I didn't realize that I'd fallen asleep until I heard voices surrounding me

When I started coming to, my eyes snapped open. It was well into the morning. Had I really slept that long?

I guess it was past opening time, because there was a crowd of people surrounding the penguin habitat, all snapping pictures. Some of them quietly commented to one another about my waking up.

I had some momentary confusion when I felt something shifting in my arms and I remembered that I had fallen asleep with the penguins, who were still snoozing away.

"Aw, they're so cute!" one of the humans said, snapping a picture.

I lifted my head and looked down at the penguins, who had their flippers wrapped around my arms. I looked around and realized that everyone was taking pictures or videos, and I started feeling my hearts pound. I'd gotten attention before, but not this kind of attention.

"The octopus made friends with the penguins!" one human said.

"Friends?" said another. "Look at how she's holding them. She's obviously taken on a motherly role to the penguins."

Whoa. BACK. UP. Number one, I'm a guy. Number two, I don't do the parenting thing. All I did was sleep with the penguins so they wouldn't be scared during the night. I had no idea what parents do. I was just . . . being nice. I wanted to wake the penguins so I could go back underwater, but they were sleeping so peacefully. Probably for the first time since they'd arrived.

I started feeling the awkwardness of the situation wash over me. Seriously, it was like you feel the awkward in the air. At least to me. I couldn't move without waking the penguins, but the humans were — for once in my life entertaining them — making me a bit uncomfortable.

"But that would never happen," said a young female human with glasses. "Octopus mothers die after their eggs hatch, and the fathers die shortly after mating. They have no parenting instinct."

Thank you, human, I thought.

"Then how else do you explain this?" another asked, gesturing toward the penguins in my arms.

The girl with glasses examined me and the penguins. She tapped her chin. "I don't know. Perhaps the octopus somehow feels responsible for them after saving that one penguin yesterday. Although, the reasons behind it are unclear," she speculated.

The other human rolled her eyes. "Well, I think she's taken on a maternal role for them. Just look at how she's holding them in her tentacles," she said, pointing at me.

"They're called arms. Plus, I'm pretty certain that's a male. I asked a zookeeper once and they said that he has —"

"Hey!" one of the mothers complained as she clamped her hands over her child's ears. "Not in front of the children," she hissed.

Glasses rolled her eyes. "I was just going to say, 'less suckers at the tip of one of his arms,' which means that it's a male," she explained.

I self-consciously tucked my arms in a little more. I've never experienced the human sensation of my face flushing, but if it was anything like having a burning sensation crawl into my cheeks, I think I just did.

Thank fish that the penguins started to stir at that moment. Took 'em long enough.

"Dave?" Private called tiredly, rubbing his eyes. He sat up in my arms, bracing himself on one of them.

"Yeah, it's just me," I replied. "C-Come on, now. Wake up," I cooed anxiously.

The penguins stirred and yawned (much to the awe of the humans) and looked around.

"How long have we been sleeping?" Skipper asked.

"Not sure," I answered. "A while now."

"We're sorry," Private said. "We didn't mean to keep you so long."

I shook my head, trying to hurry the conversation along. "No, it's fine. Really. I do need to get back to the water, though. I'm feeling a bit dry."

The penguins climbed out of my arms and the humans started snapping pictures from all sides. I started back for the water, trying my best to not seem like I was rushing.

"Aw, where's the octopus going, Mama?" one of the children asked.

"It's just going to the water, hon. Octopuses need it to survive," the mother answered just as I dove under.

I sank to the bottom of the water and camouflaged myself with some rocks. This whole situation was weird. And now the humans expected me to . . . what? Parent these little fluffballs? No! I mean, sure, they're cute and everything, but I was not cut out to be a parent! You can't just thrust these kinds of things onto people, let alone creatures who don't have it in their nature.

Just . . . no.

— § —

A lot of people came to visit me today, but only because they were trying to coax me into going up to be with the penguins.

I started to feel a little resentment towards them again. All my life, I was the star! I was the star for being me. I didn't need them to be entertaining. Come on! I'm an octopus! I can squeeze through a hole two inches wide! What's the deal? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?

I mean, I get that I'm not "cute." I accept that. I also accept that the penguins are cute. A million times cuter than me. But that doesn't mean I don't have my own appeal. I entertained humans for years. What was so different now?

Of course, I thought. Humans love a lot of things before something younger and newer comes along. I was old news. Nobody cared about me anymore. I'm not sure who I started to hate more: the humans or the penguins that stole them from me.

After zoo hours, I laid at the bottom of my habitat fiddling with some rocks. After what seemed like a couple of hours, something landed on my head. I took it in an arm and looked at it. It was a spork. Guess the penguins wanted me again. Ugh. I figured they'd find other ways to bug me until I surfaced, so I floated myself upward.

When I broke through the surface of the pool, I looked to the island, where the penguins were waiting.

"Hi, Darwin," Skipper said with a smile.

"Dave," I corrected (once again) with a roll of my eyes.

"Oh, sorry," Skipper said, fiddling with his flippers. "Hi, Dave," he tried again.

"Hey, boys," I replied, trying to mask the contempt in my voice. "Did you have more questions?"

"Yes," Private answered. "Is that okay?"

Okay, I really, really wanted to make an excuse that I was tired or something and go back into the water, but I just can't say no to his little eyes! It was frustrating! I hated the fact that their cuteness was contributing to my unhappiness, yet even I myself was succumbing to it! I sighed.

"Sure," I replied, giving in. "Fire away."

"Okay," Skipper started, "me first. What are those little silver boxes every human seems to have? They keep pointing them at us and tapping at the sides. Is it some kind of surveillance? Are they spying on us so they can figure out where we keep our fish stash? Because they can't have any!" he said, crossing his flippers over his chest with an angry pout. The other penguins nodded in agreement.

I chuckled and rolled my eyes again, although with less disdain than before.

"No, they're just taking photos and videos of you. The little silver things are cameras, and they record images and sound. It's just so they can remember their time here at the zoo. I promise no one is trying to steal your fish," I explained.

They seemed to relax.

"Good," Skipper said, "because they would've had to get through us! Right, boys?" he said, turning to the other penguins. They all agreed and shared high fives.

A random image of the penguins attempting to fight off a human crossed my mind and I smiled. Penguins fighting off a human. How laughable.

"Me next," Kowalski said, stepping forward after they had finished high-fiving. "Yesterday when you explained the 'sounds of the city,' what exactly are they?"

"Um, well," I said, thinking for a moment, "the ones making the honking sounds are called cars, which the humans use to get around to places because they're too lazy to walk. The sirens are from special cars that are rushing to help people that are hurt or in trouble," I explained.

"Wait," Kowalski said, "which ones is the honking and which ones is the sirens?" he asked.

I pursed my lips in thought. How could I explain the sounds without looking like an idiot?

"Um," I said thoughtfully, "you know, the honking is like, uh . . ." I made an awkward honk! honk! sound while imitating a driver honking his horn. I felt foolish, but the penguins seemed to kind of understand what I was getting at. If they thought I looked like an idiot, they didn't show it. "And the sirens are . . ." My voice trailed off again as I tried to think of a way to say Wee-woo-wee-woo! without looking like a nutjob. I was hoping maybe a siren would sound off behind me in the distance, but, of course this had to be the first five-minute interval in a billion years that there wasn't one.

"Are . . .?" Skipper urged.

With a sigh, I proceeded with the demonstration as quietly as I possibly could manage. Thankfully, they seemed to know what I was talking about somehow.

Rico stepped forward and started to . . . Well, I'm not really sure. He seemed to be trying to communicate, but I had zero clue what he said.

"Um . . . beg your pardon?" I replied.

"Sorry," Skipper said, "Rico's had a speech infidelity since he hatched."

My eyes widened. "He had a speech what?"

"Um," Kowalski said, clearing his throat, "speech impediment," he corrected.

"Oh, my bad," Skipper said. "What's infidelity?"

Kowalski shrugged and they all looked at me. My eyes flitted between them as I searched for a response. How did our conversations always end up like this?

"Um . . . That's not important," I said, realizing it was a similar — if not identical — response as before, and hoping they wouldn't press the subject. "Just tell me what he said."

"Oh," Skipper said, "he asked what that stuff is that they eat. We've never seen anything like that before."

"Oh, that's human food," I replied. "They have all kinds of different food. They have stuff called popcorn, and pretzels, and hot dogs. It seems to me that their ultimate goal is to store as much body fat as possible so they can stay warm during the winter. Although some don't seem to need as much as others."

The penguins nodded in understanding. Private furrowed his brow and looked up.

"How do you know so much, Dave?" the littlest one asked.

"Oh, I've been observing the humans for a long time now," I answered. "I also took a few trips into the city when I was younger because I was curious about this new world I was in, much like yourselves."

I quickly regretted telling them that, because immediately after I said it, they all perked up.

"Really?" Skipper asked in awe. "You've been to the city? Can you take us there?"

"Yeah!" Kowalski joined in. "I wanna see the cars!"

"Please, Dave?" Private begged.

I looked between them with wide eyes. "Look . . . guys, I — I don't know. I haven't been to the city in a long time. And I'm not sure if I can keep you all safe."

"Ple-e-e-e-ease?" they all said, giving me their cutest looks.

"We'll stay with you the whole time," Skipper promised.

"And we'll be good," Private promised. "We'll do whatever you say."

I felt my hearts flutter as an idea sprung into my mind. Whatever I say? I repeated in my head. I suddenly had an image of myself and the penguins in the city. I could leave them in a friendly-looking place, come back to the zoo, and I would once again have the attention of the humans. I could be liked again — just for being me. It was perfect. I smiled down at the penguins.

"You really want to go to the city?" I asked. The penguins nodded fervently and looked at me anxiously. I tapped my chin, as if in thought. "Okay. But you have to stay right by my side."

They all happily agreed to my terms and I spread two of my arms. "Well, then let's get going!" I said with a grin. They all cheered and stood in a horizontal line in front of me. "All right, here's how this is going to work. As an octopus, I can blend into my surroundings. So I'm going to carry you so we can avoid the night watchman," I said, looking over my shoulder at the clock tower, which indicated it was half past eight, "who should be getting on right about now. When we get into the city, it's crucial that you stay close to me in case I need to hide you from the humans. Any questions?"

The penguins exchanged glances before shaking their heads excitedly.

"Good," I said. "Don't make a sound until I give the all-clear, okay?"

They nodded as I wrapped an arm around each of them. I looked around to ensure no one was watching before holding them above the water as I crossed to the other side of the pool. I used my remaining four arms to climb over the fence.

After a few minutes of ducking around corners and behind trash cans and camouflaging myself from anyone that might compromise us, I finally made it to the zoo gates and squeezed myself through — and luckily the penguins were small enough to fit through. I snuck us through the park a ways before I crawled behind a cluster of bushes and set the penguins down.

"All right, guys, Phase 1 of Operation: City Prowl is successful," I joked.

"What's a phase?" Private asked.

Before I could answer, Kowalski said, "Phase: a stage in a process of change or development."

I cocked an eyebrow of curiosity. It sounded as if he just read that from a dictionary.

"Uh, yeah," I agreed, "what he said. Anyway, what do you guys want to do first?"

The penguins shrugged.

"What is there to do in a city?" Skipper asked.

I thought for a moment. Then I smiled. "I know just the thing."

About fifteen minutes later, after I'd grabbed the penguins and hitched a ride on an eighteen wheeler (after spending precious time trying to convince the penguins that it wasn't a big, metal monster and that it wasn't hissing at them), we were in —

"Times Square," I announced to the penguins as I climbed to the top of the nearest building. The penguins gasped with awe as I set them on the edge, laying an arm in front of them so they wouldn't be pushed over by the wind.

"Wow," Skipper said breathlessly. "How many humans live here?"

"I'm not sure," I answered. "I think I've heard the humans say that a number of million live in just this one big city."

"Whoa!" the penguins said in unison.

"That's more than the number of penguins in our old rookery!" Kowalski commented.

"Wow," Private said, "there's just so much to see!"

"What should we do first, Drake?" Skipper asked.

I rolled my eyes. I wasn't even gonna say anything.

"How about we go down to the sidewalk and you guys tell me what you're interested in?" I suggested as I gathered them once again into my arms and started carrying them down.

Once at the sidewalk, I camouflaged us on a windowsill as the penguins peeked out over my arms.

"What's that guy doing?" Kowalski asked, pointing at someone on the sidewalk.

"That's a street performer. This particular one is doing what's called hip hop dancing. Humans seem to be obtusely fascinated by other humans with the ability to pop their joints out of their sockets and mindlessly wave their arms and legs around. Like I said, easily amused," I explained.

I slunked back down to the sidewalk and slithered a ways down until I settled behind a bench.

"What's that?" Private said, pointing up at a sign.

"Oh, that's the Minskoff Theatre. That's where humans go to watch people tell a story by singing and dancing," I explained. I read the sign. "Looks like they're playing something called The Lion King at the moment."

"Can we check it out?" Kowalski asked hopefully. The other penguins agreed.

I looked at the sign as I thought for a moment. It would be simple. Take them in, and as they're distracted, slip away and head back to the zoo. Perfect.

"Absolutely," I said. I spotted a human with a rolling suitcase preparing to cross the street and seized the opportunity as she started walking to climb onto it and blend with its color. The human was too busy tapping at her phone to detect the extra weight. When she reached the other side, I slithered off to the side and hid myself against a wall, ensuring no one saw me.

We had to sneak around back and squeeze through a small, barred window. I followed the sound of music and soon, we were in the rafters right above the eleventh row. We all looked down at the show. At that moment, the crowd applauded as everything faded to black and a moment later, a human dressed as a lion was moving across the stage with what seemed like a smaller lion cub. He reminded me of our zoo's lion, the one that goes by Alex, I believe. I've never officially met him, but I saw him when he was pretty young.

"Come on, Uncle Scar," the younger lion pleaded.

Uncle Scar, as he had been named, shook his head, saying no several times. "This is just for you and your daddy. You know, a sort of — father-son thing."

The younger lion looked upset, but Scar seemed to dismiss it.

"Well, I'd better go get him," he said as he prepared to leave.

"I'll go with you," the young lion said.

"No!" Scar snapped angrily, which seemed to frighten the younger lion. Scar regained his composure with a light chuckle. "No, just stay on this rock. You wouldn't want to end up in another mess like you did with the hyenas."

The young lion looked shocked. "You know about that?"

"Simba, everybody knows about that," Scar said.

The young lion — now identified as Simba — recoiled with embarrassment. "Really?"

"Oh, yes. Lucky Daddy was there to save you, eh?" Scar said with a small smile. He put a paw on Simba's shoulder. "Oh, and just between us, you might want to work on that little roar of yours. Hm?"

Scar pulled away as Simba broke eye contact. "Oh . . . okay." Scar patted Simba on the head and started to walk away, but Simba spoke up again and he looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Uncle Scar, will I like the surprise?"

"Simba, it's to die for," he said with a grin before leaving him. He seemed like a nice uncle, giving his brother and nephew a nice surprise.

The scene morphed to two humans dressed as an animal I wasn't familiar with. They were brown, four-legged creatures with crazy-looking faces. They argued for a few moments on whether or not they should do something, and one insisted they wait on Scar's signal, which was given a moment later. The scene turned back to Simba as he attempted to roar. A second later, he became startled as a herd of — well, once again, these were animals that I was not familiar with. But there were a lot of them, and Simba had to run away in terror as they closed in on him. I kept telling myself it was probably about time to make my getaway, but I was intrigued.

The scene cut once again to Scar rushing to another lion whom he identified as Mufasa. Scar informed him that Simba was in the gorge, caught in the middle of a stampede. Wait, hadn't he been the one that put him in that situation? Mufasa seemed unaware of this as he leapt into action. Then he jumped into the stampede and saved Simba by throwing him onto a ledge, where he lost sight of his father. Mufasa jumped onto another ledge, where Scar was standing. He called for his help, identifying him as his brother, and Scar grabbed Mufasa's "paws," but instead of pulling him up, he hissed, "Long live the king," and tossed him back into the stampede. I watched with growing anticipation as the stampede cleared to reveal the one called Mufasa lying motionless in the middle. Simba approached slowly and tried to wake him, but he wouldn't move a muscle.

"Simba," said a voice. Simba turned to see Scar approaching. "What have you done?"

Simba started to cry. "There were wildebeests and he tried to save me. It was an accident, I . . . I didn't mean for it to happen," he said, backing away from Mufasa toward Scar.

Scar put an arm around Simba and the cub hugged him tightly. "Of course, of course you didn't. No one ever means for these things to happen," he said, holding him closer as Simba buried his face into him. "But the king is dead," he said, looking at Simba regretfully. "And if it weren't for you, he'd still be alive." Simba looked up at him and started to back away as a look of shock and terror fell over his face. "Oh! What will your mother think?"

Simba looked from Mufasa back to Scar. "What am I gonna do?"

"Run away, Simba," Scar replied. "Run. Run away and never return."

Simba stumbled backwards before turning and running away.

I glanced at the penguins, who were watching intently. Private looked about ready to cry. The scene continued, but I had stopped paying attention and started thinking. If I left the penguins here and something happened to them, it would be my fault. They could fall down from the rafters! Or they could get caught in the wires and choke! I wouldn't be any better than this Scar character, throwing his own brother into a herd of stampeding wildebeests. Except I would be throwing these four little penguins, penguins that trusted me as Mufasa did Scar, in an unknown place for them to figure out where to go. No, I wouldn't do it here. Not like this. I didn't like them, but I didn't wish death upon them.

I noticed that the penguins were leaning over the railing with anticipation to the next events and I feared they would plunge into the audience. So I wrapped six of my arms firmly around the rafters on either side of them and used the other two to brace in front of and behind them to ensure they wouldn't fall. We watched the rest of the show.

"Wow, that was so cool!" Private said as I carried them through the window we'd used to enter. "I'm glad Simba saved Pride Rock. Scar is mean." The other penguins nodded in agreement.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves," I said as I slithered along a ledge so we were above the streets again. "So where should we go next?"

The penguins and I scanned the area. Kowalski pointed down the street. "What's that place?" he asked.

I followed where his flipper was pointing. "Ah, that's the Disney Store. I don't know much about that place. I know the children love it, though."

"Can we go check it out?" Skipper asked.

I shrugged. "Why not?"

After carefully making our way down and across the street, I found a side entrance and darted in as someone left, taking refuge behind a shelf-full of stuffed toys. The penguins peeked between the toys and gasped with awe at all the shiny playthings. Children ran around in princess dresses and superhero costumes. Other adults chatted or looked at some of the other merchandise.

"Why don't we go to their storage room?" I suggested quietly. "There'll be less people there."

I moved through the store, using the merchandise as my camouflage, and after aimlessly moving about the store (while the penguins awed at some of the items), we found the storage area and I took them as far back into it as possible.

"Look at all this cool stuff!" Kowalski said as the penguins scrambled from my arms and scattered to the nearest merchandise.

Kowalski picked up a plush toy of an orange fish with three white stripes, with one fin abnormally smaller than the other. The tag said Nemo.

Private hit a button on a toy car, causing it to start moving forward. He started running away in fear.

"Ah! It's chasing me! Help!" he cried.

I smiled humorously as I reached out an arm and stopped the car and turned it off. The penguins continued rummaging through the toys for a while and played with anything they found for a few minutes before finding something new. Sometimes they insisted I play something with them. Still can't say no to them. I don't even remember everything we did, but I think a better question would be what didn't we do. We played with little action figures with tags that read names like Captain America or The Incredible Hulk. We had no idea who they were, but the penguins had fun playing pretend with their guesses. I told them of my general knowledge of America so they could come up with Captain America's character: He was our president that secretly fought crime as Captain America, and his mission was to track down the evil monster, the Incredible Hulk, whose dastardly plan was to rid the world of all things beautiful.

Don't kids just think up the silliest things? A monster trying to rid the world of beauty. That's like trying to take the cute from these little fluffballs. How ridiculous.

After a while, Private came towards me with a black headband with black circles on both sides. The tag said Mickey Mouse.

"Try this on, Dave!" he said.

I arched an eyebrow. "Uh, no thanks. I don't do the dressing up thing."

"Please?" Private begged, once again giving me the eyes.

With a defeated sigh, I took the headband and put it on my head. "Well, how do I look?" I asked, feeling utterly ridiculous.

The penguins laughed as they gathered round. Kowalski held a small pink mirror up for me to see. Yep, I was right. I looked like an idiot. My only problem was that I couldn't stop smiling about it, and I couldn't figure out if it was because I was embarrassed or if I somehow actually found the situation humorous.

Our attention was diverted when we heard footsteps approaching. I quickly gathered the penguins and buried us in a pile of stuffed toys. I peeked through an opening and watched as a human in uniform walked by and looked around. He pressed a button on a radio.

"It's all clear in the storage room. Locking up," he said as he turned down an aisle and left. A few moments later, the lights went out and there was the sound of a door shutting followed by locks clicking into place. I pulled myself out of the pile of toys.

"It's dark, Dave," Private said, his voice puncturing the darkness.

"It's all right, guys. I see pretty well in the dark," I said, moving forward and holding them close to me. I looked around and saw an air vent up on the wall. After climbing up, removing the vent, and climbing in, I moved through the air duct as I let my arms pull the vent back into place behind me. In the next few minutes, we were back outside in an alley. I looked at the penguins in my arms as they passed a yawn between themselves.

"I'm tired," Private said, rubbing his eyes. The other penguins nodded in agreement.

"Can we go back to the zoo?" Kowalski requested as he tried to keep his eyes open.

I suddenly realized that I hadn't actually completed my initial plans of finding somewhere to leave the penguins. It had to be somewhere they wouldn't be hurt or killed, but also where someone wouldn't take them back to the zoo. Then it hit me. There was a post office not too far from here. I could ship them to another zoo! Then I'll have the spotlight back at the zoo and my life can get back to normal.

"Sure, guys," I said. "We'll be back to the zoo in no time. We just need to make one more quick little stop. It'll only be a minute, okay?"

The penguins nodded, but they were so beat, I don't think they cared. I held them close again as I started down the alley. But I'd barely gotten a few feet when a pair of big, skinny, haggard dogs jumped out of a garbage dumpster a few meters in front of me. After shaking the excess litter off of them, they took notice of me.

"Hey, Harry, did you order seafood?" one of them said with a grin.

"Nah. Did you, Marv?" the dog identified as Harry asked.

"Nope. But I'm gonna like it anyways," Marv said as they started baring their teeth and growling.

"Look, guys," I said, backing up, "I don't want any trouble."

"We don't either," Harry said. "We want food."

"Haven't eaten a decent meal in days," Marv added in.

"What's going on, Denzel?" Skipper asked, trying to see out over my arms. I'd almost forgotten I was holding them.

"Ooh, who's the little snack you got there?" Marv asked. The two of them started chuckling. I protectively held the penguins closer without even realizing I was doing it.

"Leave us alone," I said, trying to put force into my words. Although, I think it came out more fearful since the dogs started laughing at me.

"Tell me, squid, which part of you tastes the best?" Harry asked. They laughed again.

I suddenly felt like my body was going into overdrive, and all I could do was try to think of different ways I could make a break for it. I was backed into a corner. I could try to scurry up the wall, but the dogs were too close. There was no guarantee I could get away before they could catch their claws into me. I had to get them to leave us alone. I looked down at the penguins in my arms. They were staring at me with wide, fearful eyes, silently pleading for me to keep them away from these mutts. Suddenly, a new fire burned inside me — a sort of determination to not let anything happen to these penguins.

No one was going to touch them.

I looked at the dogs as I put my arms around myself and set the penguins on the ground behind me.

"You two need to go away. Now," I ordered as my confidence grew. The dogs were unfazed.

"Tell you what," Harry said, "we'll make it nice and quick. For you and your little chicken nuggets."

I felt my entire body tense with fury. "They're penguins," I said through my teeth, "and they're not nuggets."

They laughed.

"What's a squid got any business with penguins, anyways?" Marv asked with a humorous grin.

"I'm an octopus," I corrected as I gritted my teeth. "And if I were you, I wouldn't underestimate me."

They laughed again.

"Whatcha gonna do?" Harry mocked. "Sucker us to death?"

They both cracked up.

"I think this has gone on long enough, don't you, Marv?" Harry asked, glancing at his counterpart, who nodded.

I made myself grow as much as possible and stared down at them with as cold a glare as I could manage. "You want to call my bluff? Go ahead. Make my day."

I can honestly say I had zero clue how intimidating I looked, but when I put everything I had into my threat, it seemed to do the trick. The dogs suddenly started shifting uncomfortably on their feet and exchanging looks with each other. It seemed each of them was silently telling the other to be the first to attack, perhaps to see if I was truly bluffing before the other would either jump in or take the opportunity to run away. Finally, they started backing off.

"A-All right," Harry stuttered. "Look, we're sorry, okay? We'll go."

"Yeah," Marv agreed. "It was Harry's idea."

Harry kicked him with his hind leg. "Shut up, Marv! Come on, let's go!" he said, shoving him down the alley.

I didn't realize until they were gone that I was holding my breath and I let it out in a great sigh of relief. I couldn't believe I just did that. I scared them away. Honestly, everything I just did? Yeah, that was a bluff. I've never fought anyone verbally, let alone physically. And they had claws and teeth! What chance did I possibly have against them? If they would have actually called my bluff, I would have most certainly died. I questioned where all of my courage and confidence came from because it sure as halibut wasn't because I was brave.

"Dave?" called a small voice. I turned to see the penguins peeking around as if to see if it was safe.

"Dave, are you okay?" Private asked.

I looked down at them, studying each of their expressions carefully. They were full of concern. Concern for me. I suddenly felt guilt wash over me like a tidal wave. I came out here with the selfish determination to get rid of these little fluffballs when they trusted me. They considered me their friend. Something no one had ever done before. They cared about me.

And I tried to get rid of them.

"Yes, I'm fine. Let's get back to the zoo," I said, gathering them in my arms again.

"What about that stop you wanted to make?" Kowalski asked.

I shook my head. "It's not important."

They didn't respond after that. As I held them close to me again, I suddenly realized the origin of my courage from the encounter with the dogs. Yes, I probably would've died, or at the very least been severely injured, if I had had to go up against those dogs. But the thing was that I was okay with that. I've never felt this way toward anyone before. I was willing to die for these little scene-stealing fluffballs. But then again, they weren't just scene-stealing fluffballs, either.

They were also heart-stealing fluffballs.

— § —

Note: Dave obliviously uses celebrity puns in the movie, but he doesn't have his henchmen yet, so I thought it believable to assume perhaps that he would use famous quotes obliviously as well. I will identify the quotes used at the end of chapter to give you guys a chance to spot them yourselves.

The quotes in this chapter were: "Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?" spoken by Maximus (portrayed by Russell Crowe) in Gladiator (2000); and "Go ahead. Make my day," by Harry Callahan (portrayed by Clint Eastwood) in Sudden Impact (1983). Dave's comment about feeling the awkward in the air was a reference to a line said by Sam Pucket (portrayed by Jennett McCurdy) in an episode of iCarly.

Finally, the dogs, Harry and Marv, were characters based off the dynamic duo from Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Their personalities are fun to work with, and while it was short-lived, it was great fun to incorporate them into this story.