A story for Nephew Luke.

                   “Washing Elephants and shooing away monkeys.”

         Far away, across, a very big ocean, lived four small children in a grass hut with a broken T.V set. Luke was the oldest, followed by Finley, Adeline and Mavis. All of the children had chores to do every day so they didn’t miss the television set. They had books to read that the natives had written just for them.

          Luke had to go out and wash Ellie the elephant every day and feed her peanut sandwiches for breakfast. Finley had to sweep the roof lizards off of the roof,  before they ate their way into the house. Adeline and Mavis were too small yet to help, so they just sat in their swings and sang lullabyes, to entertain the birds and small animals in the trees.

           Mom and Dad had to work in the gardens every day so that they all had enough to eat. Mason and Abbey weeded the plants and shooed away the monkeys, who would eat everything if they left them alone. It was hard work, but they didn’t mind. It provided food for all of them.

            One very large monkey, named Goofy ,was the worst of the bunch. He would pay no attention to the big sign in the garden that read “No Monkeys allowed.” Then, he would sneak into the garden at night and gobble up the potato and the bean plants. He would leave his used napkins and his  ketchup and mustard wrappers all over the place. That and the  empty bottles of his grape soda were something that Mason and Abbe had to clean up every day.

           Luke washed his elephant every day with a large brush. Then he spread a jar of crunchy peanut butter across a big fern leaf and carefully fed it to the Ellie the elephant. Ellie would only eat crunchy peanut butter, no creamy stuff for her or she got angry and made loud angry elephant sounds that startled the birds in the trees. Afterwards, the elephant preferred to dry itself off with banana leaves and dirt. Finley had to pick up lizard napkins as well. These animals needed to listen to their mothers about proper table manners.

             One day after washing Ellie the elephant, Luke joined his mom and dad in the gardens. It was hard work for all of them. After picking up all of the monkey litter Luke asked, “Why don’t we just shoo them off with scary noises so they don’t steal our food?”

            Mason stopped his tilling to listen to Luke. “What kind of noises, Luke?” asked Mason,

            “Well, I sure know how to sound like an angry elephant who didn’t get their crunchy peanut butter for breakfast. And Finley can squawk like a large lizard who doesn’t like to be swept off the roof.” Luke answered.

             “Hmmm,” Mason answered. “That is a good idea, Luke. We can give it a try.”

               That night Mason, Abbey, Luke and Finley all his in the bushes near their garden. They watched Goofy the bad monkey creep in to the garden and begin eating the bean plants.

               Luke puffed up his chests and let out a very loud “bwanna, bwanna” like Ellie did when she was given creamy peanut butter. Finley squawked like a large lizard being swept off the roof.

               Goofy, the bad monkey, was so startled, that he dropped his grape soda and napkins and ran away into the jungle. It only took a few more nights like this and Goofy found some other place to eat.

             Mason, Abbey and the four children now had plenty to eat. They also made sure that Ellie the elephant had enough crunchy peanut butter to last for weeks.

             Goofy the bad monkey had learned a valuable lesson. You have to clean up after you eat or a very large and very loud angry elephant might chase you away and tell your mother that you were a bad monkey.

            Now, Luke, Finley, Adeline and Mavis also learned that it was bad manners to leave your ketchup and mustard packages and pop bottles  laying about. You had to help clean up whenever you sat down to eat. No one wanted to hear an angry elephant shouting at them or a big lizard snarling at them.

           The family was happy after that. And so was Ellie the elephant who loved her crunchy peanut butter sandwiches.

                                                    -30-

                                                (738 words)

                                          Joseph Xavier Martin