Over the next month, Alice couldn't help but notice a change in her penguins' behavior, especially in the littlest one, the one that usually made the cover of the brochure. All of them, but especially he seemed sadder, less active, and generally less 'cute and cuddly' than before. Not only did this odd behavior be unappealing to visitors once the zoo was reopened soon… but the other thing was that (not that she would admit it), she hated to see the poor guys this way. They'd always been so happy, so playful… Alice knew that they were probably getting into trouble when they were happiest, but she also knew she would be the one in trouble if the penguins - a.k.a. Central Park Zoo's most popular exhibit since Alex the Lion - didn't lighten up before the zoo reopened for the spring.
So, as usual, it was up to Alice to make the zoo right again.
When she returned to her apartment that night, she opened up her laptop, went online, and opened up a few websites zookeepers around the world used to keep in touch. It was faster than mailing letters from their zoos, and it was a good way to get to know a specific keeper before transferring an animal somewhere.
Alice took a sip of her hot tea and thought back. When did the penguins start acting this way?
Easy. About a month ago, about the time that those two females from Boston were sent back… females. Duh - her penguins must have like having a lady around. In fact… the more she considered it… if she could get one of her boys to mate and produce a chick, visitors would flock to the zoo like flies to honey. To Alice, that could only mean one thing: BONUS CHECK!
So she put an ad on one of the websites' special pages for requesting animals:
CENTRAL PARK ZOO - NYC, NY. REQUESTING FEMALE PENGUIN - PREFERABLY OF THE CLASSIFIED (1) SPECIES - AT LOW PRICE.
She glanced over her ad. She'd asked for a low price after remembering the sorry state of the zoo's budget at the moment (money for animal's food/upkeep + no visitor = no profits.) The ad seemed good to her, and clicked SEND. The little window closed, and within the second, her ad was at the top of the requests page.
She repeated this short process for a few days - the request page filled up fast this time of year and she knew people wouldn't scroll down enough to see her first ad. Alice received her first response three days later:
RE: CENTRAL PARK ZOO, NYC, NY - GREAT PLAINS ZOO, SIOUX FALLS, SD: HAVE CLASSIFIED FEMALE IN PRIME CONDITION. VERY IDEAL FOR BREEDING - YOURS FOR $50K PLUS SHIPPING.
Alice nearly dropped her laptop. Fifty thousand dollars for one penguin? No matter how ideal she was for breeding, there was no way her zoo could afford that and still feed the animals. She typed up a quick 'thanks-but-no-thanks' and sent in another ad.
The next response was from Austin, Texas. She was an immediate reject - she wasn't a Classified, which wouldn't have been a problem, but this… female… the eyebrows growing out of that thing would have scared away not only her boys but the visitors as well!
Finally, a week and a half after her first ad, Alice finally thought she made a real discovery:
RE: CENTRAL PARK ZOO, NYC, NY - HENRY DOORLY ZOO, OMAHA, NE. HAVE CLASSIFIED FEMALE, WITH CONDITION. WILL SELL FOR CHEAP - EMAIL FOR MORE INFO.
Alice emailed the Henry Doorly keeper and soon discovered what 'with condition' meant - the female was blind from hatching. She wasn't exactly a knock-out, either… but at least she didn't have heinous eyebrows sprouting like weeds, and still looked lovable, in a way. The disability would be easy enough to take care of, the exhibit wasn't exactly a maze, she'd learn soon enough how to get around. Plus, the price was great - only three thousand dollars, including shipping!
Alice knew she wouldn't get another offer like this in time for opening. She quickly sent another email saying she'd take the female, and within the week, the girl was on her way.
Alice felt… kind of proud of herself. Maybe she should do stuff like this more often… nah. Too much work.
The female arrived, and the boys took to her instantly. It was almost as if they didn't even care that she couldn't see…
The zoo reopened the day after the female arrived, with all the penguins (hopefully) in lighter spirits. Still, Alice decided to keep a closer watch over them than before, to see if her work would be fruitful at all.
…
Spring was, and always would be, Private's favorite time of year: all the birds came back and sang their happy songs; leaves grew back on the trees; the whole world in general seemed brighter, more hopeful. How fitting the season was for Private and the team right now - spring fever was taking its toll on the whole team, plus their new housemate and Kowalski's old friend ( and now mate), Katrina, who'd surprised them with her arrival a month or so earlier.
This year's springtime meant more than just a change of temperature to Private - Skipper had said that the team, in the spring, would set out for Boston to see Sarah! Private couldn't wait to see his love again… but unfortunately, he was forced to wait. Spring had sprung almost two weeks ago, but Skipper hadn't so much as mentioned any plans to go to Boston. Private was getting impatient, so he garnered up all his courage and finally asked Skipper outright when they would start the trip.
Skipper didn't answer at first. Since they were in the HQ, where Katrina, Kowalski, and Rico could hear, Skipper made a motion and Private followed him up top.
"So?" Private asked excitedly.
Skipper couldn't look Private quite in the eye. "Private… I don't think we can go to Boston. Not now, at least."
Silence.
Private said incredulously, "Why… why not?"
"We can't just leave Katrina here all by herself - the HQ's too lonely and she doesn't know the zoo well enough yet - she could get hurt."
"Kowalski can stay with her!" Private said quite desperately.
"We need Kowalski to read the map." Skipper said in a calm voice.
"What about Marlene, they're friends-"
"We could be gone for up to a week, Private. Marlene can't handle our security defenses, only we know how they work."
"Rico?" Private squeaked, already knowing where this was going.
Skipper rolled his eyes. "Half of Rico's communication is gestures and expressions. I'm sure Katrina would love figuring that out."
Private yelled, "I promised Sarah I'd visit her as soon as possible - she's expecting me to come! Skippah, I need to see her again!"
"You were doing just fine before she came along, you'll be fine a while longer." Skipper retorted sharply.
"I can't just leave her when she needs me most! I'm not you, Skippah!"
The words were out before Private even had time to think about it. Private gasped at himself, and slapped his flippers over his beak, wishing he could take the words out of the air and back in his mind.
But he couldn't. Skipper's expression hardened, and his eyes focused on Private's face in a steely, cold glare.
Quietly, angrily, Skipper said, "With any other commander, you would be marked up for insubordination today. Demoted… dishonored…"
"I'm so sorry, Skippah, I didn't mean-"
"But given the circumstances, I'll let it slide - but this will be going into the captain's log."
"Yes, sir." Private said in a defeated voice. Private walked past Skipper to go back into the HQ as Skipper added, "Mention one word of this to anyone else and I may rethink my decision against marking you up."
"Yes, sir." Private repeated.
Skipper's anger abated a little bit at the sight of Private's face - expressionless and numb.
"And Private?"
The saddened soldier looked up at his captain. "Yes?"
"I really am sorry… I considered every possibility you did, but… I'm sorry."
"It's all right, Skipper." Private mumbled, then closed the fishbowl behind him.
Skipper was absolutely certain that was the first time Private had ever lied to him.
…
After a few weeks of observation, Alice noticed something that made her angry: after all that extra work, the littlest guy, the one she'd been most worried about, wasn't any happier with the girl here than without! Actually, if anyone was happier, it was the tallest one. He seemed to be head over heels for her - always by her side, holding her flipper and guiding her away from the edges of the concrete floe… that was definitely going in her report this month. Not that her bosses would believe her - they never did when it came to her penguins. Five weeks after her arrival, Alice saw that she started paying attention specifically and only to the tall guy, and he never left her side… Alice figured they must have mated.
In that moment, something in Alice's mind finally clicked. Mated… female… penguin… Boston… of course! That's why the little guy was still so sad - he didn't want any girl, he wanted his girl! Alice also realized she'd inadvertently broken the unwritten rule of the zookeeper: never separate mates - mainly because some animals were known to actually die from 'heartbreak', knowing their better half wasn't with them. Taking a look and the poor little guy, Alice couldn't help but wonder if that was the way her little penguin was headed now…!
Without even taking the time to make a sarcastic remark to herself about how much she was really starting to care about the penguins, she went to her office in the zoo and called up the Boston zookeeper.
"Hey, is this Judd? Yeah, I'm Alice McAllister from Central Park in New York… you know those penguins you sent over while you were remodeling… yeah, I think it's the one with the thing about the notebook - yeah, we need her back."
(1) For the record, I did not think up the name for our penguins' species. That honor goes to GrandOldPenguin. It is mentioned in a few of his stories, and is used with his permission because it's an awesome idea for a name for Penguins' species - the Classified Penguin. (Thanks again!)
I actually really like Alice - she seems so uptight in the series, but we don't see enough of her to really make a judgement on her character. I personally think she really does care about the well-being of her animals, but doesn't like to show it - too much New Yorker in her to be that way. I really noticed how cool she was at the end of the new episode "The Big Squeeze", when Savio the snake jumped out at her, fangs bared and ready to kill, and she just said, "This ain't New Jersey, tough guy!" and slammed the door in his face. If that isn't as B.A., I don't know what is.
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