Week 5 Story: Penguin Books

An updated version of this story can be found at my portfolio.

Bojack Horseman (Deviant Art)

"Honey, don't worry. It's all going to be fine. I'm taking care of it!" Pinky Penguin said.

Pinky Penguin is the head of Penguin Books, a major publishing company. His company made a series of bad investments and are on the verge of financial ruin. 

Pinky's wife replied, "I don't know, Pinky. The kids are going off to college soon, and I don't know if we'll be able to afford it.  I'm just worried."

"Don't worry! We just signed a deal with the Bojack Horseman. He's going to write an autobiography and we get to publish it." Pinky assured.
"Bojack Horseman. Isn't that the horse from the hit 90s sitcom, "Horsin' Around"? He's a washed-up has-been. He hasn't done anything since the show got cancelled seventeen years ago." Pinky's wife said.
Pinky replied, "No, he's not washed-up. Bojack has a compelling story to tell, and I believe in him to pull us through and save the company. I just wish that he had something to show us. I mean, we signed the contract four months ago and he hasn't written anything. Maybe you're right to worry."  

"I should meet with him to get an update on that autobiography. The deadline is coming up in a month, and I don't know if he can meet it." Pinky continued.

Pinky's wife said, "Pinky, if this doesn't work out, we're going to have to have a serious talk about our future. The kids and I can't handle this. We're living month to month and we're miserable. I really hope we can depend on Bojack Horseman."

Bojack Horseman sat in Pinky's office, drunk and confused. 

"Thank you for meeting me in my office, and sorry that it's so hot in here. The air conditioning broke down last week and we're trying to fix it. We just have to move some money here and there." Pinky said.

Bojack replied, "It's no problem. Why are we here again?"

Pinky said, "The book, Bojack! I need an update on the book."

"Oh. Right. The book. Yeah, I don't have anything." Bojack said.

"What do you mean you don't have anything?! Bojack, we can't keep doing this. We're running out of options!" Pinky said.
"Look, I've been very busy with my active lifestyle. I'm trying my best here. I can have it done by next month." Bojack said.

"Okay, you have one month. The company isn't doing so hot right now, and we're kind of hoping that your book will save us. We know you can do it, but we just haven't seen anything yet." Pinky said.
"You can count on me!" Bojack replied.
Naturally, Bojack forgot about the entire meeting as soon as he left the building. 

An entire month passed by as Bojack sat on the couch and watched reruns of "Horsin' Around," threw many parties with his roommate, Todd, and do everything but author his autobiography. Bojack got a call from Pinky Penguin, but he let it go to voicemail. Bojack thought to himself, "How could I have time to write an entire book?"

Now, Bojack Horseman, with a blank expression on his face, sat across from Pinky in his office.
Pinky exclaimed, "What do you mean you don't have anything?!"

Author's Note: The story I based this off of was titled, The Wolf and The Lamb. In that story, a lamb was drinking from a stream when a wolf approached. The wolf  began to come up with reasons to eat the lamb while the lamb refuted all of his reasons. In the end, the wolf gobbled up the lamb. In this story, I saw two major components. The more obvious one was the wolf justifying his evil actions. I tried to emulate this through the character of Bojack Horseman, who justified writing his book with his busy lifestyle, which was really just lounging around the house all day. The other component I saw was the lamb putting himself in danger and not realizing soon enough to run away. In the original story, the lamb talked back to the wolf, smartly, as if telling the wolf that he is wrong will stop him from being eaten. I tried to emulate this in the character of Pinky Penguin. Like the lamb, he is innocent and the reader feels bad for him, but he really put himself in this dangerous situation, and he is not running away while he can.