" Days with the Down Feathers"
Thanks for the reviews, everyone. They were fabulous. Anyway. Here's the next chapter. Please enjoy. Warning: Chapter may be revised, again.
Chapter 14
" I'm in," Rico grunted.
Skipper took in a deep breath then stood back up. " Let's go," he mumbled.
Meanwhile, far away from the shore of where his brothers were at, Kowalski struggled to keep his head
above the water. Unfortunately, his limbs started going limp as his breathing became shallow, after a
while. Soon, his mind became clouded with thoughts as he let out a deep breath. Why did I have to follow
that fish. The penguin screamed in his head. Or better yet, why did I have to go full throttle to catch it without
thinking. Kowalski sighed. That's what I get for forgetting to estimate the differentials between the pool at
home and here. I guess I'm not as smart as I, or what everyone else, thought. Suddenly, his thoughts were
yanked away from him when he saw something moving close to the surface of the water. Kowalski held his
breath as he stared at the spot then swam toward it. When he got there, he stopped and watched the
figure, carefully. Soon, without warning, a fish jumped right out of the water, splashing Kowalski in the
face, and dived back into the lake. It was the exact same fish that Kowalski was trying to catch, earlier.
Kowalski groaned then snapped his head up when he saw a black and white figure in the distance.
The tall intellect gasped. " Hey," he hollered, waving a flipper in the air, while keeping afloat with the other.
" I'm over here." The figure saw him and began swimming toward him. As it got closer, Kowalski squinted
his eyes then widened them. " Rico," he chirped as Rico came into view.
" Uh-huh," Rico grunted with a nod as he came to a stop.
" Oh, thank heavens," Kowalski sighed as he wiped his forehead with one of his flippers then looked
around the lake. " Where's Uncle Nigel?"
" Lake," Rico choked out as he pointed toward a random area of the water. " You."
" Uncle Nigel's looking for me," Kowalski squeaked. Rico lowered his flipper and nodded his head.
" What about you," Kowalski chimed. " Or did you get yourself stranded, too?"
" You. Looking," Rico belched out. " Skipper, too."
" Skipper's looking for me, too and so were you," Kowalski piped.
" Yeah," Rico gruffed. All of a sudden, thunder rumbled throughout the water. Apparently, there was
supposed to be a rainstorm, today that the penguins did not know of or hear about, at all.
" I think we'd better find a way to get out of here and fast," Kowalski tweeted, while he was looking up at
the now dark and cloudy sky then snapped his attention toward Rico. " Rico, do you have a lifesaver we
could use to help us paddle back to shore?" Rico bobbed his head once then coughed up a piece of hard
candy. He handed it over to Kowalski who just gawked at it.
" I meant an inner tube, not a piece of sugary, fruit flavored candy," Kowalski groaned as he lightly slapped
his forehead. " But I've got to admit, I am getting kind of hungry."
From up above, thunder clapped, again. Next, it started to drizzle then pour rain, causing the water and
the brothers to become chilly. " But," Kowalski stuttered as he shivered. " That's going to have to wait.
Rico, any luck finding an inner tube?"
Rico attempted to cough up a real lifesaver, but nothing came up. " Nope," the manic penguin buzzed, after
shaking his head from side to side. Before they knew it, two bright lights blind sighted them, causing them
to squint. Next, a lifesaver landed directly in between them. The two penguin brothers raised their
eyebrows and looked over to find their Uncle Nigel, along with Skipper and Private inside a red and white,
toy-speed boat.
" Grab hold," Uncle Nigel hollered over the rain as he stood up and held onto the rope, which was attached
to the lifesaver. The two in the water wrapped their flippers around the ring of the lifesaver then were
pulled to safety. As soon as they were pulled to safety, two pairs of flippers swung around them, tightly.
" Breathe," Rico huffed as he gasped for air.
" Sorry," Skipper rang as he and Nigel removed their flippers.
" Come on," Uncle Nigel buzzed as he ran toward the steering wheel of the boat, which was just an RC
remote control. " We'd best be getting out of here, before…" Suddenly, lightning struck near the boat,
where Rico and Kowalski were trying to keep afloat, earlier, ending with a loud boom. " Before that
happens," he stated slowly then paused to roar as he gripped onto the wheel of the remote control,
getting ready to hit a switch, which was right next to it. " Boys, buckle up and hang on tight." With a flip of
a switch, the boat started going foreword at a hasty rate. As a matter of fact, the boat was sailing so fast
that it had began skipping like a flat rock, all the way to shore, which was furthest from the Central Park
Zoo.
Once the boat had reached the shore, it skidded across the dirt and grass, until it came to a full stop. Next,
the family hopped out of the boat and began heading back to the zoo. Along the way there, Kowalski and
Rico had began sneezing and sniffling. Unlike other Antarctic penguins, they were not quite as adaptable to
lower temperatures and preferred warmer climates more. They had began to wonder if the zoo made a
mistake labeling them as cold climate penguins, but dismissed the question when they saw snow on the
ground, one day, and played in it, except for Kowalski, who had kept catching colds.
" Uncle Nigel," Kowalski moaned, after wrapping his flippers around himself, to keep warm. " I don't feel so
good. I think I caught a cold."
" Don't worry," Uncle Nigel buzzed. " We're almost home. And when we get there, I'll whip up that stew, I
promised."
" Great," Kowalski wheezed then sneezed. About ten minutes later, the penguins had arrived at the zoo
and slipped back into their habitat, through the sewer entrance. Once they were inside the habitat, the
four brothers sat at the table, while their Uncle made the stew on a pop out stove in a small pot, which
was hidden inside the wall, right next to the fridge. When he was done making the stew, he pulled out
three small bowls, along with three spoons, from behind his back and balanced them all on one flipper.
Next, he grabbed the ladle, which he used to stir the food, earlier, and placed a small amount of stew into
each bowl. Afterward, he waddled over to the table and placed a bowl and a spoon in front of each of his
elder nephews.
His nephews just sat there and stared at their bowls, except for Private, who was giggling at them from his
high chair, which was at the end of the table, furthest from the sewer entrance. " Okay," Skipper uttered
from the seat, closest to the sewer entrance. " Who wants to go first?"
" Not me," Rico grunted from the seat next to Skipper.
" I'm not even sure what's in this," Kowalski honked from across Skipper. " So, not me."
" Fine," Skipper scoffed as he rolled his eyes. " I'll go first." The lead penguin picked up his spoon, dipped it
into the stew, and lifted it up. " Bottom's up," Skipper half-whispered then stuck the spoonful of stew into
his mouth. His face turned green for a split second then he shivered, after he had swallowed the stew. The
other two followed after, but spat theirs all over the table, shortly after the stew had touched their taste
buds.
" Good Galileo," Kowalski yipped as he glared at the bowl. " What is in there?"
" Liver, onions, catfish, and garlic," Nigel piped as he sat down next to Kowalski. " Not to mention I put my
foot in it." After he had said that, the three brothers shoved their bowls away toward the center of the
table. " Oh well," Nigel shrugged. " More for me…You know, your dear old gram would have loved to see
you boys at least eat a bowl of her stew. She'd have appreciated that. But I can see you boys don't love
her that much to do that. Not to mention that you're not going to get better as quick." He sighed. "Looks
like I get to go to the drive-in movies by myself, this Friday tonight," he mumbled, sounding mournful.
The three brothers looked at each other with raised eyebrows. " Huddle up, team," Skipper barked then he
and his brothers gathered as close as they could from where they were sitting. They began talking for a
while and when they were done, they looked over at their Uncle Nigel. " Which movie is it," Skipper uttered.
" It's an action movie with science, explosives, and many other things you boys would like," Nigel piped. "
Also, it is titled Space Squids II, which I had just barely heard about on the plane, while I was flying over
here."
" Space Squids II," the boys chimed, grabbed their bowls of stew, and swallowed the liquid down, ignoring
the flavor it had.
" Suckers," Uncle Nigel mumbled to himself as he folded his flippers and chuckled. " There is no Space Squids
II. It is just the prequel to Space Squids I. Oh well. If it's got space squids in it, the boys will be happy...and
not to mention healthier, due to the stew."
Yay. Kowalski's been saved. Ew. So that's what the ingredients are to Gram's Sweet Antarctica Stew. BTW: I got the " I put my foot in it" line from one of the episodes of "The Proud Family". Anywho. Coming up next in Chapter 15. Catch what else happens before the penguin family goes to the movies. Please stay tuned and find out more. Important note: As of January 20, 2009, I will not be updating any of my stories as fast as I normally would, due to school work. Thank-you for reading this message.