A Skilene-Filled September
Scenario 3: “Do wewe Take This Otter?”
Friday, September 3, 2010


It was the biggest event taking place at the zoo in years, and all the wanyama wanted to kubeba witness to it. On a siku that the zoo was closed for repairs, a crowd of wanyama gathered inside and outside of the zoovenir duka to watch the ceremony: Antonio and Marlene were getting married.

At 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the event got underway as Marlene walked through the zoovenir shop’s main entrance and began her procession down the aisle, escorted kwa Maurice. As Kowalski played “Here Comes the Bride” on a pipe organ commandeered for the occasion, Marlene greeted her Marafiki sitting in the makeshift pews as she continued her slow stroll to the front of the room.

When she reached the section where Skipper was sitting, she was a bit perplexed at the way he looked and was acting. He was sitting there clenching his flippers and fidgeting around in his seat, not to mention that his color was a little bit off. For a bird with a white face, Skipper looked awfully pale.

Concerned, Marlene whispered over to him, “Skipper, is everything OK?”

“Sure is, Marlene,” Skipper replied.

He lied.

“Well, just checking,” Marlene smiled as she continued along. “And thanks for coming, Skipper.”

A short few moments later, Marlene reached her destination beside Antonio. The actual ceremony soon got underway, which, despite Julien’s constant pleading to be the one to officiate, the couple had decided would be presided over kwa Roger.

The ceremony then proceeded forth like any typical church wedding service; once all the songs were sung and all the Bible verses were read, it was time to get down to the vows.

“Come on, Roger, will wewe get this over with already,” Skipper muttered quietly to himself as his discomfort began to peak. “Be quick, man, like taking a Band-Aid off.”

“Now do you, Antonio, take this otter to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as wewe both shall live?” Roger then asked.

“I do,” the groom responded.

Had he any teeth, Skipper would have begun to grind them. Instead, he bit down hard on his tongue to try to take the attention off of what was about to happen -- and to defer its pain.

“And do you, Marlene, take this otter to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as wewe both shall live?” the alligator then asked of the bride.

“I do,” Marlene declared.

Skipper’s moyo skipped a beat. Maybe two. Maybe six.

“Then in that case, if there is anyone present who has reason that these two should not be wed, speak now au forever hold your peace,” Roger spoke to the crowd.

Skipper’s moyo then began to race. It was now au never.

“I object!” he stood up and announced.

The crowd collectively gasped as the otter couple turned to face their objector.

Skipper then looked Marlene straight in the eye.

“Marlene, I’m sorry,” he spoke sincerely as he held back a few tears. “But there’s something that I need to tell wewe that I’ve put off for far too long, and if not now, I’ll never get the chance. Please, Marlene, come with me for just five dakika alone. If you’d ever do something for me, do this.”

Marlene had no idea what Skipper wanted, but after all he had done for her over the years, honoring his request was something she felt she had to do.

“I’ll be right back,” she turned to Antonio and alisema before she began to walk over to Skipper.

Once she got over to him, Skipper led her out of a side exit, and the two then went over to a park bench where they couldn’t be seen kwa others. Skipper then began to tell Marlene exactly what was on his mind.

“What I just did in the zoovenir duka was wrong, and I’m truly sorry for causing wewe and Antonio any embarrassment,” Skipper said. “But a dream of mine was about to be shattered, and I couldn’t let it happen until I told wewe the truth.”

Skipper then wiped a tear with a flipper before placing it on Marlene’s shoulder.

“I upendo you, Marlene,” he said, the words coming zaidi from his moyo than his beak. “I have for years. I had always hoped that one siku I would find the strength to tell you, but it took until now to find it.”

“Wow,” was all Marlene, eyes wide open, could reply.

“And I had always hoped that wewe might feel the same way, too,” Skipper continued. “My dream was that we could be together, but I realize now that that was never meant to be. Yet still I upendo you, even if you’ll never be mine.”

Skipper then sniffled a little.

“Yes, to tell the truth, I know that wewe upendo Antonio, but in my moyo there will always remain a place for you,” he continued. “Trust me, no matter how much Antonio loves you, I will always upendo wewe more. I would–”

“Skipper,” Marlene broke-in as she held Skipper’s beak shut with a paw, “you’ve alisema enough.”

She then wrapped her paws around him as tight as possible and hugged him.

“I upendo you, too,” she said. “And I have for years. I had always hoped that one siku I would find the strength to tell you, but it took until now to find it.”

Marlene using his exact words to confess her feelings brought tears to both of their eyes, and Skipper then reached out and hugged Marlene back.

“Both of our hopes finally coming to fruition, but why did we ever wait so long?” Skipper asked.

“We can’t change the past, Skipper,” Marlene replied. “But we’ll always have the future together.”

“But what about Antonio?” Skipper wondered. “He loves you, too.”

“He can upendo me all he wants to, Skipper,” Marlene replied, “but my moyo belongs to you.”

Marlene then let go of Skipper and looked at the wedding ring she had on her finger. Without hesitation, she pulled it off.

“So you’re giving the ring back to Antonio?” Skipper asked.

Marlene shook her head.

“No,” she alisema as she placed the ring in Skipper’s flipper. “Save it for our wedding day.”

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Story note: Hopefully this story’s sekunde sentence, “… Antonio and Marlene were getting married,” didn’t scare Skilene mashabiki away from kusoma this scenario all the way through. Since Antonio was revealed to be Marlene’s true Luv-u-Lator match in “Otter Things Have Happened,” I actually do have a fear that the two might meet each other on the onyesha someday and begin some sort of relationship. For that reason, I decided to write this scenario in which Marlene, though about to wed to the otter, ultimately turns him down when someone she loves far zaidi reveals his true feelings to her. It suggests that Marlene might be capable of falling in upendo with Antonio when there is no competition, but when Skipper comes on the scene, her moyo clearly belongs to him.

uandishi this particular story was an interesting endeavor for me, since it is basically the opposite of the “friendship with hints” way I’ve always written Skilene as. It was fun to try something different for this project, but I do not intend to write stories like this outside of this project.

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Fanpop note: This third sample of my “A Skilene-Filled September” uandishi project completes all that I intend to publish here on Fanpop. But don’t be sad, wewe can continue kusoma all the other scenarios on FanFiction.net. Just link to continue kusoma there, beginning with the project’s fourth scenario. Thank wewe for reading.