The Adventures of Philip and Sophie DOUBLE FEATURE by Drew Eldridge - HTML preview
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Chapter 3
The Battle in the Life Tree and the
Very Severe Beating of the Ape Bullies It was just like out of one of Sebastian’s day dreams.
The action! The excitement! The surprises! The bad guys, who he’d always wished and hoped someone would stand up to, "nally getting a taste of their own medicine!
The creature was about four feet tall, slender and upright. It wore a bright green tunic and cloak as black as night. Around its waist, was tied a golden sash with little pouches on the back.
“Run away!” cried the Black Beard Gang. “Run away!
Run away!”
“Quick! Before it eats us! Don’t you remember the stories?”
“I’m not staying to "ght that thing! Forget it!”
But Old Black Beard wouldn’t let them.
“You cowards!” he shouted down at them. “Don’t be afrrr-aid! It’s just one crrr-eature! Fight! Destroy him!
That’s an order! MAKE HIM SUFFAH!”
“Yes sir!” the bravest ones yelled back.
The mysterious creature, meanwhile, wasn’t wasting 23
any time. As soon as it landed in the tree, it leaped down, drew a long pointed sta! and delivered such a blow onto one poor ape’s head that it went cross-eyed and straight to sleep, tumbling out of the tree, down into some mud.
“Oh yeah!” cried Sebastian, very impressed. “Pow!
Right in the face! Did you see that?” He loved every minute of it.
Three more of the gang fell under our hero’s sta! after that. Smack! Thwack! Oof! Just like that! And when others tried to jump up onto the branch to tackle it, the mysterious creature batted them away like baseballs, one by one. No one had ever seen such skills before. Seven-teen had already fallen out of the tree, and none of them looked like they were planning on climbing back up.
“Pow! Oh, yeah!” yelled Sebastian. “Bang! Yeah, get him! Woo! Oh yeah! Pow! Pow! Pow!”
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Even Edward was getting into it. All of the animals were. Everyone except Dorabella, that is. She thought it was too violent for little chicks to watch and was trying to cover Sebastian’s eyes.
“Oh, Mrs. Butter!y!” she lamented, hoping to get at least one animal on her side. “Isn’t this simply awful?”
But the butter!y seemed to be enjoying it more than anyone.
“Kill!” she squeaked delightedly. “Kill! Kill! Kill!
Muah, hah, hah! Give it to them! Like that! Hi-ya!”
“Oh goodness . . .” Dorabella sighed.
The hero spotted Lumpy and his friends and used its whip to swing down to save them. Stomper saw it coming and tried to stomp them #rst but wasn’t fast enough. Before his foot came down, the mysterious creature managed to swoop under it and scoop them up. A very close call! It made everyone wonder even more about what kind of creature was under that hood.
“Wow! Look at him go!” Sebastian marvelled. “Did you see that long thing he swung with? What is that? It can’t be a tail! It came from his hand! Do you think he’s a spider?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” replied Edward, sounding like a know-it-all. “He’s obviously some sort of !ying pig.”
Dorabella was more concerned about how they kept referring to it as a boy.
“Hey! Why do you keep saying ‘he’? It could be a girl you know . . .”
“Hah! A girl!” Sebastian gawked. “Don’t make me laugh! Now, quiet! I’m trying to watch!”
The mysterious creature couldn’t be caught no matter how many apes chased after it. Even when Old Black Beard sent his personal bodyguards, it always seemed to slip through their #ngers.
“Ooh! Ahh! Ooh Ahh! More apes! More apes! Ooh Ahh! Ooh Ahh! What are you waiting for? Ooh Ahh! Ooh 25
Ahh! Ooh Ahh! Hey, you!” he yelled at one next to him.
“What are you doing?” He grabbed him by the ear. “Don’t just stand there! Get him! Get him!”
Soon there were apes everywhere. The mysterious creature was surrounded. Old Black Beard was sure that would be enough. But it wasn’t! The creature was still too fast for them. Every time they’d try to grab or tackle it, it would duck, dodge, roll under or jump over them. One of the apes even swore he saw it jump on top of an ape’s head while in midair, using it like a stepping stone!
“I can’t catch it! It’s too quick!” yelled one ape.
“Hurry! Someone grab its tail!” yelled another.
“It doesn’t have one! It doesn’t have one! That’s what I keep trying to tell you! Try something else!”
And do you remember the rumor about how the creature could weave spider webs? Well, those turned out to be nets it threw at its enemies. Sometimes it would throw them at apes who were jumping towards it and catch them that way. Other times, it would throw them down at an open space and use them like a trampoline to jump higher.
The only one who could keep up with him was Stomper.
With his big legs, he could leap up to the same branch without the aid of any rope.
“One . . . two . . . three!” he counted. When he landed, the whole tree shook.
“Ho! Ho! Ho! . . . Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!” he grunted, walking slowly towards his victims. The branch was getting wet with his drool. The mysterious creature nearly slipped. It reached behind itself and pulled out a whip, lashing Stomper. But the giant just laughed. It reached again, this time pulling out a boomerang. But it just bounced o# him.
“Ho! Ho! Ho! HO! HO! HO! Come on, Phantom Ape, and $ght! Stomper not scared of you! HO! . . .
HO! . . . HO! . . .”
He started walking closer, shaking the branch with 26
every step, making it di!cult to balance. It was out of nets.
Even worse, there was nowhere nearby to jump to.
“Blast!” said Sebastian getting worried. “Look at him, he’s trapped! We’ve got to do something! We’ve got to help! Or he’ll be stomped for sure!”
Sebastian didn’t care that he was little. While everyone else was busy just watching, he wanted to get involved and do something. So, he looked around and thought of an idea.
“I know!” he said. “I’ve got it! Watch!”
And he took o# running down the branch his nest was on, $uttering and even $ying a little here and there.
“Oh, Sebastian! Do be careful!” yelled his sister, who was ready to follow now if necessary.
“What’s gotten into that chick?” said one of the older birds in the tree. “I say! Has he gone mad?”
Sebastian found a large beehive nested right above where Stomper was standing.
“Hey!” he said to them. “Say, uh . . . Ahem . . . Do you guys mind if I—”
But the bees had already been thinking the same thing.
“Yezzz! DoOoOo it!” they all buzzed together. “We beezzz are ready to defend our tree!”
The queen stepped very carefully and daintily out of the hive and onto the branch where Sebastian was.
“Go on, soldiers! Do your duty! We all remember the war the apes waged on us last time! Now it’s time for—
buzzzzz—our revenge!”
Then all of the bees yelled “For the queen!” and Sebastian pecked at the top, causing the hive to break o# and fall down . . . down . . . right onto Stomper’s head! It broke open and they all started stinging him at once. “Hazza!
Hazza! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Hazza! Take that!” It wasn’t long until the giant lost his balance and fell to the ground.
He ran away crying after that, and was never seen again.
27
“Thanks!” said the mysterious creature, looking up at Sebastian and waving. Sebastian smiled, star-struck, and waved back.
That was the end of the Black Beard Gang. As soon as they saw their strongest ape run o!, they "ed or limped away along with him. Everyone cheered.
“NoOoOo!” sobbed Old Black Beard. “Come back, you fools! Don’t leave me!”
The mysterious creature picked up it’s whip and started swinging around the tree triumphantly—"ipping through the air, waving, doing tricks and giving high $ves.
Never had the animals felt so excited.
Hoping no one would notice, Old Black Beard tried to slip away with the others. But the mysterious creature swung down just in time.
“Freeze!” it said, blocking his path. It drew its spear and thrust it to Old Black Beard’s neck, forcing him to back up to the trunk of the tree. “Don’t move! I’m warning you! Don’t try and run!”
28
Old Black Beard Surrenders
The mysterious creature had the tip of its spear pressed against Old Black Beard’s neck. Any further, and it would have pierced through the skin.
“Boo hoo!” the villain sobbed as he trembled in terror.
“Boo hoo! Ooh ahh! Ooh ahh! P-p-p-please, sir! D-d-d-don’t k-k-k-kill me! Ooh ahh!”
“Wow,” marvelled Sebastian. “Look at him. He’s like a big baby.”
Many of the animals watching almost felt sorry for Old Black Beard. Some even took pity on him, whispering that he should be let go. The mysterious creature, however, felt very di#erently.
“Now, what do you have to say for yourself, thief?
Kidnapper!”
It pressed his spear in a little more just to make sure Old Black Beard knew it was serious.
“Ah! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Oh, no! Please! I’m . . .
ugh . . . I’m sorry! Yes, I surrender! You win! Please! Let me go . . .”
“Hmm . . . just like you were going to let Lumpy and his friends go? And return the bananas you stole? Nope, you had your chance. Now you’re under arrest!”
“Arrest? Oh, no! No! How terrible! How lamentable!
Alas! Anything but that! Wait . . . what does ‘arrest’
mean?”
“It means I’m going to take you away! You took Lumpy and his friends as prisoners. So, now you’re going to be their prisoner.”
“Oh, no! Please don’t! They hate me! Who knows what they’ll do to me? I’m a goner if you take me back!
Oh, boo hoo! Please don’t, sir!”
“Well, you should have thought of that before you kidnapped their favorite prince.”
29
“Prince?” Sebastian thought. “Lumpy was a prince? I didn’t know that.”
Lumpy jumped o! the mysterious hero’s back and onto his head. He posed nobly, like a handsome statue.
“You see?” said the mysterious creature.
“What? You’ve got to be kidding me! A little runt like him? A prince? No way! I’m the prince! Me! ME! I’m the king!”
“Not anymore you’re not,” replied the hero de"antly.
“You’re through. Your reign of terror is over.”
“What! What did you say!” For a moment, he seemed to forget there was a spear to his throat. “Me? Through?
How dare you speak to me like that! Guards! Seize him at once! You shall be whipped for your insolence! Guards!
Gua- Ah! Ghup!” But when he remembered, he covered his mouth and returned to sobbing. “Ugh, I mean . . . I’m sorry for kidnapping your charming little friends. Please don’t hurt me!”
“Sorry, but it’s too late for that. You’re coming with me. If you want to apologize to someone, you can apologize to the Brumbledumbs. Now, where are my handcu!s . . .”
The mysterious creature put away his sta!, took out a small rope and began securing it to one of the ape’s wrists.
Old Black Beard knew this would be his only chance. A sinister smile spread across his face. Slowly and secretly, he raised his other wrist, getting ready to chop with it.
“Die, Phantom Ape! Die!” he screamed. “You’ll never take me alive! Do you hear me? Now, witness my power!
Hiii-yaaaa! Agh! Oof!”
But his plan was foiled again. In the blink of an eye, the mysterious creature caught the chop in midair and punched him square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Unable to move, speak or even moan in pain, all Old Black Beard could do was collapse backwards and gaze up in fear.
30
“Wow! Look at that speed!” Sebastian cheered. “He’s so fast! I didn’t even see him move! Did you?”
“No, I didn’t . . .” marvelled Edward.
The mysterious creature crossed its arms and looked down at him.
“Nice try!” it said, playfully. “But you’ll have to do better than that if you want to beat me!”
“What was this creature?” the animals all began to wonder. Even Old Black Beard seemed curious.
“W-w-who . . .” he stuttered, gasping for air and coughing. “Who . . . are . . . you? What are you? Before you take me, I have to know.”
Hearing all the whispers, the hero got the feeling like everyone else was curious too. So, he decided to remove his hood and mask. What the animals saw next shocked them. It wasn’t a bird. It wasn’t a bat. It wasn’t a spider.
No, it wasn’t a "ying pig either, like Edward had guessed.
It was something else altogether that no animal in that wild forest had ever seen before.
31
It was a human—a human boy. He had long, shaggy brown hair, light skin and deep royal blue eyes. The animals gasped in astonishment. Especially the girls!
“Oh, goodness!” said Dorabella. “He’s so handsome!”
“Yes, I wonder if he has a girlfriend!” said another.
“I saw him "rst!” said yet another.
The boy animals all thought he looked tough and brave, like they wanted to be. The whole tree erupted with applause and cheers.
“Well, time to go,” said the boy, securing the rope to Old Black Beard’s other hand. As he dragged him along, the tree’s thorns would poke his bottom.
“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!”
Then the boy whistled and a wolf pulling a sled appeared at the bottom. He picked up the whip he’d lost earlier and slashed open the big leafy sack that held the stolen bananas. It burst like a piñata and they all fell.
Lumpy reached out and grabbed three or four, stu#ng them in his mouth. He stu$ed a few into Old Black Beard’s mouth too, so he couldn’t talk.
“You’re all ru#ans! All of you! When I get out of here, I’m going to—Oof! MmMm! MmMm! MmMmMm!”
The boy dropped into the sled with them, giving high
"ves all the way down. Then, he hopped up to the front to help pull.
“Bye, everyone!” he called. “See you next time!”
“Bye!” the crowd roared back. “THANK YOU!”
Sebastian watched him disappear over the horizon.
“Now do you believe, Edward?” he teased, crossing his wings triumphantly. His poor brother felt very silly now, reader. “Well?”
Dorabella was afraid they’d start "ghting again.
But instead, the two birds just laughed. Dorabella laughed too. The three of them held wings and jumped up and down together, "nally feeling like a happy family again.
32
The Journey Home
That’s what happened at the Life Tree that day, reader!
Old Black Beard was arrested. His gang was no more.
News continued to spread about the mysterious warrior who protected and rescued the weak. Finally, the forest in the great valley was at peace.
But little did everyone know, this was only just the beginning. There was another villain, even more powerful than Old Black Beard, who lived far over the mountains.
He planned on invading and destroying the forest—and eventually taking over the whole world: a villain known as the Dragon King.
This story is about that Dragon King, reader, and the adventure that two young heroes—a boy and a girl—went on to stop him.
It would be the "rst of many adventures they would go on to save the world. Each more exciting and magical than the last! The book you are now holding is but one of many in a vast library that chronicles them.
But of all the adventures in the collection, reader, this
"rst one about the Dragon King is by far the most important—because this is the one that shows how it all got started. Who were our hero and heroine? Where did they come from? How did they meet and become friends? As you’ll soon see, the adventures came very close to never happening at all.
In fact, if even one little thing you are about to read hadn’t occurred, not only would our two heroes never have met, but the young forest boy here wouldn’t even have left the great valley! In the beginning of our story, he was perfectly happy in the wild. He didn’t even know there was an “outside the valley.”
But something happened that day after the battle at the Life Tree, reader. Something that changed our hero 33
forever and set him upon a new path of exploration over the horizon.
I will begin, !rst, by telling you this story. Then, in the next volume, I will tell you the tale of our heroine and how she got involved in all these adventures too.
It all started at precisely the moment our hero was coming around a bend after the battle. As you remember, he had just !nished saving Lumpy and his friends, seizing back the stolen fruit and capturing grumpy Old Black Beard, former boss of the Black Beard Gang. He was pulling them all through the grass on a sled, accompanied by a great grey wolf. Lumpy was fast asleep with his belly full. Old Black Beard still had a banana tied into his mouth.
They came to a meadow with a stream of crystal-clear water running through it. Suddenly, the glimmer of the sun’s re"ection o# it caught the boy’s eye, and he couldn’t help but decide it was a good place to rest. They pulled in and let go of the reigns, exhausted. Then they ran over to have a drink.
It was very funny to see. He dropped down on all fours and started licking it up, in exactly the same manner the wolf did. He even dunked his head in and started shaking himself dry like a wolf. If he’d been covered in fur, you might not even think he was a boy at all.
The reason for all of this very odd behavior was, of course, because our hero was raised by a wolf—the same one he was with now. She found him as an abandoned baby nine years ago and brought him up just like a cub.
They were very di#erent, but had been best friends ever since.
After they drank their !ll and cooled o#, they fell backward onto the grass to relax in the light. It was our hero’s favorite thing to do. He cupped his hand over his eyes and looked up at the sun, thinking all sorts of funny thoughts about it.
34
I wonder what it’s made of ? How did it get there?
Where does it go?
Our hero loved wondering. If he had the time, he might have done so all day. His wolf friend, however, felt very di!erently.
“Hey!” she said to him, whacking him over the head with her paw. “Stop it!”
It was what she always did when she saw the boy thinking, and this might have been the biggest di!erence between them.
“Ouch! Hey! What was that for? Stop what?”
“That! Thinking! You know I don’t like it when you do that.”
The wolf’s name was Ava. And ever since he was a toddler, she discouraged thinking as much as she could.
“Always remember, if you think, you hesitate. And if you hesitate, you’re dead. It’s why that one big ape almost beat you. You hesitated. You should have charged in.
That’s the last thing he’d expect.”
“Oh . . . sorry,” replied the boy.
Ava had taught him everything she knew about #ghting. It was all she seemed to care about. “Thinking,” she would always say, “is for fools—for if you have to think, it means you don’t know.” She felt the same way about any kind of fun or playing. All a big waste of time. She wasn’t a very nice wolf at all.
“And all that showboating! You know I don’t like that either. You lost focus! There could have still been someone around to attack you. Get in and get out. No funny business. Hey! Are you listening to me?”
The sun had caught the boy’s attention again. He was very forgetful of her rules.
“Hmm . . .” he sighed as he started wondering again.
“Hmm . . .”
“Oh, great. Here we go again . . .”
“I wonder where it goes . . . What do you think, Ava?”
35
He looked over at her, but she wasn’t interested. The only thing she ever liked to talk about was war.
“Where does the sun go? What a silly question!”
“Aw, come on. I don’t think it is. I’m curious!”
“Curiosity killed the cat. I know—because I’m the one who eats cats! Or at least I used to, back in the old days when you were more fun.”
“I bet it’s somewhere warm,” the boy continued, growing even more curious. “Being warm itself, that’s probably where it would want to be. Maybe there is a place where it’s always warm, somewhere where food and
"owers grow all year long, where there’s no snow—except maybe on mountains—and no winter. Ah,” he sighed. “No winter. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
The boy rolled over and looked at his friend, hoping to get her opinion. But instead, she just rolled her eyes.
“Hmph. Whatever. Fool . . .” She then sat up and headed back to the sled. “No, it’s silly—the whole thing!
Now, come on. Let’s get going.”
“Wait, do we have to? Just a little longer . . .”
He was so comfortable lying there under the sun. But he knew Ava didn’t care. He could almost feel her eyes on him, glaring.
“Alright,” he said. “I’m coming . . . I’m coming . . .”
Our two heroes hopped back up to the front of the sled and pulled it the rest of the way to Lumpy’s ape village. They crossed over great and vast $elds of "owers, around long winding cli%s on the sides of mountains, and took secret passages and short cuts that led through underground ice caves or behind waterfalls—the same waterfalls with rainbows over them that young Sebastian would see in the distance and dream about. Before long, they found themselves in a lush wood with soft grass and black soil. It was no wonder the Brumbledumbs chose to build their home here. There were many berries and fruit you could pick right o% the ground all summer long. As they ap-36
proached, they were greeted with even more cheering than when they had left the Life Tree that morning.
“Look, he’s back!”
“There’s Lumpy! He saved them!”
“I knew he would!”
“And there’s Old Black Beard, all tied up! He got him!”
“And our bananas! Hurray!”
All of the little girl apes then rushed up into the trees to shower them with white !ower petals, making it look like it was snowing. The young males all ran to try and get a glimpse of the hero up-close.
“Get out of my way!”
“Ouch! Quit pushing me! I was here "rst!”
When the sled "nally stopped, it was immediately surrounded by a crowd full of curiosity, questions and excitement.
“Oh, hey everyone!” said the boy pulling up. He was so used to this sort of welcome by now that he hardly noticed anymore. “Umm, how are you all doing?”
“Hey! Is that your stinger?” asked one of the little apes.“No, it’s just a stick, see? I call it a spear.”
“Can I see it?”
“Sure, but you have to be careful. It’s sharp.”
“Can you really !y?”
“Nope. It just looks like it sometimes. I’ve got this whip, you see? I can swing with it. And I can make trampolines. Sometimes I can glide too. But my last glider broke. I’ve got to make a new one.”
“Ooh!” they all sighed delightedly.
“Hey! Where’s your tail?”
“Don’t have one.”
“Where did it go?”
“I don’t know—must have fallen o% or something.”
“Can you really go invisible?”
37
The boy enjoyed talking to other animals and answering questions, even if he didn’t always have the answer. But Ava hated it.
“Hey everyone! Look! It’s Ava! She’s a hero too!”
“What? No, I’m not. Leave me alone. Hey, get o# me!”
Many of the apes surrounded her and started trying to put $owers into her fur, or kissing her on her cheek. She hated every minute of it.
“Ugh—yuck! Gross!”
But it was a part of the job, and she knew it.
“Pugh! Apes . . .” she muttered.
The crowd’s attention was then drawn to a deep and somewhat funny voice coming from behind it.
“Out’f my way! Out’f my way! Ooh ooh!”
The boy recognized it—Lumpy’s father!
“Ooh ooh! Grr! Where is he!? Where is he!?” he growled. “Where is Lumpy!?”
He pushed and shoved his way through the crowd, often picking apelings up and tossing them over his shoulder—though, that was quite a normal thing for apes to do, even when they weren’t upset. Any apeling he tossed would end up landing safely on a branch above.
“Where is he!? Where is he!? Do you know where he is? No? Hi-ya! What about you? Or you! Hiya! Hiya!
Where is that little fur ball!” He pushed through, all the way to where Lumpy was sleeping. “Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!
When I %nd him, I’m going to wring his little . . .”
But when his father saw him wake up, yawn and stretch his tiny little arms, he remembered how much he loved him and began to shed tears of joy instead.
“Aww, come’ere son,” he sighed. “Come’ere! Give your father a hug! Oh! Boo hoo! We missed you! I’m sorry for yellin’.”
38 And Lumpy jumped into his arms. The other two
And Lumpy jumped into his arms. The other two little apes found their families as well.
“You’re safe! Look at you!” said all the mothers and fathers. “You’re alright! Thank you!” they cried turning to our hero. “Thank you so much!”
It put the biggest smile on our hero’s face and the deepest joy in his heart to see them all together where they belonged.
“You’re welcome! Anytime!”
But soon the crowd started to grow so big that the boy, Ava and the sled looked like they were getting swallowed up by them. It was getting out of control. So, Lumpy’s father had to break it up.
“Alright, that’s enough! The show’s over! Break it up!
Leave’m alone! He needs to relax! Go on! Scram!”
The apelings listened and started running o# together to play. Ava shook out all the $owers they put in her hair and stuck around the sled to keep an eye on Old Black Beard, who was still tied up.
“What are you going to do with him?” she asked.
“Who? Him? Oh, most severe punishment indeed!
Seven days of corporal cuddlin’!”
“MmMmMm!” Old Black Beard shrieked.
“Take him away, fellas!
“MmMmMmMm!”
“Now,” he continued, putting his arm around the boy.
“We’d better get you indoors before anyone else sees ya’.
Especially the young ladies round ‘ere. You remember last time! Hmm, I know—you can come to my house! Yes!
Come this way! There is something I want to show you!”
39
Lumpy’s Family
Lumpy’s father led the boy to their little home under a tree. It was very warm and cozy. There were soft places to sit and beds anyone could hop up and nap in. Roots from the tree came down through the roof for the little children apes to play or hang on.
Lumpy had many brothers and sisters who ran up to the boy and greeted him with hugs and big monkey kisses on his cheek. They took him by the hand and led him over to their mother, who was resting on a little bed. She was cradling something that everyone seemed excited about.
Our hero wondered what it was.
Lumpy’s father then went over and scooped it up, letting out a great sigh of joy, and brought it over.
“Ah, look! Look! Here he is! My new son! Here!
Hold’m! Take a look for yourself!”
The boy very reluctantly put his arms out. He had never actually held an ape baby before. He would have asked about the right way of doing it, but it was already too late. The father extended his arms and dropped the child. The boy caught him just in time. The baby had big round brown eyes and short fuzzy hair. He had the cutest, tiniest little ears, a little nose and an adorable expression of curiosity as he tried to work out why his mother’s face had suddenly changed.
“Goo gah! Goo gah!” He babbled.
“Ah, you hear that!” said the father. “He almost has his ‘ooh ahh’ down. Must o’ been practice’n! Good job, kiddo!”
Our hero’s eyes lit up and he smiled delightedly.
What a charming little creature! He had always loved looking at babies, but rarely ever got the opportunity. Animals in the wild tended to be very careful about that.
40
They wouldn’t let you anywhere near them unless they trusted you.
“Oh, wow!” said our hero. “Look! He’s so small . . .”
“Hmm? Small? Oh, yes! Very small. But quick and sneaky! Even at that age, if you don’t keep an eye on ‘em!”
answered the father. “Especially Lumpy! He was always run’n and leap’n and crawl’n o"! He ran out of our whole village once! Had to wrestle a great snake to save him.”
“Really?” asked the boy. “You fought a snake?”
“Oh, yes! I had to. And gave him a good walloping, too! He never knew what hit him!”
“Oh, please,” interrupted Lumpy’s mother then, with a sigh. “That snake had you so tied up, you couldn’t move.
It was me who pulled you out, remember?”
“Alright!” muttered the father. “Anyways, it’s not important how I did it—ahem, I mean how we did it. The point is that he got away and we got him home safe again!”
“But you could have died,” said the boy concerned.
“Snakes that size eat apes.”
It was one thing for our hero to fight a beast like that.
He had weapons and training—not to mention, a fully grown wolf at his side. But one of the Brumbledumb apes?
It was true that they were strong, but they weren’t warriors.
“Yes, yes! I suppose I could have,” answered the father. “But there are more important things than not dying.”
Lumpy’s mother nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, I guess so,” said our hero.
“Oh, that reminds me! It’s why I brought you here.
You know how you’re always helping us? Well, I’ve decided to name this one after you, in your honor! Er, the two of us, I mean.” He glanced at his wife. “The one you’re hold’n! What do ya’ say?”
The boy stood frozen and surprised. No one had ever asked him such a question before. He thought about it and 41
then looked down to see if maybe the little one had an opinion.
“What do you think, baby?”
The apeling didn’t seem very enthusiastic. Neither did he seem very happy being held by him. What had happened to his mother? Who was this imposter? The baby started to squirm and tear up. Our hero saw this and quickly returned him.
“Oh! Sorry! Here you go . . .”
“The Invisible Hand!” yelled out the father. “That will be his name! Handy, for short!”
“Andy,” said the mother correcting him.
“Ugh . . . ahem . . . alright . . . Andy then!”
No one actually knew what our hero’s real name was yet, reader. Like the “Phantom Ape,” the “Invisible Hand” was merely a nickname. Not even our hero knew his real name. He hadn’t come with one when Ava had found him as a baby. Nor had he answered to any name, except with crying. So, for a long time Ava just called him
“cry baby” and other things she’d make up as she raised him. Then, as he grew and "nally emerged, crawling from their cave, other animals saw and joined in. He didn’t always like or understand the names he was called. The “Invisible Hand” was particularly peculiar. But he did always
"nd them interesting.
“Yes, yes! Andy!” the father continued, feeling very proud of his decision.
“Sure!” said the boy.
“Who knows, maybe when he grows up, he will have your strength!”
“Yeah, maybe!”
“Which reminds me . . .” The father seemed to need a lot of reminding. “Why don’t you have any little ones yet?”“Hmm? What do you mean?” the boy answered.
42 “You know—babies! Kids! Why, when I was your age,
“You know—babies! Kids! Why, when I was your age, I already had three!”
“Oh . . . I don’t know . . .”
The father then shu"ed over and began whispering to him up close. Maybe even a little too close.
“Um... It’s not because of your, uh... little problem, isit?”
He glanced down at the boy’s body and looked concerned. The boy looked too. But he didn’t see anything.
“What problem?” he asked curiously.
“Well . . . you know . . .” said the father, trying to be as polite as possible—and not at all awkward. “Well . . . I mean . . . well, look at you! Look! Your body! You’re all skin! No hair anywhere! Except on your head!” As the father spoke, he pinched the boy on his arm, which made him jump a bit. “It gets so cold at night. I don’t know how you sleep, being like that!”
“Oh, I see . . .”
It was something the boy sometimes wondered about as well.
“Anyways,” the father continued, clearing his throat.
“Ahem . . . I want you to know that it’s not a problem anymore. My sister has had’r eye on you for quite some time!
And I’ve spoken to’r! And she’s said she’d be will’n to be patient of it! Come!” said the father, taking the boy by the arm. “Come! Come and see for yourself . . .”
He led him to a window. Our hero was feeling even more confused.
“Huh? What? Who? Where?”
“Shh! Look! Over there!”
He pointed outside. The boy squinted and cupped his hand over his eyes to see better.
“Look! He! He! Do you see now?”
There was a girl ape out there. An enormous one! Tall and round! And she was looking right back at him!
“He! He! Well, what do you think?”
Our hero didn’t understand what he was asking until 43
he saw the ape girl start batting her eyelashes, giggling and waving at him—making kissy faces!
“Agh!” the boy yelled, horri!ed.
“Well?” said the father, rubbing his hands together, getting very excited. “Well, come on! Tell me! What do you think? Pretty, ain’t she? Just look at that beard! And those whiskers! And that hairy chest! Enough to keep you both warm, if you follow my mean’n . . . He! He! He!”
“Agh!” shrieked the boy again. He tumbled back this time and tripped over a root. He fell all the way back onto his head.
“Uhhh . . . uhhh . . . ummm . . .” he squeaked as he tried to scramble back to his feet. “Uhhh . . . ummm . . .
no . . . no . . . no, thank you . . .”
Lumpy’s father felt very puzzled and surprised.
“What! Really? Are you sure?”
“Yes! Yes!”
“She’ll be disappointed, you know . . .”
The boy had to catch his breath.
“That’s . . . that’s okay . . .”
“Well, alright then—if you say so.”
The father went back to the window and gave the girl ape a thumbs down. She was very disappointed indeed and ran o# somewhere to cry.
“You will at least stay for dinner, though, won’t you?”
Now that was something the boy was interested in.
He clamped his palms together and licked his lips. He was just about to say “yes” when suddenly an ominous voice from behind them spoke:
“Not tonight.”
The boy, the father and the whole ape family spun around, where in the corner they saw Ava. None of them knew how long she’d been sitting there listening.
“Woah!” said the ape father. “Ava, what are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack? Sneaky monkey! Well, you’re welcome to stay too, of course!”
44
“No, thanks,” she replied coldly. “Come on, kid. We’re leaving. Now.”
She looked up and directed everyone’s attention to a window in the ceiling where dark clouds could be seen forming. It was the last day of fall and she didn’t like getting back to the cave before it was too late.
“Ho! Ho! Wow! Would you look at that! Ava is right!
Yes, it looks like a winter storm will be roll’n in soon. You two best be getting home quick! Unless you want to move in with us for the winter. We got room!”
Ava turned around without even caring to answer and started walking out. But the boy didn’t want to go yet. He had worked so hard that day and wanted to rest and be with his friends, not go back to the cave. He hated winter
—more than anything. The winters were particularly harsh in this forest, reader. Everything would freeze. It was almost impossible to "nd any food. All he could do was gather as much of it as possible and do his best to keep it fresh before it spoiled—or try to eat as much as he could beforehand. That’s why he had a much bigger belly right now than usual. A cold shiver went down his spine as he thought about going back.
“We can stay just a little longer, can’t we?” he asked quietly with his stomach rumbling.
Ava stalled in the doorway. “No,” she answered. Then she was gone.
45
