*** 11 ***
The next morning, Skipper asked all to sit at the table. He had something important to say. He waddled from side to side in the HQ, in front of them, with his flippers on his back. They all stared at him expectant.
"Gentlemen..." he noticed Blake's serious stare, "and lady... Since today, there are new rules. We are a unit and we must behave as a unit. We cannot let things as yesterday happen again."
Blake knew that the reprimand was addressed to her and bowed her head. Skipper stopped in front of her.
"I understand perfectly that you can't do the same as the others while you're not totally recovered, but being separated from the team is over. You'll have the same schedule as the others and you'll be where the others are. I'll give you an opportunity, but I won't tolerate you to waste it. Okay?"
Blake didn't even know how to address him in a formal situation, so she only nodded.
"Well, more things," Skipper continued. "These days we all have perceived some behaviors that shouldn't take place in a unit like ours. Our concentration is maximal and our morals are flawless. If you think that I don't know when someone breaks this..." he stopped in front of Johnson, "you're totally wrong."
"Hey! Why are you staring at me?" Johnson complained. "I've done nothing!"
"I wasn't staring at you," Skipper lied.
"Of course you were!" Johnson stood up very angry. He had a murderous look.
"Remember that you are my subordinate. I command and you obey. And this implies that you mustn't raise your voice at me. Now sit down." He waited Johnson to obey him to go on speaking. "Well, as I was saying -"
"Our concentration is maximal and our morals are flawless," Johnson repeated imitating Skipper's voice.
Skipper confronted him again. "Now you repeat me?"
Johnson bowed his head. He was intelligent and he knew when he shouldn't push things too far for not making things worse. But he was so furious...! He perceived everything as a personal attack. Skipper decided to continue his talk.
"I was saying that I won't tolerate any improper behavior in this unit. I have never cared about the affairs you had outside, but I don't want situations which endanger our unit in this team. We must take care, not harm, each other. And it includes leaving the girl in the team in peace."
"Come on, Skipper..." Johnson protested. "There's nothing wrong if I like my teammate. If I were in a relationship with her... wouldn't that reinforce the team?"
"And does she want... or does she think that you are a dickhead?" Skipper asked him.
"She's weak, vulnerable... she needs my protection. She's a female, for God's sake!"
Blake couldn't take it anymore. Not thinking, she climbed up one of the concrete blocks and punched Johnson's eye with all the murderous fury fitting in her small body. Tears ran down her face due to her hurting flipper.
"You don't know if I'm weak! You know nothing about me!" she yelled.
They all were surprised. Kowalski took his X-Ray goggles and revised her flipper immediately. Johnson, under his feathers, was red with wrath and embarrassment for the tremendous humiliation of having been hit by her. The others didn't react, they just looked.
"Don't do that again!" Kowalski shouted at Blake. "You're lucky not to have broken it again. You don't think!"
"Haven't you heard what he has said?" she complained. "Do you want me to permit it?"
"You could hit him with the other one!" He was also mad at Johnson, he'd gladly hit him too.
Skipper had observed the scene impassive, but at heart he was affected by what he had seen and heard. Yes, he thought the same as Johnson. Blake was a female and that made her weak and vulnerable. She should be protected... in that case, not only from all the dangers threatening the team... but also from her own teammates. All the origin of the talk was that Skipper considered her unable to defend herself because she was a girl. He was very proud, but inside he knew when he was wrong. And with her he was totally wrong. He was ashamed of himself and his mindset. What would Blake do if she could read his mind...
The others didn't know what to do. Manfredi hated that type of situations, Private thought it would be useless to ask a little concord in that moment with those moods... and Rico was next to Kowalski, proud of how Blake had defended herself but worried by her flipper.
It wasn't the best way to start the day for anyone.
.
The day was bright and hot. The seven penguins were already on the concrete island waiting for the visits. Since that day, Blake couldn't duck out anymore. She wasn't the protected convalescent anymore, now she was just one and she'd have to cope. Of course, she should follow to the letter Kowalski's order of not moving her right flipper... she had already put it at risk with that impulsive action. And her recovering counter had just started from zero. She had lost a week.
She was staring at them attentively. To do what they did, but not compromising her flipper. Heat had arrived and she couldn't dive because she couldn't swim with that flipper. In the best-case scenario, she'd spend half the summer that way. In the worst, the whole summer. And then she would know if that all had been useful. And that wasn't all: Kowalski had already warned her that, when she could move her flipper again, it would be very weakened. The outlook wasn't very promising.
While the others were devoting themselves to the crowd, Blake analyzed her situation with anyone of them.
She knew she could count on Rico, but she knew that it was complicated to communicate with him. It seemed that the others understood those impossible rushed half-words, but she was unable. She considered asking one of the others to teach her that weird language. Apart from that, being near him tranquilized her. She treasured that hug that had meant so much for her. And she also thought about the scar crossing his cheek. What could have happened? Might he be the only one to understand, as her, what is to be physically scarred?
She also thought about Kowalski. She noticed that he didn't stop staring at her. He was watchful, and when she moved her flipper... he approached and stopped the movement. If he had to slap her, he did it. Blake didn't like having a sentinel, but she had it coming. Although, on the other hand, she knew that Kowalski acted that way because he was very worried about her. That was good, of course... but that perplexed her deeply. His actions were kind, but his words were inconsiderate. Did he always have to be so direct to say things? Did he always have to choose the worst moment? Why did he always have to screw up things? What Private said about him was true... and that made complicated dealing with him. Although... wasn't she making things a bit difficult too? She remembered the slap: that had been wrong. She'd have to talk with him.
She looked at Skipper. He was crazy, definitively. He had accepted her suspicious, thinking that she was a spy... had anybody told him that the Cold War had ended? That James Bond was a fictional character? How could anybody be so serious and so fanciful at the same time? And he insisted on including her in his team because she could read... Well... so what? Wouldn't it be better if she taught all how to read and they left her alone? And he wanted to train her... what for? Had he seen her with a military face? And he was the one who gave orders... It would be a challenge to get along with him.
She analyzed Manfredi. Not much to analyze. He was the typical joker, childish, he wanted to boil the taste out of everything. Sometimes he was applauded, sometimes he was slapped. But he didn't seem to care, he exposed himself once and again. He was the circus clown. She wondered if he painted his smile before the show to hide a sad countenance. But it didn't seem to be that: simply, he was that way. She was about to ask Private.
Ah, Private... he was the one who had opened the door to understand the others. He seemed to know what he had to say and do in every moment, he was the one who managed better in the heavy sea of emotions that is life. All the others (she, specially) were lame one way or another in that sense... he wasn't. How did he do that? She would never be able to understand the others as he did. She could ask him for advice... he would be happy to help her. But she didn't want to, she didn't forgive the interrogation he had subjected her to.
And only Johnson remained... Blake tried not to look at him. From time to time they exchanged glances. She had never liked them. And now less, as they had totally changed: they weren't glances full with desire, they were full with hate. Blake knew she had wounded his pride fatally... and she didn't know what to expect from that. He perturbed her. She would go on avoiding him as she could.
Until then, she had tried to isolate herself from them all, partly guided by fear and partly by ignorance. She didn't see the moment to change her strategy, but she knew that she was going to have less time to think and that her head, when they surrounded her, would be full of noise and she wouldn't think clearly.
.
Suddenly, the seven penguins were surrounded by teenagers. It was a high school visit. They all went to the part of the habitat where the six males were, but two girls left the group and approached Blake, who was at the other end. One of them had lots of leaflets and the other one didn't stop taking photos. Blake was looking at them and listening to their conversation.
"Have you seen that little pretty thing?"
"She's an African penguin."
"Eh? African?"
"Haven't you read what the teacher has given us?"
"Eh... no."
"I see."
"Penguins don't live in Africa."
"Some do."
"Well... this one lives here."
"Yes, well, okay... that's obvious. Humor's not your thing, huh?"
Both approached. Blake approached too, till the end of the concrete island.
"Why may she be apart from the rest?"
"I don't know... she may have argued with the others."
"Come on!"
Both were laughing out loud.
"And what else have you read, nerd?" The other one nudged her. "Hey! You almost drop my camera!"
"When we were at the other side I've read that they are six Adélie males and an African female."
"Wow! She's got six guys only for her! Lucky her! Do you imagine choosing the six hottest boys in class and go to live with them?"
The other girl stared at her incredulous.
"Come on! Don't say you wouldn't like it! But she'll have a problem... she'll lay an egg and she won't know whose it is."
"I doubt it."
"Why?"
"You haven't read what the teacher has given us and you've not even seen the pictures. Look at this."
The girl with the leaflets had opened up one and was pointing at something. Blake couldn't see it, but she imagined they were the pictures.
"Look: they are six big families, then each one has something like subspecies. There are seventeen. Apparently, they can only have an offspring inside the same family... beyond that, they're very different genetically."
"Darn, you know a lot..."
"Darn, you'd know it if you settled down a bit. The thing is that you have six groups, look. The big ones, which appear on TV. The brush-tailed, as the six males. There are some which make weird noises, as a donkey... hey, don't laugh! The little one is one of them. And look, there are more... there are some blondes."
The girl with the camera guffawed.
"Blondes? Come on, you tease me... penguins have feathers! Because they have feathers, right?"
"Are you really asking that? Well, yes... they have like eyebrows, quiffs... search me! Then there are some which are an only species, even smaller than this one. Look."
"Aw... they are so so cute!"
"And then there are some yellow-eyed."
"Ah, disgusting..."
"Well, here there are these six blokes with a female and there's no way because they're different. She can't... not with the big ones, or the brush-tailed, or the blondes, or the small, or the snake-eyed. She could only be a mom with one as her."
"Hey, you have heard my pal, lil! Enjoy, these ones won't get you pregnant!"
"They lay eggs... do you remember?"
"Ah, well, yeah... I look like a boor, right?"
"Yes, kind of."
Their classmates were starting to leave the habitat. They had to leave too. The girl with the camera approached the fence to say goodbye raising her fist.
"Lilpenguin! Girl power! Make them know who rules, okay? We'll come back!"
Her classmate was pulling her until she took the hint. Then they scarcely saw the group and had to run.
Blake stared at them until they disappeared from sight. Now she understood why in the other zoo she hadn't laid an egg. Oh...that's all she needed! But she preferred not to think about it. Instead, she thought about what the girl had said before leaving: make them know who ruled there. She. No matter what, she'd do as she wished. It was her turn.