How the Adventure Began
by George Dangles
Let me introduce myself. I’m George, George Dangles. Well, I’m hangin’ around in the jungle of Hawaii, doing my stuff. You know … jumping, swinging, things like that. So I was doing that and I kind of wanted some adventure. I wandered for miles, sometimes climbing or swinging, sometimes walking. I did that until I saw a big thing that was going super fast. And then I saw more and more, and then millions and billions and then – okay, okay, you get the idea. I was watching the big things that went super fast until I couldn’t resist being a monkey that was always curious. I just had to – well, okay, let’s say it the easier way – I had to go on to it because I was curious. All of a sudden, somebody pointed at me (or was it the thing??) and said: “Look at that car! It looks so cool!” So now I’m going to call the things cars and now I know he was pointing at the car, not me! The car went for a long time until we came to a big place (I think it was called an airport) and people came out of the car. I followed the people to a big room where a person came up and gave them a piece of paper called a ticket. The person went into a cave. Well, a little room called an office. My ear drums almost burst when a very loud voice from the ceiling said: “Hawaiian Airlines is now ready for boarding.” For a while I followed the people to a long hall into a plane and then I waited 6 billion years! (Well, maybe just 8 hours, but it sure felt like that!) Finally, we came to another airport and we drove in a car again to a home, but I didn’t want the adventure to end there!
I walked and walked until I was getting pretty hungry. Boy, was I in luck! I was just walking past Tim Hortons! As I walked up to Tim Hortons, I saw a sign that read: “Help the enviroment – do not litter.” Can nobody read?! I saw garbage all over! As I walked in, I saw a monkey’s most favorite food: blueberry muffins! I walked further and then further and I managed to get two! I can’t believe nobody saw me! After I stuffed my mouth full of blueberry muffins, I walked as far as my little paws could take me. I came to a big place with a big sign that said: “Welcome to the Greater Vancouver Zoo”. Didn’t seem very exciting. But I saw lots of cars! I climbed up on top of one of the cars and somebody opened the door and went in. We drove for a long time until we came to a place called ‘Chapters’. It was a bookstore. I walked further in and I saw MORE MONKEYS! I climbed up to the shelf where the monkeys were and tried to get them to come explore with me, but they did not budge. I figured they were asleep. I ran across the shelf pinching them … they still did not budge! But by the feel of them I could tell they were stuffed! No monkey in them. Well, except they looked like monkeys!
I waited with the fake monkeys until December. I first set foot in the store in November, and now it was December! How I survived without food is probably your question. Well, there is a Starbucks coffee shop in Chapters, so every day I just snuck my share before it opened. I waited for that very long time until somebody came and took me off the shelf. I waited some more until I fell asleep, woke up, found myself in a stocking. The next morning a little girl grabbed me out and hugged me and kissed me! And that is where the REAL adventure began …
The little girl took me everywhere. I got to go on many adventures in gardens and homes and they were so exciting that I just have to tell you about them! We’ll start with my garden story. I call it ‘A Day in Grandma Anne’s Garden’. So, here’s how it goes …
Me and Sinead – Oops! I forgot to tell you that the little girl that I live with now is named Sinead – and Sinead’s cousin, Julian, and her sister, Kiara, liked playing with the wood bugs in Wood Bug Village, a place under a rock where wood bugs hang out. Well, we were playing with them wood bugs, when somehow we decided to play hide-and-go-seek. We played that game but before Sinead was found, we were called in for dinner. Sinead was in such a hurry that she forgot me! Her own little monkey and she forgot me! Oh, she would surely come back and find me after dinner, wouldn’t she?? No! She came out of the house and I thought, “Oh, great! Now we can get back to our game!” But no, she went to the car instead! She drove off (well, her parents did) but I was left behind! Oh well, what can you do. A monkey’s got to learn to make do with what he has! So I did. I stayed there a while until Grandma came (Sinead’s grandma). She picked me up and I stayed at her house for the night. The next morning Sinead’s dad picked me up! Oh joy! We were together again at last! I think she missed me.
That’s the end of that story. But then there was the time I got left at Sasha and Zoe’s house. But that’s another story …
