Chapter Four

But, as everyone knows, the best-laid plans of penguins and men often go awry. Over the next few days, it seemed as though the universe (or the Sky Spirits) didn't want anyone going to the Consolidated-Amalgamated building to speak to the falcon, because all of New York City was assaulted with the worst wind and rain in half a century. Leaving the zoo would be tantamount to suicide, so the penguins and Eggy stayed in and trained.

It was obvious to anyone with working eyes and half a brain that Eggy was still the insanely talented commando duckling that he had been the last time he'd been in the zoo. But it also didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there was something seriously wrong with the small duckling. His mind seemed to be a million miles away while he was awake, and two million miles away when he slept. More than once, Private was awoken by the duckling yelling incomprehensibly in his sleep. It was obvious that he really needed to talk to someone, but none of the penguins' attempts to get him to open up ever got anywhere.

"Eggy, you've got to get your head in the game!" Skipper admonished when the duckling bungled a relatively easy training exercise. "Is there something bothering you? This is the sixth time you've messed up today!"

"No sir," Eggy lied, feeling horrible about it. The penguins had been nothing but kind to him, and here he was repaying their hospitality by lying through his beak. Skipper didn't look like he believed Eggy's denials, but seemed to let it go.

"We might as well stop for today," the penguin said. "But you do know that any one of us is willing to help you if you ever just want to talk to someone. These past few days have likely been very upsetting for you."

"Yes," Eggy agreed, feeling even worse about hiding what he knew. But he wasn't going to put his family in danger by disobeying that psychotic fish-thing's orders.

Although the duckling wasn't fooling anyone with his "everything's OK" act, they all decided to drop it. Except for Private. The youngest penguin knew that something was up, but like the others, decided not to press the issue directly. Instead, he tried something else- he took the duckling to visit Marlene and her badger cousins for an evening snack.

"Becky, Stacy, this is Eggy," Private introduced, making sure he was sort of behind Marlene the whole time (even though he could now count the badger sisters among his friends, he still took a little time to warm up to them. Once he was sure that they weren't planning on attacking him he was able to be more comfortable around them). Of course, Becky and Stacy squee'd over Eggy immediately.

"Ohmigosh, he's sooooooooo cute, Private!" Becky gushed. "Oh, I could just eat you up!"

"Do you live here in the zoo?" Stacy asked. "Because we totally could have, like, slumber parties and stuff!"

"Well, ma'am, I usually live in Central Park, but because my family was- my family left for the migration without me," Eggy caught himself before he accidentally let the truth slip out, something that did not slip past the notice of Becky and Stacy.

"Your family was what?" Stacy asked curiously.

"I meant that they left me behind," the duckling said quickly.

"Nuh-uh! You said that your family was something. What was it?" Becky replied. Eggy looked over at Private, as though silently asking for backup. But Private seemed to be on the side of the badger sisters, and even seemed to get over his mild case of badger paranoia to come out from behind Marlene.

"Eggy, you've been acting strangely for the past few days. I thought you were just upset that your mum migrated without you, but that doesn't make sense. Your mum would never leave you behind, and if she did, she'd realize it very quickly and come back for you. Something else happened, didn't it?"

"N-no!" Eggy stammered out quickly.

"You know you can tell us anything," Marlene said kindly. "Nothing bad is going to happen to you with all of us here.

"Yeah, you can, like, tell us anything!" Becky exclaimed.

"We can keep a secret," Stacy added. "We won't tell anyone."

"I can't! I can't!" Eggy burst out sobbing. "I can't tell you anything or he'll hurt my mom! He'll hurt my brothers and sisters! I can't say anything or the fish-thing will hurt them!" Immediately, the duckling drew back as though he had been burned and clamped a wing over his beak, horrified. Private looked contemplative.

"A fish-thing? How could a fish-thing kidnap your family? Fish can't go on land!"

"Yeah, really!" Becky said. "They drown on the land!"

"No, stupid, they don't drown! They suffocate!" her sister rolled her eyes. Marlene sighed heavily.

"Can we get back to the issue at hand? Eggy, can you describe more about this fish-thing you're telling us about?" she cut across her cousins. "We can't help you if we don't have the facts."

"I don't know!" Eggy finally yelled. "He had a scooter and stuff! He told me that he'd hurt my family if I told anyone especially the penguins..." Private sucked in his breath upon this revelation.

"Dr. Blowhole..." he whispered.

"Huh?" all three females and Eggy asked in unison.

"Dr. Blowhole!" Private repeated emphatically. "The evil dolphin super villain bent on wreaking revenge on the humans! He must have targeted Eggy's family to get to us!" Marlene laughed out loud.

"Not this again," she complained. "Dolphin super-villains? I've told you before that you penguins are too paranoid to function!"

"No, he's right, "Stacy suddenly said. "I read it in a book once. There's an evil dolphin that wants revenge. He hates humans because they used to make him jump around and stuff for their entertainment! Now the only thing that will make him happy is total annhilation of the human race!"

"Really, Stacy, that was a book, probably a novel. The whole point of a novel is that they're not real," Marlene's patience was wearing thin. "There's no such thing as dolphin super-villains."

"I believe him," Becky interrupted before her cousin could continue on with her tirade about naïve badgers and paranoid penguin commandos. "Eggy has no reason to lie to us. I'm in. What can we do, Private?"

To Be Continued

Author's Comments:

So. Something amazing happened to me today. I got Penguins of Madagascar Silly Bandz. You know, the shaped rubber bands? I wore them to my shift at work and to class and people kept asking to see them. I got a few strange looks from people (when you get to be my age, you're not supposed to be watching cartoons. I say- whatever! I do as I please), but others thought they were awesome. The rest of the day wasn't so awesome- Resident Life pushed back the date of my panel another two weeks, so that means that the issues I've been having are going to keep going on for a while. I just want compensation for the stuff they destroyed. I also probably failed my Spanish midterm, the same one I've been studying for like a crazy woman. Oh well. That's life. And remember people- if you're in university, or you're going to go to university- don't stay up all night online and study! It will save you headaches in the long run.

-Kaboom