Unexpected delivery ch. 21
by
Mastermindhunter
The zoo keepers were all seated in the room. The circular table was filled with not only zoo keepers, but also a few people that were a part of the local N.Y.P.D., the central parks commitee and some from city hall. The four penguins were seated above the wndow watching the whole discussion, outside. Everybody was making a ruccus as they waited for the meeting to begin. Rico hacked out a microphone, and lowered it into the meeting room. He then plugged it up to a speaker. They turned it lower when the humans were making a bunch of noise. Finally they held their wings over their ears, as Alice told everyone to be quiet. The voices quietly hummed to silence, and the room was muted, except for the sound of breathing.
"Alright now we're all here to figure out whether or not to pay the ransom for the penguin, Patricia." Alice announced, as if they had come to a meeting they knew nothing about.
"I of course think we shouldn't. We can always replace her." said a very old lady with a suit on. She looked cold as stone.
"Well isn't she the only female?" A voice from a police officer pointed out. He had a glare that could frighten a lion.
"Yeah, and we need to keep her around for breeding pourposes." a female voice called out. They all sort of blushed at that very embarrasing thought. They all just shrugged it off, and continued listening to the decisions.
"I don't care about raising the family community of the penguin habitat. I just want my penguin back!" A tall and skinny old man, that was balding, and wore a suit slammed his fists down onto the table! He was known by everybody, including the penguins. He was none other than the owner of the Central Park zoo. He was the one who selectively picked out each animal, from the selected animal sancutuaries around the world. He gave the lemurs a home, when they showed up in storage, stuck in a crate. When he heard the penguin from Loisville was being neglected, he gave her a home, but he didn't stand his animals being stolen. He had already lost a hippo, a lion, a giraffe, and a zebra not too long ago. He wasn't ready to loose his number one attraction again, especially to a crazy kidnapper. Everybody was quickly calm and the sheriff of the police pinched the bridge of his nose, with stress. He definitly knew that when there were emotional people involved it would be hard to explain the problems.
"Listen, sir. When we have ransoms, the deal is that it's up to the city to pay the ransom, and if it's minor we have the zoo pay off the ransom. If you have the money, then we are able to save the little thing, if not there is a chance for the public to make donations to save her. You have a choice for adding up the money they donate, with your own payment, but that's all we can do." The older man looked down. He knew he didn't have the money, but he was definitly close.
"All right. All I have is three million dollars. If we manage to get the rest from the donations of the city, then we might be able to save her." Said the distressed zoo owner. "So it's upto the city, now isn't it?" The head sheriff noddded biting his lower lip. Kowalski backed away slowly, almost unable to stand up. He stared back at the humans, which left her to die. He didn't have any hope that the humans would be able to save Patricia. He slowly sat down, and kept repeating the same thing over and over.
"They don't have the money." He trembled. Private kept his wings infront of his face, showing that he was going to lay his hands on his shoulders. Just kept repeating the same thing over, and over. "They don't, they don't have the money, they, the don't have the-" Private looked at him, as he was staring at him crying. He had never looked at Kowalski in the eye when he cried. It felt a little scary. He then held Kowalski in a tight hug. The Kowalski let his tears roll down. Private started crying as well.
"They'll raise the money Kowalski, I just know it." He whispered. He could only hope that there was a truth in there. If they couldn't raise the money, how could Kowalski turn up a smile again? How could their lives turn back to the way they were, if something so awful happened? It was that hope that there would be some chance that Patricia made it out alive, which kept them in such high hopes. She had changed each of their lives in so many ways, even if the way was in a small way or big. Rico had learned to find a softer side of his soul, and had even learned how to hug, on that aful day that Patricia learned to eat with them. Skipper had found out about a secret admirer he never knew he had. Marlene had found the strength to tell her one true love her feelings. Private had felt that special feeling of how to be a big brother, and guide a little sister through life in that zoo. As proud of themselves as they were, they knew that she changed Kowalski's life more than theirs.
The next morning was spent with Kowalski still in front of the monitor, his eyes bloodshot with the lack of sleep. When he saw the others coming, he slapped his face lightly, and tried to stay focused. She was waking up, with dark rings around her eyes. He watched her constantly wake up from the nightmares she was having over and over again. She looked almost as bad as Kowalski did. Still in her state of pure exhaustion, she was still beautiful in his eyes. Johnathon still on the monitor. Kowalski picked up a thick rubber ball, and was tossing it against the screen. His constant watching was making the others feel uneasy.
"Come on . . . Tell me . . . Tell me where in the city you are." He repeatedly hit the screen with the ball. "I need to find you!"
Patricia predicted it was about noon. She felt like this was never going to end. Only one day left., and they haven't even heard from the authorities even once. It wasn't the fear that they wouldn't come that bothered her, but the fact that she kept on waiting, and waiting, and waiting for them that was starting to annoy her. Please just let them come, or not. She was sick of guessing. That camera was seeming to grow deader and deader very day. Soon it would just be too frustrating to even look at it. She felt every eye staring at her. What were the humkans thinking? Did she look helpless? Did she seem strong? She was starving, and she was freezing to the seat. She glared over at Johnathon who was warm, and snuggly in coat. That aggravated her even more. She thrashed her head from side to side, trying to get the tape off from around her mouth. Johnathon rolled his eyes, and ripped it away. Patricia didn't even consider the sting, she was to busy freaking out. She had finally lost it. She didn't care if he shot or not. She had snapped!
"Let me go. Let me GO! LET ME OUTTA HERE, NOW! LET ME GO! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Johnathon clamped her beak back down, and taped it back up. She was grunting loudly through her nostrils, that were half covered. She didn't want to make any noise. She just wanted to let her anger out.
It was late in the afternoon, and they were all doing everything they could. "Anything yet, Kowalski?" Skipper walked up to the screen, leaning on the concrete wall.
"Nope, they're still recieving the money, and she sort of wigged out, a few hours ago. I don't know exactly why, but, their going to kill her tomorrow, and I haven't got a single clue as to how we're going to get her out there." She was his everything, and he didn't have a single hair of a clue.
There had to be something Patricia could do. A stack of bxes were underneath Johnathon, as he laid over behind the boxes, hidden from sight of both her, and the camera. Patricia looked at the stack, and laid her head down. Her tears were coming now. She could only think of Kowalski, now, and never gettting to get a kiss, or even see him again. She looked over at a box, and focused on it as her tears flowed. That's when she figured it out. If she could get the address on top of that box, somebody watching could get the address down, and read it. She reached as far as her body could reach. Her beak was unwrapped, and the box was so close. She pushed so close to the box, and opened her mouth wide. Her tongue barely brushed the square that was white and was printed with the address. She licked it, and licked it all night long. Eventually the cardboard got soggy, and she gently tugged the delicate sticker off the carboard, and held the piece in her mouth, holding it straight up to show whoever was watching.
Kowalski walked back to the screen to see what was going on. He had trouble looking up everytime he sat back down. He slowly looked back at the screen, to see what Patricia had been reduced to. Her appearance showed her lack of food for the past two days. Her feathers were grossingly covered in nothing but dust, and sweat. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her mouth had something on it. Kowalski looked at the screen again. Patricia had something in her beak. He called the boys over to show them what Patricia had. They zoomed in to see it. It was the addressof the warehouse. 1946 Willow avenue. Manhattan. Kowalski had never been so happy that Patricia had taught him to read. He wrote it down in his notebook, and they all ran out of the HQ. quick as lightning. While Kowalski was running, only one thought passed his mind.
"That a girl, Patricia." He whispered That a girl."