Shelter In Place

"Now, now," Mother Duck said. "There's Mother Monkey's signal. Quick, my ducklings."

"Oh, Mommy, can't we have just five minutes more?" the seven little ducklings begged, but Mother Duck was firm.

"The whole jungle is following it, we must, too," she told her ducklings. "King Lion hasn't announced a Shelter in Place rule for no reason, you know."

Muttering under their breath, the ducklings waddled out of the river, where they had been playing Splash With Joy. "Trust human beings to spoil our fun," they grumbled.

"The humans are ignorant, my children," Mother Duck placated them, as she cuddled them under her wings, sheltered, hidden, beneath a big bush.

Mother animals throughout the jungle were calling their young, responding to Mother Monkey's high pitched yelp. Everywhere, animals were sheltering in place -- atop a branch, under a rock, behind a tree ...

The jungle was united, and this time, the creatures in it were going to win.

On his jeep, the great Tour Guide Igo Ewhere was puzzled. He had brought a very important lot of tourists to see his jungle, and photograph the wildlife there. What did it matter, that it was a time when most mother animals had babies to look after, and didn't want to be disturbed? Who cared about animal babies, when the millionaire photographers were willing to shell out many, many dollars if he showed them the animals in their natural habitat?

But there wasn't a single animal to be seen. Not one. Not even a monkey, though he thought he had heard one solitary call. There wasn't a bird, either, not even the common ones. The jungle seemed to be empty of any fauna. The very trees seemed to whisper and mock him as he told the driver of the jeep to take them down narrower, less paved ways, in the hope of finding something these great men could photograph.

"Now look here, Igo Ewehre," the great Clicka Pitcha said, after two hours in the jeep. "Where are these animals, then? You said there would be tigresses with cubs and deer with newborn fawns. Where are they? We need to take photographs for our calendars, you know."

"Yes, yes," the other photographers joined in. "You said there would be rare bird nests and all sorts of things, were you lying, just to take our money?"

"No," Igo replied. "I promise you, gentlemen and ladies, I wasn't lying. There are, indeed, animals in this jungle. Driver, go down that path, we'll find some animals."

"That path is too narrow," the driver protested. "We won't be able to get back out if we go there."

"Nonsense. You can reverse. I tell you, there will be animals there."

The driver shrugged and drove down the narrow path. The wheels of the jeep squelched in the mud. The path grew a bit narrower, then ended in a tangle of plants. Igo stood on his seat and flashed his binoculars around. Not an animal. Not a bird. Not even an insect.

"Reverse out of here," he ordered.

"I can't," replied the driver. "Wheels are stuck in the mud. Front is caught tight in plants. We'll be here for the rest of our lives."

The photographers created an uproar. "I am Shut Er Bug, from the magazine Blankity Glare," a tall lady screeched. "I demand you show me animals and i demand you get us out of here."

Igo was sweating. He got out of the jeep and tried to push it backward, by himself. The driver got off languidly and made a halfhearted attempt to help. Finally, the famous photographers got off, one by one, and started to heave-ho.

Nothing doing. The jeep didn't budge. Shut Er Bug had a torn blouse and her hair, otherwise done so meticulously, was all over the place. The men were sweating -- a couple of them had taken their shirts off and were in vests and underwear, trying to make the vehicle move.

In his hiding place, Teenage Chimp couldn't bear it any more. "Please, Ma," he begged his mother. "Just send a message to King Lion, that's all. The humans won't notice. They don't notice leaves rustling."

When his Ma finally relented and sent the message to King Lion, the humans, just feet away, were indeed too busy with the jeep to notice. Animals send messages to each other with the help of the trees. The trees rustle leaves, and speak the language of the jungle.

"That Teenage Chimp! I ought to make him a cabinet member," King Lion laughed, when his advisers told him of Ma Chimp's message. "Yes, give him permission. One minute only, he may break Shelter in Place."

"One minute is all I need," Teenage Chimp said, gleefully, when Ma told him King Lion's reply. He was out before she could finish telling him to be careful, clutching the smartphone he had stolen from the previous jeep-load of photographers.

Teenage Chimp became the hero of the jungle. The photos and videos he had taken of the humans were quite hilarious. He had got a shot of them pushing the jeep, and a video of Igo quickly unbuttoning to you-know-what against a tree.

The humans were unaware they'd been filmed. Thanks to some help from the underground creatures, who manouvered the wheels out without the humans knowing, they did finally manage to leave the forest -- not having sighted a single animal.