" In the Not Too Distant Future"
Thanks for the reviews everyone. I'm glad to know that you're not angry about me getting rid of Marlene. If you are, I'm sorry about making her life end that way. Truely, I am. But rest assured, I guarantee that Marlene's role is not over, yet :) Thank-you for reading this message. Please enjoy. Warning: Chapter may be revised, again.
Chapter 6
" It's moooving day," Kowalski then chuckled. Skipper chuckled back as his mind drifted away from the horrid
events, which had occurred earlier. " Okay," Kowalski tapped the bottom of his beak." I've got another one.
A lemur walks into a television store and asks " Sir, I would like to buy a television." The clerk looks at him
and says. " Sorry, we don't have any televisions." The lemur looked around the store. " But, Sir, there's one
right there." The clerk grew impatient. " I told you we don't have any televisions." The lemur rolled his eyes.
" If you don't have any televisions then why is there one here with buttons on the front of it?" Suddenly, the
clerk marched up to the lemur and said " That's not a television, that's a microwave."," Kowalski then
bursted out laughing, which made Skipper stare at him.
" Kowalski," Skipper raised an eyebrow. " That was the longest joke I have ever heard you tell."
" But it was funny at least, right," Kowalski calmed himself down from laughing.
" Stupid funny? Yes," Skipper stated then paused. " Ha, ha funny? No. However, I admire your resentment
toward the lemurs."
" Well, I tried," Kowalski shrugged to himself.
" That you did, Kowalski," Skipper smirked. " A word of advice, stick to short jokes with the punch lines,
okay?"
" Okay," Kowalski muttered then thought of another joke. " What did the sun say to the earth?"
" I don't know. What," Skipper questioned as he and Kowalski got closer to the animal habitats at the zoo.
" You revolve around me," Kowalski retorted then cackled. " Get it?"
" Oh," Skipper widened his eyes then laughed. " I get it. Good one, Kowalski. I think I'm feeling a little
better, now." Suddenly, Skipper felt something cold touch one of his shoulders. He turned around to see
who it was, but only found the animal hospital. Skipper shrugged, turned around, and kept walking. Soon,
the two had arrived at the penguin habitat and waddled inside. After they went inside, they saw Max asleep
inside of his crib with Private and Rico watching him from the outside of the guardrail.
Skipper cautiously approached the group to avoid spooking them. Private noticed Skipper coming and looked
up. " Hello, Skipper," he whispered.
" Hello, Private," Skipper whispered back.
" So," Private spoke, slowly. " How's Marlene doing? Is she alright?"
Skipper sighed." She's in a better place," he replied, shakily as his muscles tightened.
" Oh, dear," Private stated out of shock as tears began to form in his eyes. " What happened?"
" I'd rather not talk about it," Skipper retorted, solemly as Private wiped the tears out of his eyes. " So, how
was Max while I was gone?"
" A bit fussy, but after a while he went to sleep, after I played him a lullaby," Private grinned as he looked
over at Max.
" Lullaby," Rico yawned as he stretched his flippers.
" Lullaby," Skipper raised an eyebrow. " What kind of lullaby?"
" The usual," Private shrugged. " I didn't sing it to him, though."
" Private," Skipper chortled. " The point of a lullaby is to sing it."
" But I didn't have to," Private stated. " I found a box full of CD's, in the hallway closet and I just had to find
out what songs were on them. So, I stuck them in the TV's DVD player and listened to them."
" Did they have any labels on them," Skipper raised his voice in curiosity.
" As a matter of fact, yes," Private thought out loud. " One of them was labeled Let Your Mind Drift Naturally.
It was a very lovely song, but I had no idea who wrote it seeing that the artist's name was not on there. On
the plus side, they had a very heavenly voice."
" Private," Skipper slapped himself on the forehead. " That was my heavenly voice. I wrote those songs and
recorded them as demos to help me point out errors, so I can fix them and rerecord what I did."
" That was you," Private widened his eyes. " Wicked brilliant!"
" And everyone says that I get overexcited," Kowalski mumbled with a smirk from behind Private and
Skipper.
" Skipper," Private then put his flippers together. " Can I please keep and play your songs? Please?"
" I don't know," Skipper rubbed the bottom of his beak with his flipper. " Like I said before, those songs are
just demos."
" I don't care," Private scoffed. " They don't have to be perfect."
" Alright," Skipper groaned. " But they do not leave the HQ, okay? I don't want to be trashed and trampled
by crazed fans or anything. I've got enough on my plate, already."
" Okay," Private stated, cheerfully then went to go play the songs in the DVD player. He pressed a button on
the panel of the TV and the music began playing. A few seconds later, Private waddled back over to his
brothers and stood next to the " Private's First Prize" entrance, which was next to the crib.
" You wrote some songs and recorded them on CD's," Kowalski raised an eyebrow as he looked over at
Skipper.
" Guilty as charged," he shrugged, bashfully.
" I thought I've been hearing a voice for the past several years," Kowalski sighed in relief. " At first, I
thought it was an angel then I thought I was hearing things. It turns out; it was you this whole time. Why
didn't you tell us?"
" I'm a military commander, Kowalski," Skipper retorted, seriously. " I like to keep my personal life and my
work life separate from each other."
" But you work with family," Kowalski looked into Skipper's eyes. " You could've told us anytime."
" I know," Skipper rolled his eyes then turned them back to Kowalski. " But still, it's embarrassing to just
waddle up and say, hey, I like to write songs, play the Spanish guitar, and sing. Would you like to hear my
demos?"
" Skipper, come on," Kowalski groaned. " It's not really that embarrassing if you think about it, especially
standing next to my hobby."
" Which is what, dare I ask," Skipper raised an eyebrow.
" Beanie Baby collecting," Kowalski blushed. " But I plan on giving them to my daughters someday, in hopes
of continuing the collection."
" Wow," Skipper smiled. " That is embarrassing. The whole you collecting the Beanie Babies thing." Suddenly,
the song that Skipper had recorded for his honeymoon with Marlene started to play. Skipper sighed. He
regretted ever recording that song, let alone giving Private the CD to it. Skipper waddled over and sat down
at the brick table with his back facing toward the group, wanting to be alone. Kowalski stayed in place and
listened to the lyrics, carefully. It was a love song.
" This is a song I would like to dedicate to my dearest Marlene, the girl who's got a lot of otter wits. Get it?
That's her last name. Otterwitz. Here we go. Marlene," the song blurted out with Skipper's voice, along with
the Spanish guitar in the background. " You are the water beneath my flippers, Marlene. You are everything in
my life that I have ever looked for, Marlene. Every time I see you, my heart goes crazy, Marlene. I've been in love
with you since the first day I've met you, Marlene. Marlene? You are the one for me, Marlene. I know it seems like
I'm really mean, but you don't know what I have seen. You are beautiful, intellectual, and… Dare I say it?
Individual. Marlene? I'm in love with you, Marlene. You have always been there for me, Marlene. And for that I will
always be there for yooooou."
As soon as that song ended, the DVD player began playing a different one. Skipper, who noticed that the
song had finally switched, started waddling back over to his brothers. As he waddled back, he heard a
female's voice call his name. It sounded just like Marlene's. He turned around, again to see who it was, but
nothing was there, except for the table and the TV. Skipper shook his head to himself and finished his
journey back across the room to meet his team. They were all staring at him with wide smiles. " Wow,"
Kowalski swiftly wiped tears out of his eyes. " That song was amazing. When did you write that?"
" I wrote it the first day I met, Marlene," Skipper uttered. " As a matter of fact, I sang that very song to her
on our honeymoon, Spanish guitar and all."
" That must have took a lot of guts," Private chirped.
" Guts," Rico buzzed.
" Yeah," Skipper groaned. " And you know what? I enjoyed it. Too bad I won't be able to listen to it as much
anymore, let alone sing it."
" Why not, Skipper," Private shrugged.
" I wrote that song just for Marlene," Skipper stated as drops of water fought to escape from his tear ducts.
" And now that she's…" He covered his face with his flippers and quietly sobbed into them. Kowalski, Rico,
and Private glanced at each other with worried expressions.
The young penguin waddled next to the lead penguin." Chin up, Skipper," Private patted Skipper on the
back, tearing up, again. " You still have us, your friends, and your children."
" True," Skipper sniffled as he lifted his head up from his flippers. He quickly wiped the tears off of his face
then thought for a moment. Soon, he looked up at the clock. It was eleven-thirty seven in the morning. " I
should probably go get Maddie," he muttered. " Tell her what's going on before she comes home."
" Comes home," Private raised an eyebrow. " Where is she?"
" At the lemur habitat, hanging out with Ringtail's kids," Skipper tilted his head. " Didn't I already tell you that
when I dropped off Max earlier?"
" No," Private shook his head from side to side. " You just asked me to watch Max while you went to the
hospital to check on Marlene."
" Hmm," Skipper pondered, out loud. " Thought I told you. Oh, well. Anyways. I'll be back." He gradually
waddled over to the ladder, climbed up then exited through the fish bowl entrance.
Private turned to Kowalski who was watching the exit Skipper had taken. " So," he started out slowly. " How
do you think Maddie will take the news?"
" I'm not sure," Kowalski responded, with a hint of hesitation in his voice. " If she's anything like Skipper,
she'll probably take the news the same way as he did. If not. Who knows?"
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(Gasps) Somebody or something is following Skipper. ( Eep!) That's right, I did find a way to squeeze Marlene back into the story:) I couldn't bear the thought of keeping her out of it any longer. The story was too lonely and it was torturing me. Anyways. Coming up next in Chapter 7. Catch Maddie's reaction to Marlene being gone. Please stay tuned and found out more. BTW: I did not make up the jokes by myself nor do I own the Beanie Babies. However, I did write the song by myself. If it sounds familiar from somewhere else, please bring it to my attention so I can properly credit the writers responsible. I don't know about you, but for some odd reason that song keeps sounding like a country song, everytime I try to imagine it. LOL . Anyways. Thanks for reading this message.