Daddy Monkey and the Quest for Towels - Chapter 3

So off they sploshed again. Daddy Donkey waved goodbye with his hoof from the top of his thistly island.

“Not far now!” said Daddy Monkey cheerfully, stretching out for a snooze on the top of the Glove Monster’s head.

“Hmph!” said the Glove Monster and the deer as they worked their way through the water.

After a while they got to dry land again, and walked through all the fields as far as the bridge over the river. What a surprise it was for everyone going past when a deer trotted out onto the pavement, followed by a monster all made of gloves carrying a snoring monkey on his head!

“Oh! A deer! Eek! A monster! Aah, what a cute little monkey!” they shouted.

“I’m not a – snooore…” said Daddy Monkey, turning over on the Glove Monster’s head. That was lucky, otherwise the Glove Monster would have had to fish people out of the water.

The ground was dry now, but the deer and Glove Monster left a trail of drips on the ground as they went along. The Glove Monster kept reaching up to wake Daddy Monkey, but the big-tummed trouble monkey kept rolling over in his sleep, and the Glove Monster kept hitting himself on the head.

“I don’t like all these people looking at me,” said the deer, trying to go along as close to the wall as possible.

“Nor do I!” said the Glove Monster, who was worried in case he was recognised by someone whose gloves he’d eaten. This time he bonged Daddy Monkey with both his big rubbery hands.

“Hmph!” said Daddy Monkey, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “I was sleeping!”

“Can you get us to the towel shop without everyone looking at us?” said the deer, whose nose was twitching with nervousness.

Well, as it happened, Daddy Monkey didn’t know any towel shops. He had forgotten to tell his friend this, and he thought that mentioning it now might not be a good idea. “Oh yes,” he said with a cheeky grin. “Up we go!”

He jumped off the Glove Monster’s head and climbed the nearest building, right to the top.

“Oi!” said the Glove Monster, but Daddy Monkey’s tail was just disappearing like a wiggly worm in the sky.

“Hmph!” said the Glove Monster.

“Eek!” said the deer as the Glove Monster picked her up round the middle, put her under his arm, and used his glovy hands, feet and tail to climb up after Daddy Monkey. It took him quite a long time because he wasn’t  used to climbing walls, and the deer was heavy (she covered her eyes with her long ears).

Meanwhile all the people going past stopped and said, “Look at that naughty monster, leaving big wet hand marks all over that wall! And he’s letting that deer drip all over our heads. He wouldn’t have done that if that cute little monkey was keeping an eye on him!”

Well of course it was Daddy Monkey’s fault. When the Glove Monsters got to the top, there was the cheeky-grinned naughty with his furry arms folded, tapping his foot on the ground.

“Hmph! That took aaaaaaaaaaaages!” said Daddy Monkey.

“Hmph! I’m not a monkey!” said the Glove Monster.

“Hmph! That was scary!” said the deer.

They all “Hmphed!” at each other for a while, until the Glove Monster felt the cold wind blowing on his wet legs and bottom. “Let’s go and get some towels!”

So off they went, Daddy Monkey leading the way, jumping up and down as the roofs went at different levels, towards the centre of Oxford.

The deer thought this was quite fun because she’d never been on a roof before, and no one was looking at her. But the Glove Monster kept getting distracted. Every time workmen had been on top of the buildings they’d left a glove or two behind. The Glove Monster couldn’t stop himself rushing off to chomp up each glove he saw, and Daddy Monkey and the deer kept “Hmphing!” at him until he caught up. He wondered why Daddy Monkey wasn’t feeling hungry.

Of course, Daddy Monkey was feeling hungry, and he was trying to think of a shop that sold towels and bananas. He couldn’t think of one, and so, right in the middle of a bit where they’d had to climb down from the roof, into an area where there was grass, some flowers – and lots of people with cameras, who kept taking photos of the three flood-escapers (“Ah, quel singe mignon!” some of them exclaimed; luckily Daddy Monkey speaks Spanish, not French), he decided to call Sorely Monkey, who was in charge of the very useful Monkey Library on Bonn Square.

“Ouch!” said Sorely Monkey. “I’ve hurt my ear.”

“Oh dear,” said Daddy Monkey.

“It’s too quiet in the Monkey Library,” said Sorely Monkey. “It hurts when I listen too hard for sounds.” (All the signs in the Monkey Library say “SHOUT PLEASE”.)

“Oh dear,” said Daddy Monkey.

“Don’t talk so loud, it hurts my ears.”

“Oh dear,” whispered Daddy Monkey.

Well, it took a long time, and a lot of ouches, but finally Daddy Monkey got to where the banana-and-towel shop was (he thought that its name, M&S, must stand for Monkeys & Swimming). Sorely Monkey did say that it sold other things too, but Daddy Monkey didn’t care about that.

“Thank you!” he said in a sort of not-too-loud-and-not-too-quiet voice. “See you at the Monkey Library soon!”

“Good-ouch!” said Sorely Monkey.

“Right,” said Daddy Monkey to the deer and Glove Monster. “Off we go!”

The other two were quite pleased that they didn’t have to stand among the lavender plants being photographed any more (although the deer did like the taste), but they were a bit surprised when Daddy Monkey boinged right through the gardens and up another wall. Off across the roofs they went again – but this time they were the roofs of the colleges, which were slopy and full of towers and battlements and windows to climb over.

They crossed roads by balancing on telephone wires, which Daddy Monkey enjoyed but the deer and Glove Monster thought was very scary. It wasn’t too bad for the Glove Monster because his big rubbery feet stuck to the wires. But the deer had to balance very carefully on her hoofs – and Daddy Monkey didn’t help by swinging on the wire with his hands, feet, tail and even his ears!

So she was very pleased when they stopped on one nice flat roof and Daddy Monkey said “This is it! Bananas – and er, towels – here we come!”