered and then went about her normal buisness.
Nigel raced along, following the path he'd assumed the commissioner would take. He could see a dark shape in the distance. He knew who it was and surged forwards, lunging at the man in question. He landed in front of him, stopping the scarred penguin in his tracks.
"Commissioner! What do you think you're doing?!" Nigel inquired angrily.
"I'm helping you!" the commissioner yelled back.
"Kidnapping a baby is helping me? I shuddah to think what not helping means to you!"
"You're going soft with all of this baby stuff! Pretty soon, you'll be a daycare employee!" the commissioner implied.
Nigel was exasperated, but was good at concealing his feelings. "Please, don't make this hard on yourself. Hand ovah Private and I won't hold this against you."
"Private?" the commissioner looked down at the baby. "You named him Private?"
Nigel nodded and added defensively, "He simply liked the name. Now, if you'd kindly hand him ovah."
The commissioner looked up at Nigel and then down at the baby again. "Were you planning on enrolling him in military school when he was older?"
"How is that any concern of yours?" Nigel asked.
"Well, if you were, I might become his future boss." The commissioner said smugly.
Nigel grunted and persisted. "I will dismiss this entiah encountah if you'd please just hand the boy ovah."
The commissioner gave last glances to the two, handed Private to Nigel, and ran off. Nigel held Private close and walked back into the habitat, then into the igloo. Angela was nowhere to be seen. That's peculiah. He thought. He waddled over to the recliner and sat down with Private steadied on his belly, copying the game of "Peek-a-boo" from before.
Nigel laughed lightly. He picked up the baby, got up, and set him back down in the chair. Private lifted outstretched flippers and said, "Up! Up!"
Nigel couldn't do anything but smile and oblige. "I guess I have to take you with me. Come, we must find your mothah."
Nigel carried young Private on his shoulders and over to Hyacinth's igloo. At least, he was pretty confident that was where his sister had disappeared to, Hyacinth being the only neighbor. When Nigel waddled in, he had to take Private off of his shoulders because of the low ceiling. There were the two ladies, sitting on the couch and chatting restlessly. Angela let out more tears and a gasp came when she saw Private. She rushed at Nigel like a football player and took the baby. She squeezed them both in a tight bear hug, her amber eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Oh hooray! I missed you so much! What happened, Nigel? Give me every detail!" Angela insisted.
Hyacinth wasn't as interested, saying that she was much too busy with her household chores and asked of them to take their family business elsewhere. They did so, heading back to their own home. Angela cooed in Private's ear hole the whole way, and even when she sat down on the couch. The two were inseparable, and you could just tell that they were mother and son. Nigel began to think of ways to explain these things to Angela. She finally looked up from her happiness and asked, "So what did happen?"
Nigel cleared his throat and told her about how one of his commanding officers asked of him to be back to work. He had refused and asked for more time. Unfortunately, his commanding officer wasn't patient enough and decided to take the baby to change Nigel's mind. Angela seemed horrified at the thought.
"Take a baby? Is he insane?!" she cried.
"Apparently," Nigel said with a chuckle. "I don't know how long he'll leave this."
"If he comes anywhere near Private again I'll cut his head off!" Angela said ferociously.
Nigel smiled, although he wasn't sure he should encourage this behavior. "Well, I won't leave you and Private alone without a very good reason."
"Alright." Angela agreed.
"Funny," Nigel said. "I thought you'd want to go home back to your rookery and your husband."
Angela suddenly had a spark form a fire in her eyes. "Nope. Not at all." She said flatly.
Feeling a sense of danger in Angela, he asked to hold the baby. After he took Private from her, her flipper tips balled up and clenched. He gulped, and pushed no further into the subject although he really wanted to know why she was so touchy when her husband came up into conversation. He pondered for a moment and heard his sister relax her muscles. She sighed and looked up at him from the point of view of the couch. She looked depressed as she began.
"I suppose I should tell you how I lost…Private and he ended up here." She began. "It was when I was in Antarctica when it happened, obviously. It was the time when we females go hunting while the guys take care of the eggs. Well, I came back and noticed my husband Gerald was a little sad. He had told me that he lost the egg. I…I guess I lost my temper because…well, you know, it's so cold in Antarctica that you wouldn't expect an orphaned egg to survive. I decided to go for a walk after I…chased...Gerald…off. Then, I found human tracks and decided to follow to see where they went because I just had to get away, I just had to! When I figured out I had landed in London, I came to visit you." She gave a smile. "Then I found Private... So, you see, I just can't go back to Antarctica, I can't and I won't! There's nothing you can do to make me!"
"Oh, alright…If you say so, Angela." Nigel said submissively.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!" Angela said dramatically.
Nigel was happy. "But, I must warn you not to tell him of my military background."
Angela nodded. "I didn't want to tell him, anyway."
"It would put him in jeopardy if he told anyone, even in the rookery. This is the only way of keeping both of you safe. Have you any idea how many bad men are aftah me just because I foiled their evil plots?" Angela shook her head and watched him like a child would a story teller. Nigel was thoughtful for a moment. "Me neither." They laughed together and Private giggled, just for the sake of being happy.
What a trio they were!