disclaimer: i don't own penguins of Madagascar. they belong to dreamworks.
It was a lovely evening at the Central Park zoo, Alice the Zookeeper had just left for the night and the animals were just begging to emerge from their habitats for the evening`s meeting in the zoovenior shop. I was around seven years old at the time. Perched up on a barrel of plush toys, most of the animals saw me as one of them.
"What is the freak doing in my royal meeting?" bellowed an Indian accented voice.
Except for one, King Julian saw me as a freak and never liked the fact that I was an honorary penguin.
"How many times have I gotta tell you ringtail? Fresh fish is one of us!" Skipper reminded.
"She`s a giant freak!" the lemur argued.
Private bounced his way over to my shoulder, "don't listen to him Fresh Fish, I still love you," he comforted.
I smiled, Private always knew exactly how to make me feel better, "thanks," I whispered.
"Ringtail just sit down before I get Big Grey over there to sit on you!" Skipper threatened the lemur king. Reluctantly, Julian did so and the meeting commenced.
Skipper stood in front of the gathered animals (and me but you knew that). "Now we are all gathered here because…. We are gathered here because… Kowalski! Why are we here?" he asked.
"Because Skipper, there is a transfer lined up from the Hoboken zoo. But we don't know who or what it is," Kowalski replied.
"That`s right," Skipper nodded, "now you all, remember what happened with Clemson…"
"That traitor! If it`s him, I will whoop his booty! And beat him senseless with many sticks and torture him with German polka music" Julian ranted
"May I continue?" Skipper asked.
"Yeah sure, I'm done," Julian replied settling down again.
"Right, as I was saying you all remember what happened with Clemson and Savio," Skipper continued but was once again interrupted, this time by Private, who was sitting in my cupped hands.
"Snake belly, so dark, please don't put me in that monkey suit," the little penguin begged, trying to burrow into my shirt.
"Calm down Private, I'm not going to put you in that monkey suit. No more being the decoy for you after what happened with the mermaid outfit in shanghai," Skipper soothed.
"Wait a second," Julian piped up again, "you mean to tell me that you put the little penguin over there in a mermaidy outfit?" he quizzed.
"Yeah, so?" Skipper gave the lemur king a look.
"Man, I have got to see a picture of that!" Julian chortled.
"Negatory Ringtail, the mermaid costume holds bad memories for Private, and for Kowalski, Rico and I," Skipper denied, "now what I want you all to do is be on your guard, if you see…"
"Skipper, I'm sorry to interrupt you but who are Clemson and Savio exactly?" I asked.
Skipper face palmed "oh right I forgot, you weren't here when they were," my eldest brother realized, "Kowalski! Enlighten!" he ordered.
"Clemson is a ring-tailed lemur who tried to take Julian`s crown and Savio is a boa constrictor who devoured Mort, Marlene, Maurice, Julian and Private," Kowalski explained to me.
"But why did Savio swallow Private? Boa constrictors only eat small mammals and Private is bird," I pointed out.
"Monkey suit" Private quivered again, obviously trying to forget the seemingly terrifying experience.
I rubbed his back tenderly; he stopped shaking and wrapped his flippers around my other arm.
"Everyone be on your guard and let my team and I handle the rest," Skipper requested, anxious to wrap up the meeting, "Kowalski do we have any other business to attend to?" he asked. Kowalski looked at the clipboard he was holding and shook his head.
"Right then meeting adjourned," Skipper declared, I watched as Rico regurgitated a rubber mallet and slammed it down on the cashier counter where my three older brothers were standing
The next morning was bright and sunny. Thanks to Kowalski`s resizer ray, I live in the penguin HQ, basically how it works is it makes anything that isn't small enough for the place the right size and reverts it to normal upon exiting. It doesn't affect the penguins or any of the smaller animals because their normal size is small enough for the HQ where as it shrinks me, Burt the elephant and Roy the Rhino, oh and uncle Classified, it shrinks him too. Anyway I'm getting off topic. At about five minutes to nine o clock. Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private went topside for their classic "smile and wave" routine. They each kissed me on the cheek and I began on the chores. Once they were done, I went to my room. Now was the perfect opportunity to put the finishing touches on my outfit. What outfit I hear you ask? Well at this point in my life, the penguins had never let me go on a mission outside zoo walls. Marlene would come over and 'Chick-sit' me. So I was determined to prove that I could handle a mission. (Aren't all seven year olds determined to prove something?) So I`d been slowly building a penguin outfit. It consisted of a white top with a black jacket over it. White ¾ pants with orange socks and shoes. That day I was adding a thin black cotton cap to tuck most of my strawberry-blonde locks up into. I also had a small black scrunchie to pull my hair into a ponytail that would fall down my back. I put the whole outfit together on one hanger and hung it on a hook in the back of my wardrobe, setting the shoes just below it. My brothers wouldn't find out until the time was absolutely right…
About Eleven O`clock, Skipper`s head popped down the hatch. I was sitting at the table, drawing with my crayons.
"Hey Fresh Fish," Skipper called.
"Yes Skipper?" I looked up from my picture.
"I want ya to head over to the zoovenior shop and check out their new stuff, then report back here with your findings," Skipper ordered. I saluted, picked up my mission satchel and headed out the door…