He missed the plastic female that was always just the right size for a warm hug; her long, blonde hair, her silent and mysterious personality. She was probably the only one that truly understood the lonely penguin. Everyone else seemed to just judge him; but not her. She accepted Rico for who he was, and nothing more. She never argued with him, and she always allowed Rico to have the first word in everything. If only there were madami women like her.
But there wasn’t; only her…
This was all very stupid. Pointless. Irritating. Depressing. Frustrating.
Rico could think of many words that could sum up the situation at hand. There were nights when he would think back to how this all happened. He only wanted a hug from Kowalski. After that, Kowalski seemed to ignore him for a few days. Suddenly, the intellectual chose to make pag-ibig to the heavyset penguin, that one night. It had come out of nowhere, and he still wasn’t sure as to what drove Kowalski to do it. Rico didn’t know how to react, so he decided to simply push him away. That short moment had changed the team completely. Every time he thought about it, he would immediately grow furious.
Then, when Skipper finally questioned the tall ibong dagat of the matter, Kowalski lied in order to save his own skin. Instead of taking the full responsibility for his actions, Kowalski caused Rico to take the fall for him. From that point and on, the other penguins began to point flippers and turn their backs on Rico. What had Rico done wrong?
“Rico! Wake up, quick!” the annoying hayop ng oter screeched that morning, “C’mon, get off your lazy butt and get over here!”
Rico groaned and slowly sat up, rubbing his sleepy eyes with his flippers with a yawn. He hopped from his uncomfortable stone kama and waddled towards the pinagmulan of the screaming. Apparently, Marlene had decorated the entire cave. Her tahanan was filled with unlit candles, red drapes, a stereo, and a small, round mesa made of stone that was centered in the cave. Rico noticed the stereo to be Julien’s; most likely stolen.
It was playing a strange song that featured a woman pag-awit the words ‘have you ever been in love’ over and over again. Rico soon realized that it was simply closing to the end of the song. When it had finished, the ibong dagat turned his head away from the stereo and looked to Marlene, who was standing near the stone table. The mesa appeared to have a red sheet thrown over it in order to hide the fact that it was made from rock. The hayop ng oter smiled and raised her arms above her head.
“So, what do you think?”
Rico tilted his head to the side, still a bit confused of the occasion. Marlene rolled her eyes and lowered her arms while she retained the smile.
“Okay, so I’m gonna try and see where I can go with this. I’ve got it all planned out…” She started, turning to arrange the candle on the mesa behind her, “After what Private said, last night, I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
Rico waddled closer, curious to hear the reason for this display.
“And he’s right, though. I never really asked him, you know? So…I’m gonna do it, tonight!” Marlene turned again to face Rico, “I’m gonna ask Skipper!” she squealed as she quickly hugged the penguin, giving Rico the first embrace that he had been ibingiay in a long time.
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Kowalski missed his friend.
He missed the quiet ibong dagat who always seemed to observe the world around him in curiosity. He had always tried to give Kowalski a simple hug to ipakita that he was a friend, and Kowalski always refused. The intellectual was desperate for true love. All of these missions were draining the life out of him. Luckily, during these gloomy times, Skipper kept the missions to a minimum. The team needed time to their selves; to rethink their actions and intentions. Kowalski had certainly done that.
He was confused with his emotions and wanted pag-ibig from anyone, despite the gender. Eventually, after all of the mistakes, Kowalski decided that it was wrong. He was a changed penguin; and whether or not that meant never finding pag-ibig from another, he knew that he would most definitely stick to the natural way of things. He would flush out these dirty thoughts that floated about his once tormented mind.
Now, he only had to get his friend back…
“Kowalski?” he heard Private ask from behind.
Kowalski turned to look at the small penguin, who decided to sit at the edge of the stone platform that resided in their habitat. Private had managed to find Kowalski, who had been swimming in the water surrounding the rock. The tall one was forced to float in place. This would prove to help him maintain his concentration for the conversation that followed.
“What is it, Private?”
The young one looked down and fiddled with his flippers a bit.
“Did you and Skipper have another fight?” Kowalski attempted to reduce the awkward feeling that was creeping along.
Private nodded.
“Is that what’s truly troubling you?”
Private shook his head, “It’s Rico…”
“Go on…”
“Skippa won’t tell me why he sent Rico away…”
Kowalski’s eyes grew wide in surprise. Private noticed this and then made the same expression.
“Do you know?”
“Um…well…Skipper is…Skipper’s doing the right thing sa pamamagitan ng keeping it confidential.”
“Please tell me!” Private pleaded, leaning pasulong as he did so.
“Private, it’s not something that you should be concerned about, I can assure you…”
“Please, K’walski! I just want to know what-” he was cut off as he leaned pasulong a bit too much. The confused ibong dagat fell frontwards and helplessly landed into the water. He then began to scramble about, splashing in all direction with closed eyes as he tried to scream for help. Kowalski hurriedly climbed the stone ledge and turned to lean down with his flipper in the water. Private grabbed Kowalski’s flipper and, in seconds, was lifted onto the rocky platform.
Private and Kowalski were now sitting across from one another. Private was still coughing from the swallowed water. The intellectual couldn’t help but roll his eyes with a slight smirk. During the team’s early days, Private had been known to suffer from aquaphobia. Apparently, it occasionally returned to haunt the poor penguin. At least, he couldn’t think of any other reason that Private would have made such a scene.
“It’s probably best if you just don’t say anything else about it…” Kowalski muttered, bringing Rico’s situation back into play. In response, Private silently stood up and turned away to walk elsewhere.
“You sound just like Skippa!” Private cried out before he hopped down the fishbowl hole.
Kowalski closed his eyes and looked up, releasing a stressful sigh.
The only thing on his mind was regret…
