Private shot forward, shoving his magazine to the side of his chair, as his beloved Lunicorns returned to the telly. He had no idea that he had moved just in time to send the rattlesnake that had been lurching for his throat barreling over the side of his chair. The snake landed on his head with a painful wince, and his fangs clashed down onto his own poor tongue. He shut his mouth tightly to keep from moaning with the pain shooting through his body and pulled his coils around him.
He heard some one come into the room and slipped swiftly underneath the young penguin's chair. This one, too, was a penguin, but the snake watched the red sticks he was playing with through widened eyes. He saw the penguin glance at the television set, shrug his ebony shoulders, and return his attention to the sticks he held. The snake's mouth dropped wide open as the penguin swallowed the dynamite and then smiled and licked his beak. "Boom," he murmured, leaving the room with the snake's mouth still agape and his eyes nearly bugging out of his head.
It took the snake several minutes to recover from his shock, and what pulled him back to his senses was the glittering gleam of his dubloon. The things on the television set were now singing, and the penguin who'd stolen his dubloon sang along with them while joyously tossing his dubloon between his flippers. He watched as it sparkled and crooned over its beauty. "Ooh, you're beautiful, but I'm gonna buy a new, talking, and glow in the dark Lunicorn dolly with you! She'll be even prettier!"
The snake's tail rattled. Nothing was prettier than a dubloon! The stupid bird who'd stolen his dubloon didn't even recognize the treasure he held, and to call those Lunicorns creatures prancing across his screen better than dubloons was just pure insanity talk! Anger boiled within him. Not only had the penguin stolen his hard earned dubloon, but he planned to waste it on a cursed doll! Hissing madly, he jumped into the air, performed a somersault mid-leap to reverse his direction, and headed straight for Private's unsuspecting neck.
Private was so lost in his cartoon that he had no idea he was in danger until he heard Skipper's commanding voice boom, "GET DOWN, PRIVATE!" He immediately did as he was instructed, throwing himself out of his chair and onto the concrete floor. Then he watched through widened eyes as Skipper barreled over him, a snake caught in his beak. He squeaked, trembled, and backed as far as he could against the legs of his chair.
Private watched in horror as Skipper fought the snake that had entered their home. Skipper shook the snake until he managed to sink his deadly fangs into his feathers. Then he released him with a yelp but immediately fell back into a fighting stance. The snake struck again and again, but each time Skipper managed to block him from biting him again. The commando penguin swung his balled flippers and kicking talons at the snake, but it eluded his every strike.
At long last, Skipper plunged pass the snake's defenses and shot both of his flippers into the bottom of his jaw. The snake was thrown up into the air by the impact, but he recovered quickly, did a few flips, and came down behind Skipper. His tail was already wrapping around Skipper's body as he landed, and though Skipper tried his best to remove the coils tightening around him, they wouldn't budge. The snake wrapped more tightly around him and began to squeeze him as he turned his eyes, reddened once more with the fury boiling in his blood, onto Private's shocked and scared face.
Private blinked at him from between the flippers that covered his beady, little eyes. The snake's dubloon glimmered inside his left flipper, and the snake hissed and squeezed Skipper more tightly. "You took what isss mine," he hissed. "Now I'll take what isss yoursss!"
"I . . . I . . . " Private stammered.
"Private, stand down, man! Run! Go get the others! That's an order!"
Private continued to stare at the snake despite Skipper's despairing commands, and then realization hit him. He opened his flippers and showed the snake the dubloon. "This is yours, isn't it?" he asked and knew he was right from the way the snake smiled and the dubloon's reflection sparkled in his blood red eyes. He squeezed Skipper even harder as Private tried to reason, "I didn't mean to take it! I just found it! I didn't know it belonged to some one!"
"You knew!" the snake accused. He made the last few tightenings around his prey and ignored Skipper's flippers beating at his coils. His rattles shook. "You knew it belonged to sssome one, and you took it any way! Dubloons don't just ssshow up on the ground out of nowhere!"
"It's a dubloon?" Private asked in surprise, cocking his head to one side as he examined the coin. He shrugged. "I thought it was just a pretty coin. I'm sorry," he said earnestly. "I really didn't mean to take it. All you had to do was ask, and I would have given it back to you."
"Really?" the snake questioned as his scales draped over Skipper's eyes.
"Private!" Skipper cried, his beak now the only part of him left uncovered by the snake's ferocious body.
"Yes." Private held out the coin to the snake. "I'm not a thief. Let Skipper go, and you can have it."
The snake hissed as he examined the offered coin through slitted eyes. The offer was too good to be true. No one had ever offered to give back anything that they had taken from him before. The penguin had to be lying! It was some sort of trap. He jerked back and squeezed Skipper what would have been one last time if a huge, golden ball had not suddenly rolled into the room with them.
To Be Concluded . . .