“Whoa, Skipper” کہا Kowalski, stumbling backwards. “What are آپ doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” کہا Skipper. “I’m going to finish this before آپ seriously hurt someone.” Skipper kicked out at Kowalski and Kowalski did a backflip to avoid it.
“Are آپ two okay?” Skipper کہا hurriedly to Private and Rico. Much to Skipper’s surprise, the two penguins ran over to Kowalski and stood in front of him, shielding Kowalski from Skipper.
“Skippa, stop!” کہا Private. “Kowalski didn’t do anything! And if آپ want to hurt him, you’ll have to go through us first!”
“Is this part of your fiendish plan, Kowalski?” کہا Skipper. “Brainwashing my soldiers and using them as shields?”
Skipper stood in front of Rico and Private for a few moments, as though sizing them up, then screamed and pointed behind them. “Leopard seal!”
“Aah!” کہا Private, and he and Rico cowered on the floor. Skipper took the opportunity to dash between them and run straight towards Kowalski, who had spun around in alarm but not ducked on the floor. Before Kowalski turned back, Skipper had already knocked him across the room, where he hit a دیوار and slid down.
Skipper ran over to Kowalski, who seemed dazed سے طرف کی the impact. Right as Skipper reached down to investigate the cloth wrapped around Kowalski’s head, the پینگوئن, پیںگان casually slapped Skipper’s wing away, then sprang up and began to run. Skipper was surprised but quickly began to pursue Kowalski, who was running towards his makeshift organ, but before he could reach it, Skipper grabbed his ankle and pulled it out from under him and Kowalski fell to the ground.
سے طرف کی now, Rico and Private had gotten up and were running over to Skipper, trying to stop him.
“Skippa, leave him alone!” کہا Private.
“What did آپ do to them?” کہا Skipper, staring at Kowalski. Kowalski simply shrugged, knowing Skipper would never believe him if he denied it. Then he tried to wiggle out of Skipper’s grip, but Skipper just twisted his ankle to get him to stop.
“Now, you’re coming with me back to the headquarters, Kowalski, and if آپ don’t get up and walk, then I’ll drag you” Skipper said. However, right at that moment, Private grabbed Skipper from behind and began to tickle Skipper’s belly. Skipper giggled and loosened his grip on Kowalski, which was enough for Kowalski to break free. He saluted Private before running off into the darkness.
“Private!” کہا Skipper in the midst of his fit of giggles (Skipper was very ticklish in certain places) “Stop…hehe…stop that!” he pushed Private off of him, but Private just jumped back on and kept tickling him. “Rico…please…hehe…help me!” Rico just watched.
Finally, Skipper grabbed Private’s flipper and whiplashed him over his head into the sewer. As Private swam to the shore, spitting out filthy water, Skipper sprinted off into the darkness after Kowalski.
Unfortunantly for Skipper, it was very dark in the sewer and eventually smacked into a wall, which he could not see. As he stumbled around, dazed, light suddenly flooded the section of sewer which he was in. He looked up towards the light and saw Kowalski had kicked open a manhole and was climbing a ladder, trying to escape.
“Kowalski, stop!” کہا Skipper, momentarily panicking as he knew that particular manhole led to a very busy street. But Kowalski did not slow down at all and in a few سیکنڈ had flipped off the ladder and out of the sewer. Skipper took a running jump towards the ladder and managed to grab onto the middle rung and started to climb as fast as he could. But he was blinded سے طرف کی the glare of the daylight and as he was squinting, trying to block the light with one flipper he heard a small thud, followed سے طرف کی the screech of car brakes. A car slid into place right over the سب, سب سے اوپر of the manhole, blocking out the light and allowing Skipper to climb at سب, سب سے اوپر speed. He popped out of the hole and whacked his head on the car.
“Oh man, what did I just hit?” کہا a man’s voice, and a car door slammed shut. Skipper peeked out from under the car and saw Kowalski lying motionless in the گھاس several feet from the side of the road.
Before the man could see what he had hit, Skipper dashed out from under the car and grabbed Kowalski and dragged him under the car.
“What’s this?” کہا the man, and Skipper peeked out from under the car once again. He saw the man bend down and pick up what appeared to be a small (large for Skipper) glass beaker, the kind that Kowalski used in his lab. The man turned it over and a few drops of liquid fell out.
The man just dropped the beaker and got back into the car, apparently deciding that he had not hit anything. Then he drove away.
“Skippa? What are آپ doing?” کہا Private from inside the sewer. Skipper ignored him and put Kowalski اگلے to the manhole, then walked out to retrieve the beaker. He wanted to look it over, but he didn’t want anyone to spot him outside the zoo so he grabbed Kowalski in one wing and the beaker in the other and jumped back down the manhole. Then he slid the cover back into place.
Rico and Private were waiting at the bottom of the ladder. Skipper found it difficult to climb while carrying Kowalski and simply dropped him onto Rico, who collapsed under the weight. Private pulled Kowalski off of Rico, but one he realized Kowalski was not moving at all یا even breathing, he turned to Skipper with a look of shock on his face.
“What did آپ do to him?” کہا Private.
“Come on, Private, it’s obvious he’s just faking” کہا Skipper trying to sound confident but it was easy to tell that he was actually very nervous. He slapped Kowalski several times. “Kowalski, it’s over. آپ can’t run any more.”
“Did آپ shove him under a car یا something?” کہا Private, looking anxiously at Kowalski.
Skipper sighed. “I chased him up the ladder and before I was even at the سب, سب سے اوپر a car hit him. There was nothing I could do.”
“You’re lying!” کہا Private and began to whack Skipper in the chest. It didn’t hurt but it was annoying so Skipper just slapped Private in the face. “Knock it off,” he کہا irritably. Ordinarily he would done something like ban Private from watching TV for awhile but he was far too concerned about Kowalski to care about Private’s actions.
Skipper sighed and slung Kowalski over his shoulder, then began to carry him back towards the پینگوئن, پیںگان habitat. Private and Rico followed along, not talking, and after a few منٹ they had reached the headquarters.
Skipper put Kowalski on his bunk and began to inspect him to see if he was still alive. After listening a few سیکنڈ for his heartbeat and feeling for a pulse, he sighed and walked away.
“He’s dead,” کہا Skipper as he walked passed Private and Rico.
Private burst into tears. Rico picked up Private and hugged him, then began to cry too. Skipper just sighed again and went into the bathroom. A small click signaled that he had locked the door.
“No! I don’t believe it!” کہا Private stubbornly and walked over to Kowalski, making Rico, who had been leaning on his shoulder, topple to the ground. As Rico grumbled and picked himself off the floor, Private put his head on Kowalski’s chest, listening for a heartbeat. After about six سیکنڈ with no sign of one, Private began to cry even louder, soaking Kowalski’s chest. Then he heard it. One tiny, fragile beat.
“Kowalski?” کہا Private, his crying immediately stopping. He listened for a few مزید seconds, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining it.
About seven سیکنڈ later, another tiny heartbeat sounded. Private squealed and hugged Kowalski, that ran over to Rico.
“Kowalski’s alive!” کہا Private. Rico ignored him and gave a heavyhearted sigh.
“Humph” کہا Private. He went over to the bathroom door and was about to knock when he heard a sniffling noise coming from inside. He put his head up to the door and listened very intently, but it wasn’t hard to tell that Skipper was crying.
Not softly, either. It sounded as though he had just blown his nose on a tissue and was now crying his eyes out into the tissue. Private was a little taken aback, since he head never heard his commander cry before, but then again he had never had a member of his team die because of Skipper, at least not when Private was around.
“Skippa! Kowalski’s alive!” shouted Private from outside the door, deducing that if he bothered knocking then Skipper would probably run him off anyway.
“Go away Private” moaned Skipper. “Go pester Rico یا something…just leave me alone.”
“But Skippa…” begged Private.
The door opened and Skipper jumped out, looking positively livid, but as he was about to yell at Private he dissolved into tears again.
“I thought it would be for the good of the zoo, taking out Kowalski...well, not like this, آپ know…but losing a teammate…a friend, especially in an accident which you’re responsible for…you don’t know what it feels like” کہا Skipper.
Private patted Skipper on the back and Skipper suddenly picked Private up in a bone-crushing hug. Private could barely breathe until Skipper finally put him down.
“Yes…sorry for tickling آپ as well. I don’t know what came over me,” کہا Private, thinking that telling Skipper that Kowalski wasn’t even going to hurt them would only make him feel worse.
“Oh, I forgive آپ Private,” کہا Skipper without looking at Private. “You know, it’s just so odd,” he continued, stopping his crying for a second. “Even after Kowalski kidnapped آپ two and perhaps even mind controlled you, I still feel…”
“Yes. Kowalski was a friend, Skipper. It’s natural for آپ to feel like that and it shows that آپ were a true friend,” کہا Private, cutting off Skipper.
Skipper forced himself to stop crying. “Well, I guess that now all we have to do is put Kowalski to rest.”
Private gave a confused face. Skipper sighed and کہا “Bury him, have a funeral, whatever آپ want to call it.”
Private looked scandalized. “But Skippa! Kowalski’s still alive! I felt his heartbeat!”
“Oh, آپ tell me now?” کہا Skipper. “Besides, I checked Kowalski myself, his heartbeat’s gone. آپ must have been imagining it.”
Rico was standing around, looking at pictures of all of the penguins playing والی بال and crying. “Come on Rico, we’re going to give Kowalski a proper funeral.”
“No! I won’t let you!” کہا Private frantically.
“Rico!” کہا Skipper, and Rico slapped Private.
“Much better sir” کہا Private. “Perhaps I was just imagining it after all.”
Private decided to check on مزید time and put his head on Kowalski’s chest. Just to make Private feel slightly better, Skipper did too. They waited for a good eight seconds. No heartbeat.
“I could have sworn…” کہا Private.
“Sometimes آپ can go a little insane when آپ lose someone like this, Private. I remember what happened to Manfreeti back in Ecuador when he got the news his mum had been killed سے طرف کی an angry leopard seal…” Skipper shuddered.
Private felt the oddest mix of relief and despair.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few hours later the three remaining penguins, Marlene, the chimps and Maurice were assembled سے طرف کی a bare patch of ground behind one of the zoo storehouses. Mason the chimp was dressed in very formal looking black clothes complete with a سب, سب سے اوپر hat and tie while Phil shoveled dirt onto the hole in the ground containing Kowalski. Maurice and Marlene stood and watched in respectful silence as the penguins put little flowers and a مچھلی on سب, سب سے اوپر of his grave. Everyone was wondering why the مچھلی was there, since Kowalski wasn’t going to eat it, but no one کہا anything.
Mason recited some funeral passages in a very mechanical tone of voice, as though he didn’t want to be there and was wishing he were somewhere else. After he was finished, the penguins came up and کہا some final words (I’m not going to write them all because firstly I fail miserably at conveying dramatic emotions for any amount of time longer than a few minutes. Also, Private stood up and spoke for about an hour, and for me to write everything he کہا would be tedious on my poor fingers). Not wishing to attract the attention of the humans یا other animals around the zoo, instead of sticking a gravestone یا something into the ground Phil simply wrote in the dirt with his finger:
“Here lies Kowalski: 1998-2009”
After crying for a few مزید minutes, the animals realized how late it was and کہا hasty goodbyes before scurrying back to their habitats. A half an گھنٹہ passed.
Then a black flipper poked its way out of the grave.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” کہا Skipper. “I’m going to finish this before آپ seriously hurt someone.” Skipper kicked out at Kowalski and Kowalski did a backflip to avoid it.
“Are آپ two okay?” Skipper کہا hurriedly to Private and Rico. Much to Skipper’s surprise, the two penguins ran over to Kowalski and stood in front of him, shielding Kowalski from Skipper.
“Skippa, stop!” کہا Private. “Kowalski didn’t do anything! And if آپ want to hurt him, you’ll have to go through us first!”
“Is this part of your fiendish plan, Kowalski?” کہا Skipper. “Brainwashing my soldiers and using them as shields?”
Skipper stood in front of Rico and Private for a few moments, as though sizing them up, then screamed and pointed behind them. “Leopard seal!”
“Aah!” کہا Private, and he and Rico cowered on the floor. Skipper took the opportunity to dash between them and run straight towards Kowalski, who had spun around in alarm but not ducked on the floor. Before Kowalski turned back, Skipper had already knocked him across the room, where he hit a دیوار and slid down.
Skipper ran over to Kowalski, who seemed dazed سے طرف کی the impact. Right as Skipper reached down to investigate the cloth wrapped around Kowalski’s head, the پینگوئن, پیںگان casually slapped Skipper’s wing away, then sprang up and began to run. Skipper was surprised but quickly began to pursue Kowalski, who was running towards his makeshift organ, but before he could reach it, Skipper grabbed his ankle and pulled it out from under him and Kowalski fell to the ground.
سے طرف کی now, Rico and Private had gotten up and were running over to Skipper, trying to stop him.
“Skippa, leave him alone!” کہا Private.
“What did آپ do to them?” کہا Skipper, staring at Kowalski. Kowalski simply shrugged, knowing Skipper would never believe him if he denied it. Then he tried to wiggle out of Skipper’s grip, but Skipper just twisted his ankle to get him to stop.
“Now, you’re coming with me back to the headquarters, Kowalski, and if آپ don’t get up and walk, then I’ll drag you” Skipper said. However, right at that moment, Private grabbed Skipper from behind and began to tickle Skipper’s belly. Skipper giggled and loosened his grip on Kowalski, which was enough for Kowalski to break free. He saluted Private before running off into the darkness.
“Private!” کہا Skipper in the midst of his fit of giggles (Skipper was very ticklish in certain places) “Stop…hehe…stop that!” he pushed Private off of him, but Private just jumped back on and kept tickling him. “Rico…please…hehe…help me!” Rico just watched.
Finally, Skipper grabbed Private’s flipper and whiplashed him over his head into the sewer. As Private swam to the shore, spitting out filthy water, Skipper sprinted off into the darkness after Kowalski.
Unfortunantly for Skipper, it was very dark in the sewer and eventually smacked into a wall, which he could not see. As he stumbled around, dazed, light suddenly flooded the section of sewer which he was in. He looked up towards the light and saw Kowalski had kicked open a manhole and was climbing a ladder, trying to escape.
“Kowalski, stop!” کہا Skipper, momentarily panicking as he knew that particular manhole led to a very busy street. But Kowalski did not slow down at all and in a few سیکنڈ had flipped off the ladder and out of the sewer. Skipper took a running jump towards the ladder and managed to grab onto the middle rung and started to climb as fast as he could. But he was blinded سے طرف کی the glare of the daylight and as he was squinting, trying to block the light with one flipper he heard a small thud, followed سے طرف کی the screech of car brakes. A car slid into place right over the سب, سب سے اوپر of the manhole, blocking out the light and allowing Skipper to climb at سب, سب سے اوپر speed. He popped out of the hole and whacked his head on the car.
“Oh man, what did I just hit?” کہا a man’s voice, and a car door slammed shut. Skipper peeked out from under the car and saw Kowalski lying motionless in the گھاس several feet from the side of the road.
Before the man could see what he had hit, Skipper dashed out from under the car and grabbed Kowalski and dragged him under the car.
“What’s this?” کہا the man, and Skipper peeked out from under the car once again. He saw the man bend down and pick up what appeared to be a small (large for Skipper) glass beaker, the kind that Kowalski used in his lab. The man turned it over and a few drops of liquid fell out.
The man just dropped the beaker and got back into the car, apparently deciding that he had not hit anything. Then he drove away.
“Skippa? What are آپ doing?” کہا Private from inside the sewer. Skipper ignored him and put Kowalski اگلے to the manhole, then walked out to retrieve the beaker. He wanted to look it over, but he didn’t want anyone to spot him outside the zoo so he grabbed Kowalski in one wing and the beaker in the other and jumped back down the manhole. Then he slid the cover back into place.
Rico and Private were waiting at the bottom of the ladder. Skipper found it difficult to climb while carrying Kowalski and simply dropped him onto Rico, who collapsed under the weight. Private pulled Kowalski off of Rico, but one he realized Kowalski was not moving at all یا even breathing, he turned to Skipper with a look of shock on his face.
“What did آپ do to him?” کہا Private.
“Come on, Private, it’s obvious he’s just faking” کہا Skipper trying to sound confident but it was easy to tell that he was actually very nervous. He slapped Kowalski several times. “Kowalski, it’s over. آپ can’t run any more.”
“Did آپ shove him under a car یا something?” کہا Private, looking anxiously at Kowalski.
Skipper sighed. “I chased him up the ladder and before I was even at the سب, سب سے اوپر a car hit him. There was nothing I could do.”
“You’re lying!” کہا Private and began to whack Skipper in the chest. It didn’t hurt but it was annoying so Skipper just slapped Private in the face. “Knock it off,” he کہا irritably. Ordinarily he would done something like ban Private from watching TV for awhile but he was far too concerned about Kowalski to care about Private’s actions.
Skipper sighed and slung Kowalski over his shoulder, then began to carry him back towards the پینگوئن, پیںگان habitat. Private and Rico followed along, not talking, and after a few منٹ they had reached the headquarters.
Skipper put Kowalski on his bunk and began to inspect him to see if he was still alive. After listening a few سیکنڈ for his heartbeat and feeling for a pulse, he sighed and walked away.
“He’s dead,” کہا Skipper as he walked passed Private and Rico.
Private burst into tears. Rico picked up Private and hugged him, then began to cry too. Skipper just sighed again and went into the bathroom. A small click signaled that he had locked the door.
“No! I don’t believe it!” کہا Private stubbornly and walked over to Kowalski, making Rico, who had been leaning on his shoulder, topple to the ground. As Rico grumbled and picked himself off the floor, Private put his head on Kowalski’s chest, listening for a heartbeat. After about six سیکنڈ with no sign of one, Private began to cry even louder, soaking Kowalski’s chest. Then he heard it. One tiny, fragile beat.
“Kowalski?” کہا Private, his crying immediately stopping. He listened for a few مزید seconds, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining it.
About seven سیکنڈ later, another tiny heartbeat sounded. Private squealed and hugged Kowalski, that ran over to Rico.
“Kowalski’s alive!” کہا Private. Rico ignored him and gave a heavyhearted sigh.
“Humph” کہا Private. He went over to the bathroom door and was about to knock when he heard a sniffling noise coming from inside. He put his head up to the door and listened very intently, but it wasn’t hard to tell that Skipper was crying.
Not softly, either. It sounded as though he had just blown his nose on a tissue and was now crying his eyes out into the tissue. Private was a little taken aback, since he head never heard his commander cry before, but then again he had never had a member of his team die because of Skipper, at least not when Private was around.
“Skippa! Kowalski’s alive!” shouted Private from outside the door, deducing that if he bothered knocking then Skipper would probably run him off anyway.
“Go away Private” moaned Skipper. “Go pester Rico یا something…just leave me alone.”
“But Skippa…” begged Private.
The door opened and Skipper jumped out, looking positively livid, but as he was about to yell at Private he dissolved into tears again.
“I thought it would be for the good of the zoo, taking out Kowalski...well, not like this, آپ know…but losing a teammate…a friend, especially in an accident which you’re responsible for…you don’t know what it feels like” کہا Skipper.
Private patted Skipper on the back and Skipper suddenly picked Private up in a bone-crushing hug. Private could barely breathe until Skipper finally put him down.
“Yes…sorry for tickling آپ as well. I don’t know what came over me,” کہا Private, thinking that telling Skipper that Kowalski wasn’t even going to hurt them would only make him feel worse.
“Oh, I forgive آپ Private,” کہا Skipper without looking at Private. “You know, it’s just so odd,” he continued, stopping his crying for a second. “Even after Kowalski kidnapped آپ two and perhaps even mind controlled you, I still feel…”
“Yes. Kowalski was a friend, Skipper. It’s natural for آپ to feel like that and it shows that آپ were a true friend,” کہا Private, cutting off Skipper.
Skipper forced himself to stop crying. “Well, I guess that now all we have to do is put Kowalski to rest.”
Private gave a confused face. Skipper sighed and کہا “Bury him, have a funeral, whatever آپ want to call it.”
Private looked scandalized. “But Skippa! Kowalski’s still alive! I felt his heartbeat!”
“Oh, آپ tell me now?” کہا Skipper. “Besides, I checked Kowalski myself, his heartbeat’s gone. آپ must have been imagining it.”
Rico was standing around, looking at pictures of all of the penguins playing والی بال and crying. “Come on Rico, we’re going to give Kowalski a proper funeral.”
“No! I won’t let you!” کہا Private frantically.
“Rico!” کہا Skipper, and Rico slapped Private.
“Much better sir” کہا Private. “Perhaps I was just imagining it after all.”
Private decided to check on مزید time and put his head on Kowalski’s chest. Just to make Private feel slightly better, Skipper did too. They waited for a good eight seconds. No heartbeat.
“I could have sworn…” کہا Private.
“Sometimes آپ can go a little insane when آپ lose someone like this, Private. I remember what happened to Manfreeti back in Ecuador when he got the news his mum had been killed سے طرف کی an angry leopard seal…” Skipper shuddered.
Private felt the oddest mix of relief and despair.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few hours later the three remaining penguins, Marlene, the chimps and Maurice were assembled سے طرف کی a bare patch of ground behind one of the zoo storehouses. Mason the chimp was dressed in very formal looking black clothes complete with a سب, سب سے اوپر hat and tie while Phil shoveled dirt onto the hole in the ground containing Kowalski. Maurice and Marlene stood and watched in respectful silence as the penguins put little flowers and a مچھلی on سب, سب سے اوپر of his grave. Everyone was wondering why the مچھلی was there, since Kowalski wasn’t going to eat it, but no one کہا anything.
Mason recited some funeral passages in a very mechanical tone of voice, as though he didn’t want to be there and was wishing he were somewhere else. After he was finished, the penguins came up and کہا some final words (I’m not going to write them all because firstly I fail miserably at conveying dramatic emotions for any amount of time longer than a few minutes. Also, Private stood up and spoke for about an hour, and for me to write everything he کہا would be tedious on my poor fingers). Not wishing to attract the attention of the humans یا other animals around the zoo, instead of sticking a gravestone یا something into the ground Phil simply wrote in the dirt with his finger:
“Here lies Kowalski: 1998-2009”
After crying for a few مزید minutes, the animals realized how late it was and کہا hasty goodbyes before scurrying back to their habitats. A half an گھنٹہ passed.
Then a black flipper poked its way out of the grave.
