Chapter 2: In the Supermarket

Kowalski made a nervous mduara, duara and glanced once again at the nearest shelf. His favourite “Malado” popcorn was nowhere to be seen. He cursed silently under his beak , grabbed his pen and crossed out two cans of tuna from the shopping list.
Private was wriggling uncomfortably in his baby seat, struggling to reach a megapack of karanga siagi Winkies, while Rico was busy searching for some Dolly chakula nearby.
“Rico, stop messing around!” barked Kowalski, immensely irritated, as the sekunde tallest penguin, auk accidently knocked against a pile of green cans, standing in the corner. He then went back to his shopping orodha and scanned it.
“Four frozen catfish pizzas, two packs of catfish coffee… Damn, I should warn Skippa about this last one.. he can’t imagine a siku without three cups of a catfish coffee! I’m afraid its gonna leave a bad mark on his health someday. kwa the way, where is he?”
Skipper and Marlene were in the most remote part of the Supermarket, watching over a big shopping trolley, standing in front of the magazine store. It was completely empty except of some paper advertisements wallowing in the corner.
“You know what, Skipper, I’ve always wanted to have a ride inside one” confessed Marlene.
Naughty smile leaked on Skipper’s beak.
“Well there’s your chance, sister” he remarked. “I can push wewe if wewe want.”
“But are wewe sure…? I mean... If we got caught kwa someone au if..”
“Nonsense” Skipper shook his head. “The maduka makubwa is almost empty and the whole staff is having a coffee party in the store right now. Took a peek through the window. No one will even notice. Come on, let’s have some fun!”
Before she had a chance to reply, he picked her up with his strong flippers and placed her on the edge of the trolley. He himself jumped up on the other side, grabbed the bar and kicked with his foot off of the floor.
“Here we go!” he cried as the trolley started to roll forwards.
A violent wave of fresh air brushed against Marlene’s face. It was a nice feeling but she was still a little bit afraid.
“Skipper, do wewe know how to turn?!” she cried against the whistle of the air.
“Of course I do, sista!” replied Skipper. There was a violent jerk and Skipper turned the trolley on the left. Then he suddenly let go of the bar, made a triple salto in the air and landed right behind Marlene. She felt his flippers wrapping her wrists tightly.
“Now we’re riding together!” he cried, joy and excitement written all over his face. Having Skipper so close to herself, Marlene’s moyo started to pound so rapidly as if it was about to explode.
Skipper embraced her even tightly and moved his head towards Marlene’s.
There was a sudden ramble. Marlene and Skipper turned their heads in surprise. The leader penguin, auk let out a loud moan and pressed his flipper against his forehead.
“Ringtaaaaaaaaaaaail!”
“Heheee! Now that’s what I call reaaal fun! King Julien wants some fun!” cried the tallest lemur, stretching his arms out. He was sitting in the middle of the trolley, waving his tail like a crazy.
“I’m gonna kill him someday!” thought Marlene and Skipper at the same time.
“Now where is it we’re going, ha?” asked King Julien, watching over his fingertips. “Could wewe please turn the trolley towards the Lemur’s chakula section? I guess I’ve run out of coconuts again.
“Skipper, the popcorn, look out!” cried Marlene, without paying attention to her uninvited guest.
Before Skipper had a chance to pull over, they crashed against a pyramid of popcorn buckets.
Kowalski raised his head up from the clipboard and glanced forward.
“THERE IT IS!” he cried in a high pitched voice and rushed towards the other end of the section. He grabbed one of the buckets in his hands and kissed it passionately. “I’ve been searching for wewe for half an hour!” he exclaimed, pressing the bucket against his chest. Then he took a quick look around and spotted his three friends, wallowing in spilled popcorn.
Skipper collected himself from the ground, pretty big bruise marking his left cheek. He leaned over and help Marlene up, then turned around and shot a murderous glance at the King of Lemurs, who was wolfing down popcorn, cheery and careless as always.
“Well, seems like we’ve got everything we need, already” stated Kowalski. “So I guess it’s the highest time to go nyumbani for supper.”
Marlene nodded her head submissively. She then turned towards Skipper and tenderly moved her finger across his bruise, worry and concern written all over her face.
“We’ll take care of this at home” she alisema to him in a barely audible whisper.