by William Thabiso
Once there was a monkey who lived at the top of a very tall tree. Every day he would look down and watch the people that lived in the house next to his tree. His favorite thing usually happened at night. That’s when he would hear pop. Pop… pop… pop! pop! pop! And there would always be a delicious smell. Sometimes, he would ask his mom and dad what the sounds were, and what made the smell. They always told him to eat his bananas and stop thinking about the people.
One day, when his mom and dad were visiting their friends in a different part of the forest, the little monkey climbed down, down, down, out of his tall tree, and slowly sneaked over to the house. He knew the house was empty – the family always left every morning and didn’t come back till later in the day. So he went into the house! Naughty little monkey!
He started to look around in the front room and even jumped on the couch for a minute. But that wasn’t what made the noise or the smell, so he started looking again. He was lucky, because next he found the kitchen. It was much more interesting – there were so many doors and drawers to open. Plus there were lots of smells. He decided he would smell everything until he found the smell he loved. First he started smelling everything in the fridge. The milk didn’t smell right, and the eggs weren’t it either. None of the fruits, vegetables, bread, or cheese had the right smell. Finally he tried some cupboards, way up high, and that’s when he found the popcorn!
Now he just had to get it to make that popping sound! He tried hitting it on the floor, he tried jumping up and down on it, and he even tried throwing it up in the air, but it didn’t pop. It was just lucky that he even tried the microwave (monkeys love pushing buttons) and then… pop! POP POP. Pop, pop, pop! Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop! Soon the popcorn was popping like crazy! The monkey got so excited that he got all the popcorn he could find and put it in the microwave. Big bags, little bags, a container full of kernels, and more. He kept the popcorn popping.
Well, there was lots of popcorn! It started coming out of the microwave and spilled out on to the counter. But it didn’t stop. More popcorn came out and it started to fill up the kitchen. Then it went out of the kitchen and down the stairs. Then it filled up the basement and started going upstairs. Soon the popcorn was filling up the whole house! Even the doors and windows couldn’t stop the popcorn. It started coming out of the house everywhere. That’s when the monkey knew he was in trouble!
He quickly ran into the forest, but he wasn’t running away. He was asking his friends for help. He got all of the animals he could find and told them to come help him eat all of the yummy popcorn. They all came as fast as they could and they all started eating. The bears were eating in the family room, the porcupines were in the bathroom, the birds were in the bedrooms upstairs and the deer were in the kitchen. Lots of animals were all over in the house eating as much popcorn as they could!
Luckily the animals finished just in time. As the little monkey went out the back door, the family came home. They all went inside the house and looked around. “Hmm” said the mom as she sniffed the air, “did somebody make some popcorn? What a good idea. I think I’ll make some right now.”
the end.
Question Time
1. What was the little monkey’s favorite sound?
2. Why did the little monkey go inside the people’s house?
3. What did the monkey do to get rid of the popcorn that was filling up the house?
4. What did the mom say as she and her family come back home?
