The successivo few hours for Dave were worse than being stuck in the crate. At least in the gabbia, cassa he was just uncomfortable. Now in the vet's office he was uncomfortable and going through pain. Not only did Dave require a couple of shots, but the vet also needed to extract blood from him. He also needed a check-up to make sure he was healthy. And to superiore, in alto everything off Dave was quite sure that the vet was a little sadistic. After everything was done, Alice placed Dave into a pet carrier and carried him off to the lontra habitat.

It was late afternoon and the crowds had gone home for the day. At least that meant Alice would not be pestered while placing the new lontra in its habitat. Alice set the pet carrier down in the habitat and opened it.

Dave crawled out of the carrier and onto the erba and he inhaled deeply. He winced at the bright sunlight and let his eyes adjust to the brightness. He had spent the past three days in a small vet's office with limited sunlight so now just the sight of sunlight hurt his eyes. But again he just let his eyes adjust and get back to normal. He looked back up and noticed that Alice had walked away and was tending to other matters.

Dave stood up on his hind legs and spotted a stone cave nearby. He walked on over to it and walked inside. Almost as soon as he entered he was greeted da a familiar otter.

"Hi there new roomie. te remember me right?" she asked.

Dave looked at her and said, "Yes from this morning. It's Marlene right?"

Marlene nodded and said, "Yep and this is my home. Let me mostra te around."

Marlene showed him around the cave and showed him were he would be sleeping. The cave itself seemed very nice.

"Unfortunately it's a little small. I hope that isn't a problem, " she told Dave.

Dave chuckled and detto "It's not small, it's cozy. Don't look at the negatives, because they just make everything look bad."

When they were done going around the cave, Marlene asked Dave if he would like to see the rest of the zoo and Dave detto yes. They walked out of the cave and jumped the bacheca of the habitat and the tour began.

Their first stop was the tasso, badger habitat to meet Becky and Stacy. Marlene and Dave entered the habitat and looked around, but the girls were nowhere to be found. Where were they?

As Marlene and Dave looked around they were both jumped from behind.

"Hey cousin," detto the voice on Marlene's back.

The voice belonged to Becky, the tan colored badger. Stacy was on superiore, in alto of Dave's back. Becky got off of Marlene and helped her up and they both walked over to Dave and Stacy. Stacy had already gotten off of Dave's back, but Dave was still lying on his front, completely motionless. They turned him over and were confused da what they saw. Dave's eyes were completely dilated and his breathing was really shallow. It was as if he was in shock. Marlene grabbed Dave's shoulders and lightly shook him. Dave snapped out of his trance and stared back at Marlene.

"What? Did something just happen?" asked Dave.

Marlene shrugged and said, "Well te did get silent there for a moment and te weren't moving."

Dave sighed and said, "Oh yeah about that I just don't like surprises. My health can't handle them. te hear me?"

Marlene and the badgers nodded.

Marlene, Dave, and the badgers talked for a little while before Dave and Marlene decided to sposta on.

The successivo stop was Burt the elephant's habitat. They walked on over to him and detto hello. Burt detto hello back to them. Burt and Dave conversed for a little while before Dave asked a question.

"Hey Burt I have a question. Have te ever seen a mostra called Futurama?" asked Dave.

Burt shook his head and answered, "No I haven't. Why do te ask?"

Dave chuckled and detto "Because te actually sound like one of the characters from the show. No seriously te do."

Burt pondered this for a moment and said, "Really? I'll have to check it out if I get a chance."

Marlene and Dave walked from the elefante habitat to the chimp habitat next. Phil and Mason were in the middle of a game of checkers when the otters arrived and were caught a little off guard.

"Hey Phil, Mason would te guys like to meet my new roommate?" asked Marlene.

Both Phil and Mason turned their heads in Marlene's direction and spotted her and an unfamiliar otter.

"Hello Marlene and who is that te have with te if te don't mind me asking?" Mason asked as Marlene and Dave walked over to them.

Dave looked at Mason and detto "The name's Dave if te don't mind me answering."

Mason chuckled lightly at Dave's words and Phil signed something to Mason.

"Yes I agree old bean. This one does seem to have quite a sense of humor. I just hope he lasts longer than Marlene's last roommate," Mason detto to Phil.

Dave looked from Marlene to the chimps and asked, "Last roommate? What happened to them?"

Before Mason could say anything Marlene butted in.

"She was disgusting and that's all I'm saying. Can we please talk about something else?"

"That sounds like a good idea," answered Dave.

Dave asked Phil and Mason to talk about più about themselves. Mason talked and Phil signed and Mason translated for Phil. Phil's actions led Dave to believe that Phil was mute so he asked Phil very few questions. After a few minutes, Dave noticed the book that Phil had lying successivo to him.

"Is that a good book guys?" he asked while pointing at the book.

Phil and Mason looked at where Dave was pointing and Phil began signing away while Mason translated.

"Phil says it is a good book and he could teach te to read if te wish."

Dave chuckled and said, "While I appreciate the offer fellas, but I regret to tell te that I already know how to read."

After Dave made mention that he could read, Mason and Marlene began laughing while Phil signed his laughs thinking that Dave was joking. Dave looked back at the book and looked at the titolo and smiled.

"The Prince and the Pauper? Now that is a good Mark Twain novel. In fact it's one of my personal favorites," detto Dave.

Dave's words made Phil stop signing and Mason stopped laughing when he realized Phil was no longer signing. Marlene laughed for another moment before she realized that Phil and Mason had stopped. She looked back at Dave who was now smiling.

"Yeah guys I told te I can read and now te know," Dave said.

He looked back at Marlene and said, "Shall we continue?"

Marlene introduced Dave to other characters around the zoo. Among the animali were Roy the rhino, Bada and Bing, and Darla the baboon. Unfortunately Dave found out about her backwoods magic the hard way. When Darla made mention of it, Dave expressed skepticism. His skepticism was short lived however when a zucca fell on his head.

It hit his head and yelled.

"WHAT PUMPKIN, WHAT WHAT, zucca WHAT?" he ranted in surprised anger.

Darla smirked and Dave shut up right after that.

After they were done talking to the baboons, Dave and Marlene walked over to the lemure habitat. Right when Dave was about to climb over the bacheca Marlene stopped him.

"Wait a moment Dave let me see if Julian is in there."

Marlene looked over the bacheca and to her relief Julian was not there.

"OK let's go in," she detto to Dave.

It was true that Julian was not in the lemure habitat, but for Marlene she just wanted to get in and introduce Dave to Maurice and Mort and then get out without Julian even knowing she was there. She spotted Maurice and Mort sitting at the tiki bar and led Dave over to it.

"Hey Mort, Maurice meet my new roommate," she called out to them as Dave walked after her.

"Hey Marlene and uh… what's your name?" asked Maurice.

Dave walked over to Maurice and answered.

"My name is Dave I was just transferred here today. Nice place."

Maurice laughed lightly and asked Dave to sit at one of the seats at the bar.

"Smoothie?" asked Maurice.

Dave thought and asked, "What kinds do te got?"

Maurice pointed to a pile of frutta behind the bar and said, "Take your pick."

Dave looked at all the frutta and spotted a granny smith apple.

"That granny smith will do," he detto as he pointed to it.

Maurice picked up and made Dave his smoothie. Dave took a sip and his eyes lit up.

"Whoa! Now that is heaven," Dave detto with a smile.

For the successivo few minuti Dave and Maurice conversed about personal interests and anything else that seemed relevant, but Marlene just wished they would hurry up and finish their conversation.

"So what kind of Musica do te lemurs listen to? I can that boom box up there," asked Dave.

"We mostly listen to techno and hip-hop," Maurice answered.

Dave let a little chuckle.

"Techno? Hip-hop? te guys listen to that?" asked Dave.

"I like techno," Mort blurted out.

Dave looked at Mort who was sitting on the sgabello successivo to him and laughed some more.

"That's cute kid, very cute," Dave detto to Mort and then patted Mort's little head.

Mort let out a little laugh and said, "I like cute."

Dave laughed a little più and turned back to Maurice.

"So what kind of Musica do te listen to Dave?" asked Maurice.

Dave finished his frullato, smoothie and answered, "Rock and roll basically. I prefer people like ACDC, Bon Jovi, KISS, and the lista just goes on and on."

Maurice just shrugged, "I don't know any of those guys, sorry. We don't listen to a lot of rock here, mainly because King Julian prefers techno."

Dave let out a little grunt and continued talking.

"Let me guess. He's an obnoxious ring tailed lemure who is full of himself and wears a leafy hat, am I right?"

Maurice laughed lightly and said, "You got it. Did te meet him already?"

Dave nodded and said, "Unfortunately I have. It was just this morning in the garage. I met him and some penguins in there."

Marlene let out a little cough to get Dave's attention and gave him a small glare.

"Oh yeah I also met Marlene there earlier. Sorry girl," Dave said.

Marlene nodded and her glare went away.

"No offense Maurice, but Julian and those penguins have got some serious screws loose," Dave detto to Maurice.

Maurice rolled his eyes and said, "Tell me about it. Julian is just stupid; don't tell him I detto that. As for the penguins, they're just paranoid. But on the other hand the penguins do protect the zoo on a regular basis so it all works out. I tell te one time we had a snake get loose here. I couldn't sleep for a week after that. But thanks to the penguins a number of us are still alive."

Before Maurice and Dave could continue talking Marlene came over and interrupted.

"I just heard Julian coming right now. We should leave before he get's here," Marlene said.

Dave got up from his sede, sedile and said, "I secondo that idea. Maurice it was nice meeting te and thanks for the smoothie. Mort te stay cute kid."

Maurice chuckled and said, "Probably a good idea. I guess I'll see te around then."

Dave nodded.

"See te around man," he detto back.

Marlene and Dave left the lemure habitat and walked back towards the lontra habitat.

On the way there Dave asked Marlene, "So what was up with te back there regarding the king lemur?"

He chuckled at mentioning the word king.

Marlene sighed and answered him.

"Julian seems to think I'm going to be his queen. I mean it was flattering at first. But me, with him? Not going to happen. Now it's just annoying."

Dave laughed a little più and asked, "Why does he think that you're going to choose him?"

Marlene shrugged and said, "I don't know. He was into me one time, but that ended after I had a brief relationship with a squirrel. It happened again after my pelliccia was bleached in a chlorine accident but that was because he thought I was an arctic mink. I don't know what caused it this time he just started doing it all over again all of a sudden."

Dave continued to laugh lightly and said, "Sucks to be te then."

Marlene just glared at him.

A short while later back at the lontra habitat, the zookeepers brought Dave and Marlene dinner. cena tonight consisted of pesce and some clams that Marlene had stored in her cave. They ate their pesce and a couple of clams and after they were done eating they chatted for a while. When it started to get late they went to bed. Dave had his own letto on the other side of the cave across from Marlene.

A couple of hours later Marlene woke up all of a sudden and noticed that Dave was not in bed. He wasn't in the cave so he had to be outside. She walked over to the cave entrance, but Dave was standing outside in front of the entrance. He was staring up at the moon and he was whispering, but Marlene could still hear him.

"Please, please watch over Sam and her child and my dad. Let them all be sicuro, cassetta di sicurezza and well, please lord I beg you," Dave detto as tears streamed down his cheeks.

Now Marlene was wondering exactly what Dave was going on about. Who was Sam and what was that about a child? Marlene didn't know, but she figured that if Dave wanted her to know, he would tell her when he was willing.