Chapter 16 – Sleepwalking (Marlene's Story)
It was another calm night inside the Central Park Zoo. Everyone has already gone home for the night, and all of the animals were asleep as they prepared for the next day where it all happens again.
However, not all of the animals were asleep.
Due to a recent spate of vandalism inside the park, the penguins decided that there needed to be someone to do recon during the evenings to make sure that no one else decided to do so.
So, for the past few days, one of the penguins would spend a few hours per night on top of the bell tower, keeping an ever vigilant eye on the zoo for any evildoers.
Thankfully, as of yet no one has made any attempt to break into the zoo, but what they would find one night was something he definitely didn't expect to see.
During one night, Skipper took care of the nighttime recon, and as he canvassed the area with a pair of binoculars, he found that there was no sign of anyone around who wasn't already asleep.
"Whoever it is that keeps breaking in, you'd better watch out. I'll find you one of these days, and when I do, hooo baby, it's not gonna be pretty." he said to himself.
Suddenly, Skipper spotted something out of the corner of his eye as he made another pass. Curious, he focused on the area where he found it and focused in. Unfortunately, with how high up he was, he couldn't exactly make out who it was, but he knew at this point it didn't really matter.
"There you are."
Skipper hopped down from the bell tower and made his way over to where he saw the figure, making sure to keep out of sight. Eventually, when he finally crossed paths with the figure, he hid in a bush, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
Waiting carefully, Skipper sprang into action just as the figure passed by him. Jumping out of the bush, he immediately tackled the figure, pinning them to the ground.
"Ah-ha! I've got you! Now you…"
Skipper fell silent when he finally got a good look at who he had pinned under him.
"Marlene? What in the world?"
It was in fact Marlene under him, but surprisingly she wasn't immediately chewing him out for attacking him. In fact, her eyes were closed, almost like she was still asleep.
Confused, Skipper decided it was probably best to return her to her habitat, not wanting her to wake up and find him on top of her.
While she was pretty heavy for an otter, Skipper was somehow able to carry her over his shoulder without any real resistance from her.
When they actually reached the habitat, Skipper realized that he couldn't just hop over the fence with the weight he was carrying. He briefly considered waking up one of the others and getting them to help, but he decided that it was best not to waste more time than he needed.
So, after somehow managing to slowly pull Marlene over the fence, Skipper found himself with one more obstacle in his way.
"How in the heck did she get across the pool without falling in?" he said to himself as he took in the water surrounding her habitat.
Shrugging, he was about to just swim across the pool and hope that the water wouldn't wake her up, when he spotted the plank that Alice used to cross the pool wasn't in its usual place when not in use. It was down on the ground near the side of the habitat, which meant that Alice must have forgotten to raise it.
"So that's why. Leave it to Alice to forget."
Crossing the plank, Skipper carried Marlene over to her cave and placed her down in her bed before heading off, but not before glancing over at her and smiling as he watched her rest for a moment.
Unfortunately for Skipper, last night wasn't the last time he would have to deal with this, as he ended up having to drag Marlene back to her habitat multiple times.
Even removing the plank didn't seem to do the trick, as she was sopping wet when Skipper caught her, and yet she still had her eyes closed.
Knowing that something needed to be done, Skipper privately met up with Kowalski the next morning as they got ready for the zoo to open.
"Kowalski, we've got a problem."
Kowalski looked curiously at his commanding officer.
"Uh…what kind of problem, Skipper?"
"Something's going on with Marlene. I've been seeing her walking around the zoo over the past few days, and yet when I confront her, she's got her eyes closed like she's asleep. It's almost like she's hypnotized or something!"
Kowalski paused as he thought about what Skipper said.
"I'm pretty sure that it's unlikely that it's hypnosis. I think it's more likely that this is a textbook case of somnambulism."
"And that is?"
"Sleepwalking. It seems likely to me that she's been sleepwalking."
Skipper paused as he considered Kowalski's diagnosis.
"Are you sure that it isn't hypnosis? Because this 'sleepwalking' sounds fake to me."
"I assure you that sleepwalking is a real thing, Skipper. It's very rare in people of our age, but it still happens."
Although Skipper still didn't completely believe Kowalski, he decided it was probably best to go with it.
"I think that we should have a talk with Marlene…find out what's going on with her."
"I don't think you'd be able to get much out of her, Skipper."
"And why's that? Is she a spy that's trained to resist our interrogation methods?"
Slightly caught off guard by Skipper's off-putting conclusion, Kowalski paused for a moment to recollect his thoughts before answering.
"Uh…no. Most sleepwalkers don't remember anything that they did once they actually wake up. I doubt Marlene's gonna be any different, to be honest."
"Well, I say there's nothing wrong with giving it a shot. We might be able to at least get an idea about what's going on."
"I suppose that we could, but I would suggest we wait until after closing time. It's almost time for the zoo to open."
Not realizing how much time has passed, Skipper was forced to hurry up to get everyone ready.
"Double time, men! We need to be topside ASAP!"
Thankfully, everyone was already ready to go, so they quickly made their way up the ladder, successfully closing the hatch and covering it right before the first groups of humans started passing through.
After what felt like forever, closing time finally came. Once the remaining humans were all ushered out of the zoo by Alice, everyone knew it was safe to go about their business.
However, before Rico and Private could head down into the HQ for some relaxation time, Skipper spoke up.
"Come on, boys! We've got some business to take care of first."
"Where are we going, Skippah?" asked Private, curious.
"We're gonna pay Marlene a little visit."
"Oh, really? That sounds wonderful! I always love visiting her."
"Well Private, to be honest, this isn't exactly the kind of visit that you're thinking of."
Private was admittedly unsure about what Skipper meant, but Kowalski spoke up before Private could ask.
"What do you mean by that, Skipper? I thought we were just going to talk to her about her sleepwalking problem."
Both Rico and Private were surprised to hear about Marlene's issue, having not been made aware of it until now.
"Um, question. What's sleepwalking?" asked Private.
"Well…sleepwalking is when you're still walking around and doing what you normally do during the day. However, you're still in the state that you normally are when you're sleeping, so you don't really have any control over your actions." explained Kowalski.
Private gave an involuntary shiver after hearing the 'no control over your actions' part, but he didn't say anything more, and Kowalski turned towards Skipper, waiting for the commander to give an answer to his original question.
"Well, I've been giving it a lot of thought, and I think that Marlene may have had something to do with the vandalism inside the park."
All three of the penguins were surprised to hear Skipper accuse Marlene.
"Why would you even say that, Skippah? Marlene would never do something like that!" said Private.
"Yeah, Marlene wouldn't, but what about her feral side?"
Kowalski opened his beak to argue before realizing that Skipper did have a point. He paused as he thought about what to say next.
"You know, that is a fair assumption. Since Marlene doesn't have any control over her actions while she's sleepwalking, she can easily get out of the zoo, and I'm sure you all know what happens when she's out of the zoo."
The penguins were all well aware of what happens when Marlene is outside of the zoo borders, as they all clearly remembered the last time that happened.
"Let's just deal with talking to Marlene first and figure out how to stop her from sleepwalking once we get some more information. Agreed?" asked Skipper.
The other three penguins nodded.
"Alright, then. Let's move out!"
The four penguins headed out of their habitat, heading for the otter habitat nearby.
"Hey guys! What's up?"
Marlene greeted the penguins as they hopped over the fence into her habitat. She still had her normal smile on her face, but once Kowalski was able to get a closer look at her, he found that she had some visible bags under her eyes.
However, before he could point this fact out to everyone, Skipper spoke up.
"We're just investigating the vandalism inside the park, and we wanted to ask you a few questions. If you'd happen to know anything about what's going on, that'd be great."
Marlene gave Skipper a weird look.
"I don't know how much help I'd be, but okay…I guess."
Skipper didn't start asking questions immediately, though, as he took the time to pace back and forth a couple of times. Skipper then suddenly whipped around to face her, causing Marlene to jump from the suddenness of his movements.
"Where were you yesterday evening?"
"Uh…right here. I'm usually asleep during the evenings."
Skipper made a disbelieving noise, which caught Marlene's attention.
"Alright, what's this about? You're acting like I have something to do with this!"
Skipper opened his beak to confirm Marlene's suspicions, but before he could, Kowalski interrupted him.
"Uh…excuse me for a moment, Marlene."
Nervously chuckling, Kowalski led Skipper away from the rest of the group, leaving Rico and Private to speak to her.
"What is the meaning of this insubordination, soldier?" asked Skipper once he was able to free his beak from Kowalski's clutches.
"I'm sorry, Skipper. I know that we've all determined that Marlene seems like the most likely culprit, but I doubt that you're going to be able to convince everyone else, especially considering the fact that she doesn't remember anything about being feral!"
"What are you getting at, Kowalski?"
"What I'm getting at is that we can't just accuse her and be done with it. We have to find a way to fix her sleepwalking problem."
Skipper paused for a moment as he considered Kowalski's proposal.
"Alright Kowalski, you've got your chance. Don't blow it."
Although Kowalski was slightly put off by the look Skipper gave him, he stood up and saluted.
"I won't let you down, sir."
Once the two penguins returned to the others, Kowalski spoke up.
"Marlene, have you been having trouble sleeping lately?"
Marlene looked at Kowalski, confused.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, for one thing, I can tell that you're faking trying to be cheerful. Most likely you're trying to hide the fact that something or someone is making you irritable. Two, I noticed the bags under your eyes. Usually those are a telltale sign that someone isn't getting enough sleep."
Kowalski listed a couple more reasons before a glare from Marlene told him that he'd said enough. However, instead of lashing out, Marlene sighed.
"Okay, I'll admit it. I have been having some trouble sleeping."
"Is there any particular reason why?" asked Kowalski.
Marlene paused, realizing she didn't really know.
"Come to think of it, I don't really know. I'm usually pretty out of it during the night, so everything's usually a haze between when I go to bed and when I wake up."
Both Skipper and Kowalski sighed before Skipper spoke up.
"This isn't getting us anywhere, Kowalski!"
However, instead of agreeing with Skipper, Kowalski suddenly had an idea.
"Not to worry, Skipper. I've got an idea."
"Really? Well then, let's hear it!"
However, instead of answering him, Kowalski glanced over at Marlene before walking over to Skipper and whispering it in his earhole.
"Oh. Well, alright then. Excuse us, Marlene. We need to head back to the HQ."
The penguins then left the habitat, leaving a confused Marlene.
"What in the heck was that about?"
When the penguins finally returned to their HQ, Skipper was the one to speak first.
"Alright, Kowalski, tell us what your ingenious plan is this time."
Kowalski nervously cleared his throat before pulling out his notebook. After quickly scribbling some pictures, he showed them to the others, pointing towards each picture as he explained.
"Well, it's simple, really. All we have to do is have one of us keep an eye on Marlene during the night. Hopefully whatever is causing her to not get enough sleep will be revealed to us, and we can simply put a stop to it. Problem solved."
"Um…K'walski?" asked Private.
"Yes, Private?"
"Wouldn't two of us be better? We do need to make sure that Marlene doesn't get out of the zoo and turn feral."
"Actually, that is true. As they say, two penguins are better than one." said Skipper.
Kowalski nodded.
"That sounds fine to me. If I may, I would like to suggest you and Rico to go out, since I believe that you two are the most capable."
"Sounds good to me. What about you, Rico?" said Skipper.
Rico nodded vigorously.
"Then it's settled."
Satisfied, Kowalski went off towards his lab while the rest of the penguins made preparations for tonight.
When tonight finally came, Skipper and Rico were ready to go, two pairs of binoculars trained on the otter habitat as they hid inside a bush nearby.
"Skipper's log: Subject is about to head for bed. Will keep a close eye out for anything that may prevent a good night's sleep."
Rico looked over and noticed that Skipper had his tape recorder out. At a questioning look from the weapons expert, Skipper was forced to defend himself.
"What? It's always good to document the important things. You know, for posterity!"
Rico simply shook his head before returning to surveillance.
Time passed as the two penguins continued to watch Marlene. Nothing at all happened, so Skipper was beginning to think that nothing was going to happen.
However, before he could turn to Rico and voice his concerns, dance music started playing.
"What in the-"
Skipper looked around for a moment, wondering where the music was coming from, before mentally slapping himself as he realized that it should be obvious where it was coming from.
"Of course it has to be Ringtail causing trouble!"
Skipper was about to rant for a little bit longer when Rico suddenly spotted something through his binoculars. Babbling incoherently, he caught Skipper's attention and pointed out the figure. Once Skipper was able to pull his binoculars up to his eyes, he saw that Marlene was once again out of her habitat.
"Hoover dam, we need to move quickly! Rico, you go handle Ringtail. I'll make sure Marlene doesn't get out of the zoo."
Rico saluted before sliding off towards the lemur habitat. As for Skipper, he quickly made his way over to Marlene. He managed to catch up to her without any real trouble.
"Come on, Marlene. It's time to head back to bed."
He attempted to pick up Marlene and carry her back like before, but for some strange reason, the sleepwalking otter put up a lot more resistance.
"What the-"
Skipper attempted everything he could think of, including holding her back, chopping at her pressure point to knock her out, and pushing her back towards her habitat, but nothing seemed to work.
"Man, that is one strong woman." said Skipper to himself before quickly trying to think of a plan.
Unfortunately, he wasn't Kowalski, so trying to think of a plan didn't come easy. However, he eventually managed to come up with one.
He quickly released Marlene before hopping on to his belly and sliding as fast as he could to the vet's office.
Once he finally reached the office, his progress was halted as he realized that he needed the rest of his team to be able to enter.
"Think, Skipper, think! You're running out of time!"
Skipper quickly paced back and forth, desperately trying to think of a backup plan before Marlene reached the zoo boundaries, when he noticed a stack of cages off to the side of the building, most likely having just been cleaned.
"Yes, thank you!"
Skipper quickly slid over and pulled one of the cages off of the stack, somehow not knocking over any of the others. However, another problem arose when Skipper realized that he had to carry the cage all the way back to Marlene within a very limited timeframe.
Thankfully, another solution popped up when he noticed a cloth on top of one of the cages. Not wanting to waste any time, Skipper climbed up and grabbed it, wrapping the cloth around the bottom of the cage and dragging it along with him.
It was still a heavy cage, so carrying it was still a problem for Skipper, but he was able to do it without making too much noise.
Eventually, he managed to spot Marlene, and just in time, too, as she was just about to make it to the gate.
"Come on Skipper, move!" he said to himself.
Hopping on to his belly, he slid down the hill he was on, which gave him enough momentum to carry him and the cage towards Marlene. The cage soon came to a stop right in front of her, and Skipper barely managed to get the cage door open in time before Marlene ran into it.
Once Marlene tripped over the ledge into the cage, Skipper quickly locked the cage and hopped down; letting out a breath he didn't know he had held in.
"That was close."
The cage was almost pressed up right against the gate to the outside, which illustrated just how close it was to getting worse.
"Now let's get you back home. Hopefully Rico's dealt with your…problem."
Skipper began dragging the cage back towards the otter habitat, eventually being met by Rico, who had a dented metal baseball bat in his flippers.
"There you are, Rico! I'm guessing from that bat that you must have dealt with our lemur problem."
Rico nodded, smacking the bat into his other flipper a couple of times for emphasis.
"So, what was Ringtail's excuse this time?"
"La'e nig' dan' pa'ty"
"Ah, I see. Hopefully he's learned his lesson this time. Give me a hand with this, Rico. This is kind of heavy."
The next morning, with the zoo closed for the day, the penguins were given the day off so that everyone could get back to their normal sleep schedules thanks to the late nights out over the past week.
However, when they all came up topside to enjoy their free time, they were called over by Marlene.
"Hey guys? Can you come over here for a second?"
After reaching the habitat, Private and Kowalski were caught off guard by the sight in front of them.
"Would someone mind explaining why I'm in a cage?" asked a slightly ticked-off Marlene.
Both Private and Kowalski looked over at Skipper, who nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Well, that's kind of a funny story…"
And so, as Skipper attempted to explain why he forgot to let Marlene out of the cage, Julien was left to once again mourn as his tape deck once again lay in ruins, thanks to the overzealous weapons expert and his metal baseball bat. The one good thing that came out of the destruction of Julien's tape deck, though, was that Marlene was finally able to sleep once again once it was taken care of, so the vandalism was successfully stopped in its tracks.