Cho-Cho in the Waves

Ch0-Cho in the Waves

By Lydia, Scarlett, and Miss Jeanne

Cho-Cho sat on the branch of a tree near the edge of his home—the jungle. For the first time ever, he had ventured far enough to see the ocean. It lapped at the shore’s edge with huge waves, and the water sparkled in the sunlight.

It seemed to be calling to him.

His gaze shifted to the beach where countless sunbathers lay dotted on the sand. Some of the people were in the water—some even rode strange-looking boards through the waves.

He looked closer at the people on the beach.

Food!

He jumped up and down—so excited he couldn’t hold it in—then swung to the ground and raced toward the nearest sunbather.

An umbrella was stuck in the sand behind the woman, partially shielding her from the sun’s rays. “A monkey!” she shrieked, wide-eyed.

“Of course, I’m a monkey,” Cho-Cho plainly said, but all the woman heard was, ooh-ooh, ee-ee, and a grunt.

She batted her hands in the air as if to swat him away, so he swung up onto the umbrella pole, spun around it, and nabbed the slice of cake she had dropped on the blanket beneath her.

“A monkey, a monkey!” others shouted and pointed.

Cho-Cho laughed at them, ate the slice of cake in one bite, and raced off to find more food.

“Get him, Barry!” the woman who no longer had cake yelled.

A large man with enormous arms shot to his feet and sped after Cho-Cho.

Cho-Cho was too quick. He darted from one sunbather to the next, grabbing whatever food he could manage as he ran.

“You’re a bad, bad monkey!” Barry loudly grumbled. “Stop taking our food!”

“Yes!” another yelled. “Stop it now!”

Cho-Cho didn’t want to stop. The cake was yummy, and he wanted more. One person had a very green banana, but he took it anyway, peeled it, and popped it into his mouth. He wrinkled his nose at the sharp taste, but he was having too much fun to care that it hadn’t fully ripened.

A mob of at least twenty people now followed him, yelling and screaming.

“We’ll put you in a zoo!” Barry chided. “Just you wait and see!”

A zoo?

Cho-Cho had heard awful stories about monkeys in zoos. He didn’t want to be in a cage—he liked the freedom of his jungle too much.

The crowd had pushed him to the edge of the water, and he had nowhere else to go but in, even though he’d never learned to swim. He spotted a boy on one of those board things and managed to get to it. The instant the boy saw Cho-Cho he jumped into the water and left the board behind. Cho-Cho climbed on, sat down, and tightly gripped the edge.

The waves pushed the board up and down, over and over. All of the food Cho-Cho had eaten rumbled around on his insides, swirling and churning with the waves. The motion and the foreign food made him sick.

“I need to get back to the jungle,” he mumbled, fearing he might throw up.

To his good fortune, the waves took him away from the mass of people and closer to the jungle. The motion of the water pushed the board onto the beach, and Cho-Cho raced back into the safety of the trees.

“Good riddance!” Barry hollered. “You’re lucky this time but don’t come back here again!”

Barry sure acted cranky, but Cho-Cho didn’t care. He hadn’t gone to the beach to make friends, he just wanted to see the beach. Then the food drew him in, and he hadn’t been able to control his appetite. Now, he wished he had. His stomach really hurt.

Tiggy, the tiger, approached him, smiling. “I missed you, Cho-Cho,” she said. “Why did you leave the jungle?”

“Curiosity,” he replied and rubbed his upset tummy. “But I’ll never go again. It almost killed me.”

She grinned. “Well, the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat, but I guess that applies to monkeys, too.” She eyed him closely. “I can tell you don’t feel good. Hop on my back, and I’ll take you to your favorite tree.”

Cho-Cho gladly took her offer. He lay down on her back, cuddled into her soft fur, and sighed, happy to be home.