"And the lemur started having some sort of tantrum! He was screeching, and it looked like he was going to attack the penguins!" Rai was in the office speaking with Alice, who was a tad upset about her taking and using a tranquilizer without permission.
"Look, Rai, you did the right thing, but this stuff happens often. That lemur is just a spoiled pain in the butt; he doesn't attack the other lemurs, but threatens them, and reminds them of his place as the alpha male with vocalization." Alice explained.
"….oh…" Rai said simply, with guilt and embarrassment. "H-he's ok, right? I didn't use an overdose?"
"Thankfully he's fine." Alice replied. She added a chuckle.
"I told you there was something up with the lemurs and penguins. Quite possibly the other animals too."
"It's weird. How on earth did they manage to get into the penguin's habitat?" Come to think of it, the penguins looked as though they were in some sort of martial arts stance. But Rai dismissed this thought as ridiculous and impossible.
"Well I told you to watch over them. Maybe if you had, you would have found that out." Alice said with an 'I-told-you-so' look, which wasn't really fair. Rai is a zookeeper who tends to the many other animals in the zoo, not a baby sitter. Rai felt she was in enough trouble already, so she refused to remind her superior what her real job is.
"Well, again, I'm sorry." Rai said, slightly hunched over on her chair. Alice looked at her from across her desk.
"It's fine. No harm done. And like I said, you did the right thing, you're just not familiar with the animals and their personalities yet." Alice said.
"Now stop assuming the worse-case-scenario, and get back to work."
"Aye-aye, captain!" Rai saluted.
"Was that a lemur pun?"
"Yes. Yes it was." And with that, Rai left the office and continued her work.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, lo siento mucho, mucho, mucho, I'm sorry!" Addie rapidly spoke, repeating the same thing for three minutes now at the half-conscious ring-tailed lemur. Julien could have been much angrier if he wasn't in the super comfortable vibrating bed he laid on the last time he was taken to the research center.
"Why did you say what you said in the first place?" Asked Maurice.
"I was merely suggesting doing research on- o, wait!" Addie grabbed a book from an unknown source entitled 'Great Leaders Throughout History', and handed it to Julien.
"Um… what is this?" Julien asked as he rotated the book.
"It's a book about different leaders throughout world history, like George Washington, Attila the Hun, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar-"
"Julien the Great? I did not know I was mentioned in a wook!"
"You mean a 'book"? Maurice corrected.
"Yes!"
"No, it's Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar." Addie said.
"But who could be greater than I, King Julien the Great?" Asked Julien with a jovial grin.
"D-do you even know how to read?" Addie asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"Why would I read?" Julien retorted.
"So that you can learn, and go on adventures, and-"
"Lady, we already go on adventures without books." Skipper said.
"And one can also learn through observation and deductive reasoning." Kowalski added.
"Let's not forget our overall experiences!" Private said. Addie stood surprised at the animals.
"So… none of you know how to read?" Asked Addie, disappointed.
"Well our simian ally, Phil can read. But he just reads the newspaper." Skipper responded.
"Nothing more than lies and manipulations from the human species." Skipper said with a cautious tone, shifting his eyes as if the conspiricists he was speaking of were watching his every move.
"Wow…" Addie exhaled. Great. Another group that she is unable to speak with about all the great novels that changed her ways of thinking.
"But you can read! And your sister can speak and translate languages!" Private pointed out.
"We can definitely find you a place on our team… if and only if you think you can go through our intense daily training and maintain your sanity, or whatever is left of it!" Skipper warned.
It was five minutes to closing time, and the sky was dark. The city itself was bright, but slowly dimming. Kyle and Rai have been watching their assigned animals for about half an hour. Kyle got a bit of a kick out of the lemurs, which had been goofing around all day. Rai on the other hand spent her thirty minutes watching the penguins smile and wave. She would have fallen asleep standing up if it weren't for the occasional tourist asking where the bathroom was, or where they could get an ice cream cone. One child asked,
"Is that all the do? Waddle, smile and wave?"
Rai was wondering the same thing. She read that every species of penguin was exceptionally bold, social, and playful. Yet from what she observed from these past thirty minutes was not the case at all. They were somewhat social, but only towards each other, exchanging quick squawks and other odd noises with each other, and the newer penguins.
DING! DONNG~! DING!
"Ugh, finally!" Rai exhaled as the tourists left.
"Dude! Today went pretty well, eh? A bit of action, checking out the animals, talking to visitors from all around the world, it went nicely, am I right?" Kyle exclaimed excitedly. Despite his energy, a loud yawn escaped his lips.
"Well, I gotta go before my roommate forces me to make dinner again. I'll see ya tomorrow, m'k?" Kyle asked as he stretched and grabbed his backpack.
"Oh, yeah. See you tomorrow." Rai answered, staring into space.
"Yeah. Just remember to grab a new alarm clock from "Zoovineirs", since you destroyed your old clock this morning." He snickered.
"Aw, shut up." Rai punched his arm playfully. "Just promise me you won't make me go in the chimpanzee cages again, and I promise to wake up earlier." Rai shuddered, not wanting to think about today's events. Kyle laughed harder.
"Either those guys really like you, or really hate you." Kyle said as he walked past the front gate and into a taxi. Rai gave a loud sigh as she stared at the penguins.
"I'll bet you guys get pretty bored around here, eh?" She asked. The penguins stared back at her.
"Haven't you ever …" She stopped herself, wondering why she was talking to a bunch of birds.
"I'll see you peepers tomorrow." She said as she turned to leave.
"O, and stop taking the tourist's popcorn, will ya? If you want something different to eat just squawk twice and I'll try getting you some cod." She stated plainly as she walked away. She was surprised to hear the youngest of the penguins squawk three times. Rai turned toward the penguins and smiled.
"Right. Salmon it is then." As she walked out the gate and down the street, she missed Skipper slap Private for his actions.