Story [Penguins of Madagascar] Operation: Envy (response to Seven Deadly Sins prompt, complete)

Title: Operation: Envy

Author: pronker

Era: Quite some time after the TV show concluded. Set in my Skilene Continuity here.

A/N: Thanks to the delightful prompt ♡ The OTP & Pairing Thread ♡ | OTP Challenge #21 posted: Seven Deadly Sins! (P. 69, #1719, 7/18) a plot bunny nibbled. A few references to eps of the show, explanations cheerfully given!

This is where they are



and this is how they got there.

Summary: Labor Day picnics are the bomb.

IOIOIOIOIO

Criminiddly, this middle age Sandwich Generation game is for the birds, Middle-Aged Skipper thought as he drove to meet More-Than-Ancient Special Agent Buck Rockgut for an outing on Labor Day. Here I am, ankle deep in reports that I need to Skype to the Big Boss before oh-six-hundred tomorrow Eastern Daylight Time and it's a holiday weekend and I'm tootling down 57th Street to pick up a penguin who out-paranoids even me.

Despite the team's offers to smuggle him into their care in Central Park Zoo, Rockgut toughed out life in Central Park, evading mounted rangers, groundskeepers and voracious peregrine falcons alike. At Columbus Circle, commando commander and retired commando completed Rendezvous Alpha successfully, Skipper strapped the aged bird into the shotgun seat and took off. The first fifteen minutes passed pleasantly enough because in all truth, he was glad to give the old guy a ride and indulge him in chitchat.

Buck's voice had always been raspy and now it was sprinkled with whispery. "We've discussed the Mets, the Rangers and your wussy team's wussy latest mission, so how about this topic? Right after I wake up following my usual dream about the eeevil White Widow, something exciting happens!" he crowed. "Guess what it is, go on, guess!"

On the side of his body facing away from Rockgut, Skipper cringed. He stated firmly, "I don't need to know this, Buck. Critical intel dispersal is based on need to know, you know? And I don't." He saw that Buck's face grew blank and Skipper persevered because he would never, ever be able to unsee what Buck seemed set on describing. "Need to know, that is. Please."

"Please is for sissies, just like I always thought you were. Well, cupcake, each morning I wake up and --- "

" --- please, no, stop aw hell go on who else have you got to talk to --- "

"I open my eyes! I'm alive! I survived another night! Why, what did you think I was going to say?"

There was the gimlet gaze that harpooned Skipper's classmates and Skipper himself under Rockgut at long ago OCS; actually, it was a relief after the previous muddled looks. "I thought you were going to talk about the weather," Skipper extemporized as he navigated early traffic from folks out to claim the really prime tables for their Labor Day picnics.

"Why would I?" The gimlet drilled into the side of Skipper's head as he deliberately drove over a rumble strip to jar Rockgut's concentration. It worked.

"Move over and let me drive!"

"You don't have a license anymore, Buck."

"Why the braap not? I can drive as good as you." Skipper dodged a Dodge Diplomat at the 65th Street Transverse Road to keep heading north before replying.

"No, you can't. You wove this very car in figure eights through Penny The Police Horse's legs last Easter."

"Why the braap didn't she get out of the way? Stupid horse."

"She couldn't. She was tied to a drinking fountain while her rider got a drink."

"Stupid human."

Everyone said it was useless to reason with dementia. He had to try, anyway. "In the excitement, she trampled you and our car until Rico chucked a smoke bomb at her because he was quickest to get to you. Remember how you did doughnuts on two wheels on the bridle path six minutes before the drinking fountain? You dumped us four out and we ran up to see the damage. It was so bad I yanked your license after we hauled tail out of there."

Rockgut rubbed his head as if it ached because it probably did. He'd gotten quite a bonk on it during that mishap. "Give it back. That's an order."

"No. Look, there's the J'ouvert West Indian Parade! Our flag, see it? I'll stop and we'll salute." He pulled over.

Buck was already saluting, holding it past the time others in the crowd, even Skipper, let it go. Skipper noted the tremble in the worn flipper and turned on the radio to a soothing station as they got back into the car. Maybe it was nap-nap time. It was only seven in the morning, but maybe?

"Better music, better music! Beatles, Beatles, Beatles!"

"Okayokay. Here." Skipper punched a few buttons and then Yesterday played tinnily through the speakers. "Buck, stop diddling with the bass! Now I have to fix it." He slapped away the pestering flippers as he adjusted the balance. "There, happy now?"

Buck harrumphed as he gestured to the west side of Central Park that held Strawberry Fields and Skipper remained glad that penguins had no fingers to give anyone the finger with. "Let me check the field where I grow my braaps. Oh look, Skipper, I have zero braaps to give."

"Charming. See if I ever take you for a drive again."

"I didn't ask you to. Let me off here and I'll find my way back home."

This wouldn't stand because it would spoil the surprise. Skipper sped up to Rendezvous Beta at West 67th Street.

"I don't think so because it would spoil your surprise."

"What surprise, you wise elbow?"

Aw, she was cute as a button, Marlene was, jumping, scurrying through humans' legs and at last gaining the car. Skipper had only slowed down a little and submitted to a kiss atop his head after she propelled herself into the back seat. He continued along Central Park West, unsure if Buck even realized their group now numbered three. "Hey, girl," he said over his shoulder.

"Hey, boy."

"Kids okay?"

"Two are, one is not. Guess which one."

"Sally and her crushes will drive me to drink. Speaking of, we just passed Tavern on the Green. I guess they're not open this early, though. Nuts."

Marlene settled herself comfortably in the elevated back seat before addressing Buck. "Hi, Buck."

Buck's head had been nodding onto his chest. "Huh?" He twisted around to look Marlene firmly in the knee. "Who're --- oh. Arlene."

"Heh, it's Marlene and how've you been?" Open and friendly as always is my love, Skipper mused and felt compelled to clarify the sitch.

"Buck, she's your surprise. You haven't seen her in a long while."

"What surprise are you talking about?"

"Never mind. Enjoy the fresh air."

"I live in a park. The air's always fresh, bozo."

As she usually did in sitches like this, Marlene stroked the back of Skipper's neck to make it less granite-like. She picked up the conversation ball effortlessly. "Mmmhmm, when you're right, you're right, m'man. Say, Buck, the last time I saw you, you'd just captured the White Widow. Is she still up the river in Newark Northern State Animal Prison?"

Skipper wanted to hear this, too. "Since the Widow's been captured, Penguin Enemy Number Two is Dr. Blowhole. Penguin Enemy Number One is classified. All I can tell you two is that she is priming herself to hibernate because she's getting fat as a pig on berries, grubs and nuts. I don't think she can fit on her tricycle anymore."

"I'd be fine getting fat on nuts and berries, honey. Pinkie can have the grubs."

"Mamacita mia, no way nohow can anybody consider you as a villain --- "

"I don't suppose you'd like to hear the story of me capturing Whitey?" There, lucidity flourished like a naked lady flower blooming from a dried up bulb in September, thought Skipper before it hit him: Whitey? He and Marlene chorused agreement with enthusiasm and Buck continued.

"We're coming into traffic so we're slowing down, anyway. It ain't a short story, just so you know." Buck pitched his voice over the murmur of tire noise, horn beeps and the growing number of humans up and about on a holiday. "Newfakeplacesberg --- that's one code name you nancy cats got right for Detroit, by the way --- sounded like a high-falutin' big city so I prepared for disguises, intrigue and a tough capture. She hung out every night at a different venue in a chain of sixteen Spider Monkey Bars sprawled throughout the town. Like Buffalo Wild Wings, but without anybody eating birds."

After shuddering at the image, Skipper glanced sideways at the little smile creasing Buck's seamed face. "You had a good time there, I can tell," he said. Buck endured a dedicated life in its beginning and middle, a tough life now and an even tougher one as he aged in place. He never had smiled much.

Marlene patted Buck's head where the feathers had thinned to almost nothing. "So it wasn't a dive but a nice place?"

"Sure, it was nice, there was action going on every night, those spider monkeys know how to live it up --- "

"And how!" Marlene's voice told Skipper something, but he wasn't sure what. He twisted in his seat to look her in the eye after regarding Buck pulling at his beak, obviously deciding how to clean up his story.

"How did you gather that intel, Marlene, and where was I at the time?"

Good gravy, she turned coy. He was glad the kids weren't here to witness their mother putting on her flirt face. "Wouldn't you like to know!"

"Do you two pubescents want to hear this or not?" Buck growled.

"Watch out for that Lexus, Skipper, and yes, we're listening, Buck. Go on, please."

It was like the humans wanted to hear a tale, too, because all traffic chugged along at fifteen miles per hour, some folks headed to the ocean, some to other parts of Manhattan to celebrate. Those humans whose cars sported air conditioning and masked privacy windows ignored the little pink dune buggy pacing them in the curb lane. It was the funky humans, the ones with cars whose windows stayed rolled down in warm weather and who didn't give an owl's hoot who saw them, who looked down onto the pavement. Some humans laughed, some ogled and others aimed high fives at the animals riding in the pink dune buggy. Skipper and Buck paid no mind, while Marlene waved like the Queen of England on parade, palm sometimes towards her and sometimes facing outwards. Buck continued his story as Labor Day proceeded into mid-morning.

IOIOIOIOIO

TBC

 

"Before you start, Buck, look, the Museum of Natural History!" Marlene chirped. The amazing marble edifice that furnished many a penguin commando mission loomed on their left. Banners strung along its façade blared cheery news and for those who couldn't read, the gaudy images of butterflies and dinosaur skeletons told of adventures within. "It'll open in an hour for holiday crowds, so you wanna break in before the humans for a sneaky peek tour?"

Buck snorted. "That's a big fat nope, Arlene. I'd rather not be reminded that I'm a museum piece."

"Way to spread sunshine, Buck. And it's Marlene."

"Don't make me turn this car around, you two. Better things up ahead, I promise." Now Skipper had to fulfill that promise as a matter of duty. He drove silently as he ignored the chilly atmosphere in the car, traversed a successful right turn onto Central Park North and then another right onto Fifth Avenue heading south. He also ignored if New York streets were one way or not because he could; their little car followed as few rules of the road as did its main driver, Rico. Hugging the lane closest to Central Park, he found himself only half listening to Buck's story.

"Since Whitey showed the albino's intolerance to light, she always wore dark glasses even at night, not to mention inside whatever Spider Monkey Bar she favored for the evening. I used that in my strategy because she didn't see clearly that I wore a disguise. The spider monkey suit chafed me in uncomfortable places, but I toughed it out. She and I got to know each other at the bar and then we got to a table where before I knew it, she put the moves on --- "

"What? What did you say, Buck?" asked Marlene, but Buck's head had tipped back and small snores issued from him. "Gah, Skipper, you chauffeuring him is like taking a fussy baby for a drive to put them to sleep."

"Hush, I'm thinking." Visit the Conservatory Garden? Nah, too sedate.

"Hmmmph." Skipper drove on the sidewalk as a change of pace to spur his brain into options, since Kowalski wasn't along to provide any. A tree root buckled the sidewalk and before he knew it, their car flew airborne for a split second before shplumfing back down.

" --- where was I? How can I tell my story with you two interrupting all the time? Hush up." Buck cleared his throat. "Albinos have pink eyes, you know."

"Duh, Buck."

"Well, the only time she took off her shades so I could see her pretty pink eyes was when we Ubered back to her hotel. I poured a scotch and soda for her and a mineral water for me, turned around to pass her drink over and out of the blue roared a KABLAMMzzzzzzzzzl --- "

"What was it? What happened next, Buck?"

"He's out again, Marlene. Let him be."

Marlene sighed. "I'm not getting any younger, honey, waiting for the end of his story."

"Me neither." Skipper drove back onto the macadam and swerved to avoid an antiquated Yugo. He cudgeled his brain for an activity suitable for a nonagenarian in penguin years. The Yugo developed steering problems or its driver did, one or the other, so Skipper applied evasive combat driving maneuvers that made Marlene clutch the side of the car and Buck sway like a pendulum.

" --- and the next morning, bad weather howled in from Lake Erie so I figured, hey, nothing else to do that morning but arrest her. Headquarters sent me a bonus after her arrest for duty above and beyond blah blah, but you know what?"

This part of his tale revealed all Buck intended to tell them, okay; Skipper would not pursue details. By her look, Marlene had reached the same conclusion. "What, Buck?" his love asked softly.

"I gave it to Newark North State Animal Prison for her kitty."

Marlene gasped. "Her kitty? Prison lets you keep pets?"

Skipper and Buck burst out laughing. Marlene always could take a joke and said in supreme good nature, "All right, I'm missing something. I'll wait." She placed a paw on the back of each of their seats to shake them into explaining.

"B-Babe --- tee hee --- stop the shaking, all right? --- her kitty is her fun fund in prison. You know, for candy and cigarettes and stuff. Friends can pay into it to keep prisoners as content as they can be with no freedom."

"Oh."

Skipper felt an oblique pang in his gut when Buck added, "I envy you two. You've got each other and all I have are memories. What happens when they leave me?"

"Oh, Buck," Marlene began but Skipper intervened because if situations were reversed, he would have wanted Buck to.

"Thanks. She's the cream in my fish coffee."

"He's my man, the father of my kids," Marlene said with a bluntness Skipper did not associate with her.

It wasn't until his unfailing penguin sense of nearby water prickled him that he pulled into the park, rattling over the curb to squawks from Marlene and a huhwhazzat from snoozing Buck. A swim in Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir was just what the day called for, he congratulated himself. After secreting the car under the waving seductive fronds of a weeping willow, he bailed out. "Follow me for a swim, troops."

"Yah, I don't think so. My arthritis hurts today." Buck crossed his flippers over his chest stubbornly.

Skipper wasn't having any. "You can hurt in the car or you can hurt in the water. I'm saying the water. Come on, soldier."

Just like a kid, Buck sulled up with a grumpy face, but Skipper had the greater experience with kids. "You get into the water in the next five minutes and we'll stop at Luigi's snowcone cart later." He gestured to Marlene, who looked like her own mouth watered at the mention of snowcones, and she followed him to the reedy bank of the reservoir after an uncertain look at Buck. The couple observed the surroundings without committing to a swim, which was surefire evidence of long time reconnaissance practice.

In the middle of the reservoir spouted its fountain, just like the Jet d'Eau fountain in Lake Geneva. Its burbling reached their respective ears and earholes to soothe and calm their minds into holiday moods. They directed wispy smiles at each other, happy in their own little world of love. "Good idea, boy."

"I'm glad you think so, girl."

They kissed until Buck crept up on them. "Cut it out or get a room. Perimeter secured, Romeo?"

"Perimeter secured, sir," replied Skipper. "Permission given to swim. Cannonball!"

IOIOIOIOIO

TBC

 

Two animals raced and one limped into the water, wading, splashing and accomplishing a cannonball dive in spirit, at least. The weeping willow fronds kissed their heads for the first fifteen feet, they surveyed the open stretch for danger, and set out from under cover of the willow. They stopped for a breather halfway across one billion gallons of water.

Bobbing together in a companionable trio, they caught their breath. A wheezing Buck worried Skipper until the aged penguin seized the opportunity to regroup energy by floating on his back. Skipper and Marlene did likewise as they adjusted their positions within six inches of Buck's head, just in case of emergency. The three of them looked upwards to the clear sky, content in each other's company more than they had been while confined in the car. Mama Nature, thanks for camaraderie, thought Skipper as he listened to Buck's theory on neutrality. He supposed the old bird hadn't much to do in his solitude except think.

"The jet in the middle of Jackie O's reservoir reminds me of the time the Big Boss assigned me to some braaping Swiss mission --- braap, what was it for eh it doesn't matter now Buck you old fraud --- and when it finished I got to sightsee in Geneva on HQ's dime. Pretty country, Switzerland, if you can stomach its neutrality. I could not and bugged out of there pronto."

Marlene let out a whoosh of disbelief when her love answered, "Oh, I don't know, Buck. Now that I'm older, I think neutrality isn't so bad."

"I never thought I'd hear you say that, honey."

"Me neither, Arlene. What changed your mind, Little Lord Fauntleroy?"

Skipper formed his opinion into words on the spot. "Neutrality means I can concentrate completely on defeating my enemies because I can ignore places like Switzerland, Ireland and Mongolia to focus on baddies like the Blue Hen, Hans and Savio, see? I don't split my forces or surveille lame peaceful places. It just makes sense." He'd let them chew on that awhile.

Two minutes later, Buck's voice turned nicer than it had been all day. "That rocks, Skipper. Total war, yeah I dig it. I wish I could join you, dammit oh I beg your pardon, Arlene."

"You've done your part for the service," said Skipper magnanimously. From long exposure to Marlene, he could hear her eyes roll.

"One thing off your plate, yeah uh huh, go for the gold, Skipper. C'mon, guys, let's check out the fountain." She finished the swim underwater all the way to reach the fountain first while Skipper matched Buck's shallow dives and slower pace.

"Tag! You're it!" Buck said when he pulled up to the fountain and tapped Marlene. She was up for the game and the three spent some time playing until Buck stopped abruptly to break away, anchoring one flipper on the fountain's nozzle as he rested again. He seemed content to allow its spray to spackle him while watching Skipper porpoise around them. In the joyful point of view of water animals in water, time sped up, slowed and then resumed its normal flow. Others inhabiting the reservoir ringed the fountain, too, like an audience that Skipper performed for. Cackles, hoots and skrawks sounded, too far away to make out words. Skipper halted in mid-pirouette to call Buck's and Marlene's attention to the crowd.

"These goobers know you?" asked Buck, eyeing the thirty-one birds, and then counted them out by species, maybe to sharpen his mind. "Ten Canada geese, six grebes, fifteen blue herons --- "

Marlene answered for Skipper. "They might. The team gets around. Skipper works covertly but now and then he gets seen."

"Pshaw, Marlene, that only means I wasn't covert enough. Don't spread rumors to Buck." Something to distract her, something ... ah. "Did you say grebes, herons and geese, Buck? That puts me in mind of the Pajarito Dulce bar in Guatemala and the time Kowalski and I tied one on --- oh never mind, Marlene. You wouldn't be interested. Look, an excursion boat is coming! Keep the fountain between it and us for cover."

He knew her so well. "Yeah it'll screen us just fine and I would too be interested."

Buck rambled in mental memory as his commando's muscle memory kept him behind the fountain's powerful spray protection while the boat approached. He pitched his voice low in a nostalgic mood. "Jackie O used to jog around her reservoir, right in that direction" --- he jerked his head to the south --- "and she sure was a pretty woman. I loves me a pretty woman."

The boat drew near to circle the fountain as the grebes, herons and geese scattered. A little girl of about five performed near the railing for her eagle-eyed parents and a few other passengers. They applauded her activity, which Skipper exclaimed over. "What's that, a hula hoop? Look at her shimmy! Wow, I haven't seen one of those since --- "

"Oh I'm sure you've seen one recently and don't change the subject. Where was I when this barhopping was going on?" Marlene dove under Buck to surface on Skipper's left side. He had her but good because she was such fun to tease.

"You? You were in California, doing whatever young lady otters do. I suspect tatting doilies."

She splashed him, or tried to. He sank like a stone at her first movement and she hit Buck with a wave of bubbly water instead. "Gah, you two will kill me yet today," he sputtered, "first somersaulting my old bones all around creation in your rattletrap car and then making me swim when I'm not up to it. I ought to keel over right here and make you tow my corpse back to dry land."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Friendly fire, Buck, oh look over there!" Marlene pointed aft of the excursion boat, where a tiny edition of it bounced in its wake. Buck took the bait.

"Arlene, good eye! That's a radio controlled toy speed boat --- I wonder what frequency it uses --- prolly three channel telemetry --- " he trailed off as Skipper surfaced to tap his love's toes with his own.

"There were so many twists and turns to the story, with the double dating and then the earthquake," he continued. "No, babe, you wouldn't be interested."

She kicked his feet so hard he nearly was exposed to human view as he torpedoed out of the radius of spray. "Hey, watch it!" Commando reflexes honed through years of experience worked in his favor as he submerged to safety before rising to her side once more. "The all night partying, the lousy watered down booze --- no, really, it's a boring story, cara."

She simmered, pouted with the face that he loved and then laughed. "You goofball. Tell me why we're still together."

Skipper made a 'meh' face and indicated Buck. The aged penguin bobbed slackly in the water with eyes at half mast. After a brief recon of the general situation before zeroing in on Buck's snoozing condition, Skipper said, "The boat's headed away from us. You take his left flipper, I'll take his right and we'll tow him ashore."

IOIOIOIOIOO

TBConcluded

 

This is what they see.

IOIOIOIOIO

"You don't have to whisper. I'm not asleep!"

Marlene's voice was soft after her yawn. "Well, you should be. I was taking a nap, Skipper was, too, and You. Should. Be."

"Partypoopers. Wimps. When I was your age --- "

Sally would have recognized Skipper's parental voice. "Never mind. We live in the present, Buck. Stop and smell the snowcones. That's an order."

Buck asked eagerly, "Did you two carry me to Luigi's cart? I want two canteloupe snowcones! Gimme!"

"No, we didn't, old timer. Look up."

Waving willow withes entranced the three animals, kaleidoscoping rays of sunshine now in, now out, to dapple their pleasantly tired bodies. Noon hour was just as a Labor Day ought to be, warm, inviting, with no thought of the cold months to come as everyone celebrated summer. Animal sounds prevailed at their leafy bower on the bank of the reservoir, cheeps and anonymous scratches, worms popping up their heads out of the mud and then submerging again for their sustenance. Marlene turned onto her side.

"Buck, are you sure you don't want to come live with us in the zoo?"

"Arlene, I'm okay as I am. I live in the present, as your old man said."

"Mmmmhm, yeah well it's okay to change your mind, just saying."

Skipper would try again at the end of their visit; for now, he let the issue ride. "Listen to the marching band in that parade!" Buck exclaimed. "Sousa, isn't it?"

The J'ouvert West Indian parade ended hours ago. Skipper listened hard and heard only traffic, squealing young humans and both human and animal parents squawking orders to their broods. He shrugged, difficult to do while lying down but he managed it. "Uh huh, Sousa, just as you say."

"Honey, I don't hear --- "

"Marlene, it's John Philip Sousa. Trust us on this." He elbowed her ribs. "Military marches are Sousa's bag."

"Sousa, sure! You're right, guys! Sousa."

The imaginary march appeared to spark Buck into activity. He rose amid popping joints to go into a routine of slow stretches, standing on one leg and karate chopping in extremely slow motion. After ten minutes, Marlene blurted, "What are you doing?"

Buck continued the exercises. "What fifteen humans do in their group not twenty feet from my home in the reeds near The Pond, on alternate Thursdays: tai chi. Take a lesson from your enemies, lady. This keeps me supple as, oh, a middle-aged sloth, on my best days." He turned a resigned shrug into a shoulder roll as the sun moved enough to pleasantly bake them through a bald patch on their willow tree.

Skipper watched in a relaxed holiday mood until Buck stirred his competitive edge. The old penguin completed his routine with more stretches and challenged, "Okay, soldier, show me your best moves." Buck sat tailor fashion on the ground, brow raised and flippers crossed.

"Sure you can take it?" Skipper snarked as he somersaulted to his feet with a showy one and a half twist.

Marlene snorted. "I'm ready with the IcyHot cream for later, honey." Skipper stuck his tongue out at her before galloping into an expert-but-generic mantis chop, serpent strike, monkey kick, and fists of fury, followed by his signature moves, the Tangiers Trunk Swing, Kyoto Tail Flip, and four Marrakech Knee Cappers to take down an imaginary elephant enemy.

"That's all you got?" Buck mimicked a bored matron blowing on her just finished manicure.

"You show 'im, honey. You know, that extra special bit," Marlene encouraged.

Barely winded, Skipper nodded. In a flashy hurricane, he hip flipped, capoeiraed, sweep kicked and solar plexus stabbed a faux foe more his own size.

"Eh, fair, just fair." Buck clapped slowly. "Who was that last invisible adversary?"

Skipper plotzed between Marlene's spread legs as she sat up to massage his neck. He flicked away leaf litter from his glossy white front before answering between pants. "That was my toughest fight, well, one on one, anyway. It was against a biomechanical android of me."

Marlene added, "I didn't see that battle, but Skipper described the devilish red eyes and outrageous metal moves. My honey barely escaped with his life." She rubbed harder in fierce protectiveness until Skipper grunted. "Ooopsy. Sorry."

Buck selected a new target. "What about you, sweet cheeks? What can you show me? Are you going to let him represent your family solo?" Buck's grin taunted Marlene as Skipper nearly growled his reply.

"Envy is a sin. We've entertained you enough, Buck."

Marlene had the sitch under control, though. "Hey, you've got nothing to prove, Buck. Neither do we. How about we relax to enjoy the day?" She patted the ground beside her before pulling Skipper's head to rest on her tummy.

Skipper tilted his head up to see a particular smile on her face that he hadn't seen in some time. He had to think hard where he'd seen it before. "No more exercise until we move out for snowcones. I'm up for a blueberry cone myself," he said thoughtfully.

"That's an acceptable order of the day," Buck said at last. "Let's do that little thing."

Skipper couldn't resist pushing. "So you admit to envy?"

"Yeah. I guess. Sorta. Maybe." To his credit, Buck did not elaborate on how Father Time marked him for his own as Mama Nature exacted her toll of years, too. A small breeze lightened the humid air, ruffled the reservoir's waters and cooled them into drowsy sighs. A good forty-five minutes passed before anyone spoke.

Buck's heartfelt sigh was the loudest of the three. "You know, laying here on the bank with the two of you, the sun shining, the sparrows chirping, a band playing Sousa, now would be a good time and place for me to die."

Marlene's hiss ended with a whimper.

"No, it wouldn't. Today would be a terribly inconvenient place and time for you to die," stated Skipper.

"Why? You could bury me under this weeping willow where the ground is muddy. Arlene can help. I've lost muscle mass and don't weigh much nowadays."

Skipper didn't like the wistful smile playing along Buck's beak. "Your remains can lay where they drop for all I care. I wouldn't bother to bury somebody as mean and cantankerous as you."

The worrisome faraway look in Buck's eyes burned off like morning fog at about ten a.m. "I might have known you wouldn't even do that for me. You'd prolly hornswoggle Arlene into rumagigging through my house to steal the silver, too."

"It would be just like him, Buck, I agree," put in Marlene, "but Thanksgiving is coming up and you wouldn't want to miss that, would you?"

There ensued a silence that Skipper would remember as lasting forever until it was broken with, "Guess not. I do love stuffing, marshmallowy yams and pumpkin pie, nice mushy food I can eat. What's your main gonna be, sweetheart?"

Skipper bristled until Marlene poked his ribs in turn before she replied, "Stuffed fish, what else?"

"Mmmmm, I do love me some fish, too, especially when I don't have to catch it," Buck chortled and then mumbled to himself, but Marlene and Skipper had grown used to it. As long as Buck could walk and talk, he was all right.

"So next time I'll bring the kids," Skipper said. There was nothing like a kid or three to liven up the unlively.

A glitch in the matrix shimmered in the plan. "Kids, not kid? More than Callie?"

"We've got three and it's Sally."

Marlene leaned up on one elbow to whisper in her love's earhole.

"Make it four by the time we see you again, Buck," Skipper concluded.

"I wouldn't want to miss the little sprout's debut."

"We wouldn't want you to."

IOIOIOIOIO

The End.

IOIOIOIOIO

 

You're very welcome and the prompt was wonderfully ripe for feeding the plot bunny. I'm pleased the story depicted the sin in a certain way, a yearning that demanded expression; one thing that occurred after posting was that Skipper and Marlene could express envy that Buck's completed career satisfied Buck greatly. Skipper, at story's beginning at least, grumped about filing reports as well as devoting his day off to dealing with irascible!Buck rather than barbecuing salmon, smelt and scrod with his kids.

 

Love your story with the visit to the park with all the memorable places.

 

Oh, Central Park! I was last in NYC in 2019...it feels like a lifetime ago. This setting brings back a lot of memories!

Anyway, this was a great read! I must admit I'm not familiar with the fandom but you wrote these characters and the setting so vividly it all comes to life.

That would be a sight to see!

Speaking of sights...

I loved this! The imagery is fantastic and so clear, and I just love the image of the animals in their pink dune buggy waving at all the humans stuck in traffic. Really great bit of writing!

More great description!

Oh, this was so poignant. And yes, who are we without our memories, without everything that makes us us? While it's heartbreaking to watch a loved one struggle with Alzheimer's and dementia I can only imagine how much more heartrending and terrifying it would be to face that yourself and know you can't stop it. Great, thought-provoking use of the prompt.

Awww! Such a sweet moment for Skipper and Marlene here.

I know I'm quoting a lot, but this is just such wonderful description!

And then all the swimming and relaxing and enjoying each other's company! I love it all.

Honestly, stuffing and pumpkin pie are two very good reasons to stick around.

And this ending! I was grinning so much at this.

Awesome job and a wonderful response to the challenge!

 

+earlybird-obi-wan Thank you for reading - I'm glad you enjoyed the "travelogue" and story about a place I remember fondly - we took a horse-drawn carriage through the park that rocked!

+amidalachick Thanks for the r/r - glad you enjoyed the setting, too! It's a magnificent tribute to planning and conservation in the midst of a wonderful city. I saw it a long time ago. Yes, Skipper and Marlene deal with a stubborn elder in a suitable way, almost making him "take the day off" because he would not have otherwise. As Art Linkletter says (and titled his excellent book) "Old Age Is Not For Sissies." Buck may be many things, but a sissy he ain't.

 

I was in 1979 in a carriage in the park during a trip that took me from coast to coast beginning and ending in NYC. And in 1994 I was there with my parents and visited the WTC. In 2000 I was there again with my parents visiting museums and taking a trip around Manhattan

 

Oh yes, the carriage trip was a trip back in time! What a wonderful series of visits for you - thanks for sharing. I'm fond of the city, first from only seeing it in oodles of old movies. The memory of visiting it in RL will stay with me forever.