Penguins of Anarchy

One

The rap music blared out of the speakers hanging from the canopy of the bamboo surf shop, the ocean waves rolling toward the shore barely audible. Sammik, the DJ, held his headphones to his ear and continued to produce the music that appeared to excite and entertain him and all of his friends, who were dancing to his melody.

As the song ended and Sam saw his best friend Dreemo enter the vicinity, he got all of his friends' attention and announced, "Check it, kiddies, Dreemo's in the house!"

Everyone cheered as Dreemo was absorbed into the crowd. "Come on, Dreemo, show us some of those moves of yours!" one of the penguins pleaded.

Dreemo was well known by many of the penguins his age for being a fantastic dancer. Sam and Dreemo had even discussed starting a band, but Dreemo was too shy for that idea and it always took some coaxing to get him going. "No, no, I would rather see how good some of you guys are," Dreemo said.

His friends wouldn't take no for an answer and continued to sweet talk him until he finally had to throw up his flippers and agree to dance for them. Everyone made a circle of space for him to dance in.

"Kick it, Sammy!" Dreemo said.

"You know it, brother!" Sam replied excitedly.

Wild cheers erupted from the crowd as Dreemo did flips, spun on his back, did the worm, and performed countless other tricks. He danced for nearly ten minutes before he was totally exhausted and sat at the smoothie bar made of bamboo.

"Nice moves out there, Dreamer," Felly said as she prepared a strawberry smoothie for him behind the counter. "I assume you want the regular."

"Yeah, hit me with it," Dreemo replied, still panting for breath.

Felly slid the cold drink across the table, and Dreemo snatched it just as it began to tip over the edge. He removed the little umbrella stuck into it--another tradition of his--and took a big sip from the yellow-and-green striped straw.

Felly pulled her hair back behind her shoulder and asked, "So, what are you planning on doing tomorrow?"

"Well, it'll be Saturday, so...maybe us and Sammy can go surfing or something."

"Or sledding."

Dreemo slammed his flipper on the counter abruptly. Seeing Felly's startled face, he said, "Sorry; I just remembered that Falcono wants me to go fishing with him tomorrow."

"Why does your uncle like to ask you to go fishing all the time, even though he fishes for a living?"

"I know! You'd think he'd take a day off from fishing on a Saturday. I guess it's more about spending quality time with me than anything."

"Will you be free on Sunday?"

"Nah, I assume Falcono's going to want to take me shooting on Sunday, like he almost always does."

"You'll be free later in the day though, right? I mean, he usually takes you early in the morning."

Dreemo sipped more of his smoothie. "Yeah, that's true. I guess we could make plans."

"Okay, we and Sam can talk sometime tomorrow."

"I'll text you," Dreemo replied. He dismounted from the bamboo stool so he could watch one of the dancers up close as Sam played techno music over the speakers.

Dreemo gripped his pillow as his uncle practically ripped him out of bed. "Come on, Dreemo, the fish are biting and we've gotta give them something to bite!" Falcono exclaimed.

"What time is it?" Dreemo asked in a slurred voice.

"Almost nine o'clock, you lazy kid!"

"I was up until five o'clock in the morning last night, Uncle Falcono."