“We Meet Again”
November 4, 2013

    “Skipper, remember last week when you couldn’t remember where you laid your mug?” Kowalski asked, coming out of his lab with a small device.

    “Yes, but I found it. What’s your point?” Skipper answered.

    “Well, Skipper, with this device, we’ll never forget anything ever again! I call it, the Forget-Me-Not!” Kowalski replied, holding up a device that looked like a helmet.

    “Kowalski, are you sure about this? What if it — I don’t know — fries our minds or something?” Skipper asked skeptically.

    “Skipper, it’s perfectly safe! No explosions. Promise!” Kowalski insisted. “Want to try it?”

    Skipper eyed the Forget-Me-Not warily. “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?” he asked.

    Kowalski scoffed. “You’ll be fine! Are you ready?”

    Skipper sighed. “Fine. Let’s get this over with,” he said, taking the helmet and placing it on his head. “How do I turn it on?”

    “I got it,” Kowalski said, reaching forward and hitting a button on the Forget-Me-Not. A moment later, after some bleeps and whirs, Skipper sighed.

    “I don’t feel any different. I don’t think it’s working,” he said.

    “Just give it a minute, it’ll work,” Kowalski urged.

    Before Skipper could respond, Marlene dropped through the hatch.

    “Hey, guys! What . . . are you doing?” she asked, eyeing the device on Skipper’s head.

    Skipper reached up to the switch on the helmet. “Oh, it’s just a —”

    “No! Don’t turn it —”

    Before Kowalski could finish, Skipper flipped the switch and staggered forward into Rico and Private’s grasp. With a shake of his head he pulled himself up and rubbed his eyes.

    “— off,” Kowalski finished, slapping his flipper to his forehead. “Skipper, are you all right?” he asked, pulling the helmet off Skipper’s head.

    Skipper looked at him blankly.

    “Skipper?” Kowalski asked again.

    “Who are you?” Skipper asked.

    “Oh, good golly,” Kowalski said as he started rubbing his temples. “I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I am so dead. . . . He wasn’t supposed to turn it off until it was done,” he informed the others.

    “Skipper, what’s the last thing you remember?” Private asked his leader.

    “I . . . I don’t know,” he answered. He flinched when he felt a paw gently grabbing his shoulder from behind.

    “Skipper, you don’t even remember me?” Marlene asked. Skipper shook his head as he turned to the voice.

    “I don’t think I can remember —”

    He stopped mid-sentence upon his eyes meeting Marlene’s, his beak still hanging open. He examined her head to toe before finishing.

    “— anything. Who are you?” he asked in incredulity.

    Marlene cocked an eyebrow at his tone. “I’m — Marlene. You know me!” she insisted.

    Skipper cocked an eyebrow with a smile. “Au contraire, my femme fatale. Amnesia or no, I would most certainly remember a face as beautiful as yours,” he said. The team’s eyes widened and they exchanged a glance.

    Marlene gulped slightly and backed into the table behind her, blushing fiercely beneath her fur. “Skipper . . .?” she said warily.

    Skipper stepped forward and leaned against the table next to Marlene with his face inches from hers. “You know, I like the way your eyes glow when you’re nervous. They’re astonishing,” he told her softly.

    Marlene found herself forcing off a smile. Was she actually — enjoying this kind of attention? — from Skipper?

    “Don’t fight it, dollface. Something tells me you have a gorgeous smile,” Skipper told her with a grin. Marlene was unable to keep from her smile any longer and turned her head away.

    “Skipper, this is unlike you,” she said bashfully. Skipper gently lifted her chin so her eyes were once again locked with his.

    “If this is unlike me, then I don’t want to go back to the way I was,” he told her.

    Marlene laughed nervously and reluctantly pushed his flipper away, moving away from him.

    “Okay! So, this was — interesting! I’ll be — going. Let me know when, um, Skipper’s back to normal, all right?” she said nervously as she backed toward the door.

    Kowalski took a step toward her. “Marlene, I’m really sorry abou —”

    “No! Don’t be — oh!” Marlene backed into the door and started to feel for the knob. “Don’t be sorry, Kowalski! I just have — something to take care of. Just let me know when he’s — back to normal, ‘kay?” She was about to leave, but first took a last glance at Skipper, who was still eyeing her with infatuation. Biting her lip to keep from smiling, she slipped through the door and pulled it shut behind her.

    “Wow. Is she single?” Skipper asked his team.

    Rico and Private exchanged a glance and Kowalski buried his face in his flippers.

    “I am completely, indefinitely, and inevitably dead.”



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