CHAPTER 7

PINK BLUE

After he'd reluctantly said goodbye to his king, Maurice walked over to the penguin HQ, ears drooping but his heart filled with hope.

Even though he knew that they were far from considering the lemurs agreeable neighbors, the penguins had helped them so many times before.

Although they made a secret about most of their missions, Maurice knew well what they were capable of. They could invade human homes and land crashing planes safely; they'd taken on rats, poisonous frogs, hungry boas, defeated evil scientists with lobster armies and mad human animal control officers, and even travelled to the moon.

As long as they worked together, nothing could bring them down. If they were asked to, they could save the world.

And after all that, they wouldn't go to bed without having done a good deed every day.

Whatever threatened King Julien – if it was too big for anyone else to handle, for them, it wouldn't be.

Still, Maurice wondered if it was the right decision to ask them about this case.

Skipper was a stone-cold general.

Kowalski was a scientist.

Rico wasn't quite psychologically adept either.

And Private was minor.

Maurice decided to tell at least Skipper about it; how much the rest of the team got to know then would be up to the leader. Despite his paranoia which showed up from time to time and scared Maurice a little, the old lemur saw well that he could do the most incredible things, like mastering P.E.L.T., driving human cars, getting a bunch of lovesick teenage beavers to work for him, easily spoiling other animals' megalomaniac world conquest plans, and he had proved to even have Santa magic coursing through his veins.

Except from some rare cases he was pretty much fearless; this was what impressed Maurice most. Skipper was a role model of strength, courage, and stamina; and also sensibility, if he wasn't in a cranky mood.

He enjoyed playing with danger like others enjoyed their holiday.

Always standing tall. Never bending, never breaking, never backing down.

If there was anyone able to help his king, it was him.

When Maurice came to their habitat the penguin team was working overtime.

The four of them stood in straight line, the three subordinated soldiers listening to their skipper's commandos before they executed them all in perfect unison.

"Kick! Punch! Chop! Mulch! Duck! Spin! Back-flip! Twirl! Bob and weave! Weave and bob! Plié! Punch! And kick! And... home time!"

The rookery high-fived before they began tidying up their drill equipment.

"Ah, Maurice!" the leader greeted the arriving lemur, "Just in time for Shirtless Ninja Action Theater!"

Maurice gave him a cautious smile. "Yeah, uh, could I… talk to you for a second?"

Skipper raised an eyebrow. "Sure." His face turned stern and serious again as he focused on resuming business. "Home time over, boys."

The three other penguins came running back to him.

Maurice moved a little closer to the leader. "Uh, I'm not sure they –."

But Skipper shook his head. "I have no secrets from my brothers. Well, let's say almost none."

"I just mean…" He lowered his voice a little more and added, only for Skipper to hear, "This might be not suitable for young ears."

Skipper blinked. Not many were able to surprise the leader of the penguin commando unit.

"Uh, Private?" he said aloud.

The youngest penguin smiled attentively at his leader. "Yes, Skipper?"

"My boy, do me a favor and turn the TV on already. We're with you in a second but we can't miss any important strike, so watch closely, okay?"

"Certainly, Sir."

Skipper looked at the lemur encouragingly after the rookie had left.

Maurice heaved a deep sigh. "It's Julien. I don't know what I'm going to do with him!"

"Well now, that's something new." Skipper laughed ironically.

"No… I don't mean that."

And then he told them everything, everything. What Julien was like when he returned to them from Hoboken. How much he had changed; how all his life Julien had been striding through the world in such a confident, carefree, and brash way, and how he had turned into the anxious, timid and absentminded being he was now. He told them about his fear of darkness and loud music, about their evasive dialogues and about the bruises.

The three penguins stood beside him, listening to him in silence; it was obvious that they were hardly able to guess what this was about.

"You know, when we throw him a party here, we keep it clean, with several fun activities to do," Maurice tried to express his suspicion, "We care about the attitude, you know. Since we have Mort around we mind the age limit anyways. We go bouncing, swimming, making music, playing party games; we're having snacks and smoothies. Non-alcoholic, of course. We keep our parties clean and safe for everyone concerned. Nothing like… you know." Maurice looked sternly at the leader. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you?!"

Skipper blinked. Once, twice.

"Everyone's in peace with each other, everyone loves hanging around with each other. You know, like friends do. Innocent. Non-lustful."

"Non-… Oh, you mean –." Skipper put the tip of his flipper to his beak. "Oh."

Finally something like understanding flooded his gaze.

"Are we talking about… well… abuse?" he asked with obvious uneasiness.

Maurice crossed his arms, inwardly rolling his eyes. "You're batting a thousand."

Silence ensued. Rico had listened to the entire conversation with a curious look but obviously without any clue what this was about, whereas Kowalski, flushing under his feathers all over, sat down on the fish bowl in deep confusion and didn't know what to say.

"Abuse? Oh. You mean… in that way. You mean Julien, he's – well, whenever he's in Hoboken, you mean –. Oh golly."

The three penguins kept their silence for some more embarrassed minutes. Maurice frowned. He wouldn't have believed them to be so uptight about this!

"Any suspects?" Skipper finally asked.

"Indeed. I'd bet my bottom dollar on Clemson!"

The three looked at each other.

Were they really talking about Clemson?

Their guest from a few weeks ago?

The red lemur with gentle manners, good humor, and a remarkable stroke of ingenuity?

Then Skipper burst out with the answer Maurice had wished for least of all.

"But that's completely ridiculous! Maurice, I'm actually shocked to find you so intolerant. There's nothing wrong with a male lemur having a boyfriend, nothing at all. Private's going to learn that, too. Just because all of you oh so naturally expect to see the ringtail king side by side with a ringtail queen –."

"No, no; it's not about that," Maurice quickly interrupted, "Not at all!"

"Considering this answer to be honest, I'd highly suspect this is all about jealousy then," Kowalski whispered into his leader's ear. Skipper nodded.

"Look, Maurice, I can imagine how you feel seeing the two of them together, really. But you mustn't hold it against neither of them, okay? Look, unlike you, Clemson is just rather Ringtail's age and –."

"You're getting this all completely wrong!" Frustrated, Maurice turned his back on them.

"Look, if I knew Julien was truly happy with him, I'd be down on Clemson in no way, in no way at all, but I just feel he isn't and though I don't know what's really going on between them, I can tell you he's not feeling for Clemson what the guy is feeling for him, in fact I can tell you the guy is an utter threat to him! I feel… you know, this whole 'meeting-the-zoo-kings' thing has been changing Julien a lot. I feel I… I'm losing his trust, and… This has never been happening before and I don't like it, not at all. It's this red lemur who's gotten between the two of us!"

"Still sounds like jealousy," Kowalski muttered.

"If there was nothing wrong between those two, why would Julien be acting all gloomy then?" Maurice insisted, turning to face them again.

Skipper just shrugged. "Ringtail's always been one moody monarch, hasn't he. Probably because he's been jerky again and now the others at the party don't pay attention to him anymore or something. – But I've got to admit you're indeed the one of us who knows Julien best. So, did he ever… tell you anything along these lines?"

"No, but –."

"There you go: you see he continues going there no matter what. If there was someone who was… doing these things to him, why would he ever do so, risking to see the guy again? I say he's just trying to get some attention by acting so sulkily. Just wait a while and he'll lose interest in those parties, and then Clemson as well is going to see what a buffoon he is actually dating and bingo, you'll have your old king back annoying you ever so regularly."

"You just don't understand…!"

Maurice frantically raised his paws. "I've known Julien for so long and we've always trusted each other. He's my best friend. I feel he's in trouble with Clemson and I'm convinced that this one thing he's trying to hide from me is that this red lemur –."

"Sorry, didn't Private just call for something? Gosh, I think I left the Bunsen burner on in my lab! Sorry."

It was obvious that Kowalski couldn't take the topic any longer. Even though Maurice had known he wouldn't be familiar with this kind of problems, he would've expected him to act more level-headed. Rico shrugged as he left and then tagged along after him.

Maurice found himself alone with the leader.

Skipper watched him in silence for a while. Maurice saw there was much more going on behind his icy blue eyes than he would speak aloud.

"What is this all about?!" he confronted him, "You do know very well that you can trust me when it's about Julien, don't you. Then why do I have the feeling you're just downplaying the whole issue? You're not afraid to talk about such things, are you?"

"Afraid? Me?"

The leader's eyes lit up with indignation. "Beware of how you speak to me, old lemur!"

"Oh yeah? Then why are you acting like this?"

"Listen, I'm not afraid of anything." Skipper turned to him, all of a sudden fuming with anger. "I'm just goddamn sick of Ringtail getting himself into trouble for the thousandth time, and I'm supposed to get him out again. Like when he thought he could fool around with that angry rhino. Or with our super toxic aromatically noxious mega bomb. Or even worse: when he stole Kowalski's invention and misused it for his own mad wishes, causing chaos with it which we had to fix in the end!"

"I know, I know. He really likes to mess with others from time to time but –."

"From time to time, you say. Some cheerful soul are you. I've always been wondering how you bear it with that guy for so long. But that's your own business."

He turned away again as if with these words the issue was settled to him.

"Please, Skipper…," Maurice begged him, his voice suddenly a little shaky, "It's about Hoboken; you guys are probably the only ones –."

"Well, this is exactly what I'm talking about!" The leader furiously clenched his flippers.

"– Don't say I didn't warn him, Maurice. I told him how dangerous it was to embark on this whole thing but that Piña Colada Boy had to ignore my advice once again in order to play dandy! And now I shall come running to save him, putting my men's lives at risk in that hellhole? Thank you very much! This time he's on his own. Look, I don't mean to sound heartless but if you ask me, your fine friend just gets what he deserves if –."

"Skipper!" An anxious cry interrupted them harshly. Private leapt topside again from under the fish bowl, carrying Kowalski's smartphone. "We have a 911 from Miami!"

Kowalski and Rico came running right after him and the whole rookery excitedly gathered around the youngest.

A variety of loud and nonmusical sounds emerged from the phone loudspeaker. The chimpanzees' faces showed up blurred on the display via video transfer. Phil wildly gestured to the penguins and Mason's translation almost got absorbed by the enormous noise level in the background.

"Is that you, penguins? We're currently on our way back from Miami by rail," Mason explained as calmly as he could, "However, because of an unexpected technical malfunction we're –."

"HELP! THE TRAIN CAN'T BE STOPPED! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" a human voice yelled in the background so piercingly the loudspeaker almost failed.

"Got it. – Rico, get the car! Kowalski, the first aid kit and four reflective vests! Private, turn the TV off! Maurice, we're talking later. – Hold on, chimpanzees, we're on our way!"

Ditched like this, Maurice stayed back without another word when the penguins dashed away in their pink toy car, engine screaming.

The gray lemur stared after them, left alone in the silent darkness.

They had been his only hope.

Slowly he turned away. When he made his way back home into the lemur habitat, his gaze flew over the empty throne, and tears slowly began running down his face.

Julien…