"Land ho!" Robert yelled from his vantage point on top of the ship's cabin. Gwendolyn excitedly clasped her paws. She could see a green island ahead, lined with a sandy beach. She felt the warm sun on her soft fur. And she smiled.
Honnnnnk! Skipper pulled the boat's horn.
Mitchell and Melman stopped their conversation about health care. Mimi woke up. Gloria and Cora set down the fruit they were eating. Alex left the washroom where he was trying to clean his dirty mane. Marty excused himself from the penguins, who had been showing him how to drive the boat.
All of them went to the front of the boat. Melman smiled, "Hey, look! The fuzzy things are coming out to meet us!"
Alex squinted, "Not all of us can see as well as you can, Melman." He said. As the boat drew closer to the island, he could see little black dots congregating on the white beach.
"Yay!" Cora and Marty danced around. They were soon joined by Gloria, Melman, and Alex.
Mitchell put a front leg around Mimi, "We're almost to our new home, dear."
Mimi smiled back at him, "I wonder what color our curtains will be!"
Everyone fell to the deck as the boat beached itself once again on the island of Madagascar.
"Ow!" Alex cried when he accidentally tried to pick himself up with his left paw. He stood up and peered over the railing. Lemurs rushed over to the ship, and it seemed that the big boat was surrounded by a sea of fur. "Hi, little fuzzbuckets!" Alex called to them.
In the treeline, King Julien turned to Maurice, "I tolded you they'd be back. Now don't you think you should have listened to the king?" He climbed into a chair on poles. Four lemurs lifted the chair by the poles and carried it out to the beach. Maurice followed.
The lemurs wheeled a large staircase to the boat. Alex, Gloria, Melman, and Marty stepped off. The lemurs cheered. Then Cora, the Mankowitzes and the squirrels descended, followed by the penguins. All of the animals were received with as warm a welcome as lemurs can give.
The crowd of lemurs parted, and King Julien rode up in his chair. Even way up in his chair, his head only came to Alex's whiskers. The lemurs set the chair down.
"Be quiet! Shut up, everyone!" Julien tried to shout. He looked down at his right-hand lemur, "Maurice…"
Maurice loudly said, "KING JULIEN WISHES TO SPEAK!"
"Thank you." Julien said as a hush fell over the crowd. He addressed the Zoosters, "Now, it has being a while since you all went here last time. But we did keeping all your homes clean and tidy for you. And, we want to present you with a gift. So come on, if you are wanting to see it!" He looked the Mankowitzes and the squirrels over, "You can come too."
He motioned for his chair-carriers to once again do their job. The lemur in the chair led the entire crowd, plus a bunch of zoo animals and a couple of squirrels, down the beach. They passed Melman's hut, then Gloria's hut, then Marty's hut. A few yards away from Marty's hut, a new hut stood. It was made of mud-and-sand bricks, and boulders. It had two palm-trunk pillars holding up a porch, and a second-story balcony. A large flat boulder sat just in front of the hut, in a spot where the sun would always warm it. Beside the hut, a pool of fresh water lay in the shade, a lawn chair next to it, and a small round table.
Alex heard a gasp from somewhere behind him. He turned to see Marty's mouth hanging open. The zebra was staring at the hut. "What is it, Marty?"
Marty shook his head, "How did it…how did they…"
"We found the plans to this lovely abode in that hut over there." Julien pointed to Marty's place, "And we thought it would be fun to build it for you. Do you like it?" Marty stared.
"Well, it's not my style…" Melman admitted, "but it's nice enough."
Gloria nodded, "Melman, we've already got houses. I think this one's for Alex."
Alex smiled, "Well, I love it! Thanks, fuzzbuckets! Wow, it's like you knew exactly what I'd want in a house!"
Julien shrugged, "I can't be taking all the credit. Someone else designed it. I was the one who did the putting it together." The lemur scanned the crowd, "Which one of you was the one of you that designed the hut?"
"I think I know." Alex smiled, "It had to be someone who knew me better than anyone else."
Julien grinned, "Good job, Mr. Alex! I didn't know you designed huts!"
"Not me!" Alex laughed, "Marty!"
"Oh," Julien said, "Sorry, my mistake."
Marty nodded, "You're right, it was me. I forgot I left those plans in my hut!"
"I'm glad you did!" Alex walked up onto the porch, "I mean, look at this place! It's fit for a king!"
"Hmm," Julien stroked his chin, "Maybe I should build a house for me that you were the one who designed, Striped Freak."
"Come on up here, guys! Come and see this place!" Alex walked in the front doorway. Marty, Melman, and Gloria joined him. Cora watched them all go inside, a bit wistfully.
Alex's head reappeared in the doorway, "Cora? Are you coming?"
"Yippee!" Cora grinned and galloped into the fancy hut.
The squirrels watched. Robert turned to Gwendolyn, "Gwendolyn, my darling, shall we observe our new residence?"
Gwendolyn smiled as the two squirrels disappeared into the woods in search of the perfect tree.
"What about you, Mimi?" Mitchell looked at his wife, "Where do you want to live?"
Mimi smiled, "Someplace quiet, far away from all of the hubbub."
"We know just the place." Skipper said, startling the giraffes, "Follow us!" The four penguins led the giraffes down the path that had been made to bring gasoline to the boat.
That evening, Alex, Marty, Cora, Melman, and Gloria were all sitting around a fire in Marty's hut. They all had cups of fresh fruit juice and were laughing, reminiscing about the events of the past few days.
Cora smiled, "Well, I learned that dreams aren't always what they're cracked up to be."
"Hear, hear!" Alex raised his coconut cup.
Marty looked confused, "How did you learn that?"
"Well," Cora said, "Remember how I told you that I wanted my own stall? I had one for a very short time in New York. But when I was there, all I could think about was finding you guys again."
"Same goes for me." Alex nodded, "Except that I wasn't in a stall. I went to New York, but it was horrible when I didn't have all of you there with me."
Marty looked down, "Sometimes it was bad when you did have us with you."
Everyone was silent for a few moments.
"So," Melman said, "why did the zebra cross the road?"
"Yeah, why did he, Alex?" Gloria asked.
Marty raised his eyebrows, We have been waiting a long time for the punch line to that joke, Al."
"Did I miss something?" Cora asked.
"You walked in just when Alex was about to tell us the joke." Gloria explained, "That was back the first time we all met you."
"Oh," Cora looked around sheepishly, "sorry!"
"It's ok, he can tell us now." Gloria nodded at Alex, "Tell us, Alex."
"Ok, ok, ok! I'll tell the joke!" Alex smiled.
"The one we've all been waiting for!" Marty added.
"Ok," Alex took a breath, "Why did the zebra cross the road?"
Melman, swallowing some of his juice, interrupted, "Marty, are you sure that this is pineapple juice? Because I taste a melon-ish flavor. Does anyone else taste a melon-ish flavor?"
"MELMAN!" Gloria, Alex, Marty, and Cora yelled.
"All right! All right!" Melman defended, "I was just wondering!"
Alex shook his head, smiling. He tried again, "Why did the zebra cross the-"
"Good evening New York Giants!" a voice said from outside.
"AGhh!" Alex cried, "Will I ever get to tell this joke?"
Marty answered the door.
King Julien grinned up at him, "Can we come in? Or perhaps better, can you come out here?"
Marty looked back at the others. They shrugged.
"Sure." Marty told Julien. Alex, Melman, Gloria, Cora, and Marty went out to the beach.
Julien looked excited, "Sorry for us to be interrupting your party, but I could not wait any longer!"
"For what?" Marty asked.
The king lemur cleared his throat, "While you all were gone away, I wrote a little song about my home, like Mr. Alex suggested. It is not all the way finished totally, but it is started. And I thought you freaks might like to be writing your own verses to this wonderful song." He turned to a bunch of lemurs with musical instruments, "Alright, let's make some sound!" He stood on a makeshift stage.
He started singing,
"This island's run by King Julien (that's me)
And we have lots of fun
We'll party from when the sun comes up
Until the day is done
Here on
Madagascar, where the sea meets skies of blue
Madagascar, where your deepest dreams come true
Madagascar, every room has got a view
Madagascar, it's waiting here for you."
The music played for a while as Julien motioned to the Zoosters and Cora. Alex stepped up onto the stage to sing,
"When you think the world is just too rough,
Leave it all behind."
Marty jumped in,
"When your dreams just aren't real enough
Come here to clear your mind!"
They both sang,
"Come to
Madagascar, where the sea meets skies of blue
Madagascar, where your deepest dreams come true
Madagascar, every room has got a view
Madagascar, it's waiting here for you."
Cora shyly walked up next to Alex and Marty,
"When you've lost your faith in the life you lead
And you need a second chance
This place may be what you need
To help you learn to dance!"
Gloria and Melman got onto the stage. They all sang together,
"Madagascar, where the sea meets skies of blue
Madagascar, where your deepest dreams come true
Madagascar, every room has got a view
Madagascar, it's waiting here for you!"
"Everybody!" Julien said, even though everybody was already singing.
"Madagascar, it's waiting here for you!" the animals sang.
"One more time now!" King Julien cried.
"It's waiting here for you!"
"To get to the other stripe!" Alex finally finished his joke, to the good-natured groans of his friends.
"Aww, we waited all that time for that?" Marty teased.
"I can't believe it." Cora sighed.
Alex frowned, "Actually, I thought it was pretty good."
Cora looked up, "Oh, no, not the joke! I meant this!" She gestured to the hut they were all sitting in, "I live on a tropical island, with the best friends a gal could have! And I don't have to be afraid for my life anymore. Thanks so much, you guys!" She looked shyly at Alex, "And I'm sorry I treated you so weird when we first met. I just…didn't trust you. And I should have. Marty said you were okay, and he was more than right…I just didn't know, you know?"
Alex smiled warmly, "It's ok, I wasn't too nice to you, either, and I'm sorry." He remembered something, "Oh! That reminds me! I forgot to tell you guys, but something really big happened while I was in New York!"
Marty looked at Alex strangely, "A lot of somethings happened, Al."
"Yeah, you got hit on the head with a subway station." Melman said seriously.
Alex shook his head, "Before that! When I was at the Bronx Zoo, I met this lion. He told me how to help my problem, you know, when I'm hungry!"
"That's great!" Melman grinned.
"I'm so happy for you, Alex!" Gloria beamed, "I know that's been really hard on you. Both of you." She looked at Marty.
Marty sighed happily, "Congratulations, Alex!"
Alex leaned back on Marty's sand couch, "It doesn't get any better than this!"
"That's what you said that night at the zoo before I broke out." Marty pointed out.
"Yeah?" Alex cocked his head, "Well, I was wrong."
Marty looked around at all his friends, his eyes resting on Cora, "Cora, you remember when we first met and you asked me if I had a herd?"
Cora nodded, "I remember. You said that you didn't have one."
Marty smiled, "I was wrong about that. I have all the herd I could ever need, right here!"
Alex smiled and lifted his coconut of juice, "To friendship." He said, proposing a toast.
The others raised their cups, "To friendship!"
Melman yawned, "I guess I better go home now. It's getting late." He stood up, set his coconut cup on the counter, and turned to leave, Goodnight everyone." He left the hut.
Gloria nodded to Cora, "Guess we'd better get going, too. Night Alex, night Marty."
"Night Glo, night Cora!" Alex and Marty said together.
When the girls had left, Alex set his cup on Marty's counter and got comfortable on the sand couch.
"You sure you don't want to sleep at your place tonight?" Marty asked his friend.
Alex smiled, "I've got my whole life to enjoy that hut, Marty. Tonight, I want to be in here."
"Okay," Marty shrugged, "That's fine with me!"
The zebra flopped into his hammock, "Man, I am exhausted! And all I did today was enjoy myself!"
"Me too." Alex agreed.
There was a long silence where each thought that the other was asleep.
Alex whispered, "Marty, you know I made that answer up, right?"
"Huh?" Marty mumbled.
"To the joke." Alex whispered, "I made that answer up. That's not the real answer."
"What is the real answer?" Marty asked quietly.
"To get to the Bronx Zoo to find his friends." Alex replied.
Marty smiled, "Goodnight Alex."
Soft snoring came from the hammock.
A twitch of a smile moved the corners of Alex's mouth as he watched his best friend sleeping in the no-longer-empty hammock.
"Goodnight, Marty."