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Skipper noticed the change the moment he was back in his zoo. He couldn’t quite put a flipper on it, but his gut told him that something wasn’t right. Immediately, his senses kicked into high gear to determine the new threat.
He peered out of the holes of the animal carrier. He saw the lemur habitat. For once, it was quiet. There was no loud music or irritating ringtail calling to his followers for this or that.
He frowned. Julien wasn’t playing in the bouncy house or having Maurice give him a pedicure. And where was Sad Eyes?
Next, he passed Marlene’s habitat. He didn’t see her either. She was normally up bright and early, splashing in the water and generally making a great racket.
He’d often wondered if he was the only one who actually liked quiet around here. Well, after all he’d seen in his years of service, he had the right….He slapped a flipper against his forehead. “Focus.”
The human chauffeur came to the penguin habitat and opened the door to let him out. He flicked the man a short salute and didn’t watch him walk off. He stood on top of the fake iceberg and looked around.
The monkeys weren’t lounging in their trees or flinging poo. The elephants weren’t trumpeting to each other. His men weren’t out doing their usual morning exercises.
Skipper rubbed his chin. “It’s too darn quiet.”
He heard them coming and stared to turn. “Will someone please tell me what’s--” He didn’t get a chance to get the whole question out when Rico and Private pounced on him. In a second, he was down on his back with one on either side holding him down. “I applaud your diligence, men, but you can let me up.”
Private put a flipper to Skipper’s beak. “Shh. Skipper, you have to listen.”
Skipper stilled when he saw the panicked look in Private’s eyes. He glanced at Rico, who looked down at him pleadingly. He nodded.
“It’s Kowalski,” Private whispered urgently. “You left him in charge while you were gone and he went off the deep end.”
Skipper would’ve arched an eyebrow if he had one. “Kowalski? He’s much too straight laced.”
“It’s true,” Private squeaked. “The power went to his head the second day. He tried to turn the whole zoo into a boot camp.”
Skipper looked to Rico for confirmation. Rico grunted and nodded vigorously.
“The other animals wanted to lynch him,” Private continued. “Rico and I convinced them to wait until you got back.”
Skipper sighed. “All right, Private. You two did right. Let me up and I’ll go take care of Kowalski. Where is he?”
“Down below.” Private rubbed his flippers together nervously. “Do you want us to come with you?”
“No, you two stand guard out here. No matter what you hear, stay at your posts until I come to get you.”
Private and Rico came to attention and saluted.
Skipper went down to the lair and found Kowalski standing over a map of the zoo. “If I can intercept the feeders, that would make them come into line,” Kowalski muttered.
“It looks like I’ve unleashed a monster,” Skipper remarked mildly. “And I was only gone a week.”
Kowalski jumped and turned around. “Skipper!”
Skipper approached Kowalski slowly. “Intercept the feeders. The zoo as a boot camp. What’s gotten into you?”
Kowalski straightened up. “I was only trying to make things run more efficiently,” he said defensively.
“Okay, and how’s that going for you?”
“Well,” Kowalski hedged. “I’ve hit a few snags.”
Skipper stood in front of Kowalski. He chuckled. “A few snags. From what Private says, the rest of the zoo hates you.”
Kowalski stared at the floor and shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. “They refused to even listen to my suggestions. They started it, not me. You should have seen it when Marlene--” he abruptly shut his beak.
“You’re usually so diplomatic,” Skipper said gently. “How could you let things go this far?”
“I was just trying to…I guess I lost my head…I…” Kowalski stuttered and his shoulders slumped.
Skipper placed his flippers on Kowalski’s shoulders. “It’s all right.”
Kowalski’s eyes darted to Skipper’s face before he resumed staring at the floor. He swallowed. “I wanted to…It was meant to be a surprise. I wanted to show you that you didn’t make a mistake by leaving me in charge. I wanted to impress you.”
Skipper smiled. “I know.” He ran his flippers down Kowalski’s arms. “When are you going to realize that you don’t have to?”
Kowalski let out a stifled sob. “I messed up good.”
“Yes, you did.” Skipper took a step back and put his flippers on his hips. “But don’t worry. We’ll fix it.”
Kowalski nodded. “What do we do?”
“First, we apologize.” Skipper looked pointedly at Kowalski. “And then you grovel.”
Kowalski grimaced. “How much groveling?”
“As much as it takes.”
Kowalski looked like he wanted to protest but nodded. “Okay. Are you mad?”
“Not so much mad as disappointed,” Skipper replied calmly.
“How disappointed?”
Skipper turned and started back to the hatch. “You’ll know that by how much groveling you’ll have to do to get back into my bunk,” he answered over his shoulder.