Monkey Caper

They all let out a loud cheer. The car was picking up speed, Pop behind the steering wheel. Next to him, June and Angie had sqeezed in next to eachother, which left the back seats to Joey, Curt and Danny. It had been a while since the siblings had been on an excursion with their grandfather. Four pairs of shining eyes and matching bright smiles bedazzled Pop when he looked in the rearview mirror. Little Danny had his usual cap shielding his head and face, but Pop could feel his excitement from the way his little feet bounced restlessy against the back of his chair. "Are you all ready for the suprise?", he asked. Five loud yes'es was the reply. "Come on, tell us already", Danny added, wriggling in his seat. "Okay, okay," Pop laughed. "We're going to...the Zoo!"

"Yaaaaay!!" could be heard from the open car windows by any passers-by for a long strech of road.

There was very little sound coming from the same windows as the car drove back the same way late in the evening.

Pop looked at the kids in the rearview mirror with a smile on his face. Four figures slumped half-asleep in their seats, adorned with various souvenires from the zoo; June and Angie were nearly snoring next to him, Joey had his eyes closed and Curt was blinking sleepily, straw from his soda still in the crook of his mouth. The fifth, Danny, was hid under his oversized cap as usual, feet bouncing as energetically as ever against Pop's seat. Pop chuckled mildly. "Aren't you tired too, Danny?", he inquired. The bouncing feet paused for a second, before commencing with no reply. "A little bit, then, " Pop chuckled. "Don't worry kid, we're home soon".

Not long after, the car was indeed pulling into the driveway where they'd begun their journey. Pop exited the car first, and with a smile on his face went about opening doors and waking the children enough to get them moving. "Out you go Angie, out you go June...make sure to bring your bew t-shirts, okay?" Two sleepy girls made their way out of the car as Pop continued. "Out you go Curt, bring your lemur ears, okay? Wake up, Joey, we're home." Curt put his novelty ears on his head and pulled on Joey's arm as he started exiting the car.

"Last but not least," Pop said as he made his way around the car, to Danny's door. He opened it with a smile and gave Danny a pat on his cap. "Wakey, wa... Oh hey! I didn't know you got a monkey tail! It'll match Curt's ears nicely", Pop stated as he pulled playfully on the long brown tail curling out from underneath Danny.

"But mine are lemur ears", Curt protested from the other side of the car. His granfather replied with a chuckled "okay, okay Curt", as he reached out his hand to lift Danny's cap from his tousled brown head. Ready with his most grandfatherly smile, Pop looked down into a pair of huge brown eyes... and a brown, hairy face. "What?! A MONKEY!!? Danny's a..monkey?????" Pop stared with his mouth agape, and the monkey stared back, mouth equally agape. Meanwhile, the children hurried to gather around, flanking Pop while they all got a look at the new "Danny".

"It's true, June exclaimed, he's turned into a monkey!" Curt quickly hushed her. "You'll scare him", he explained. "It's not Danny", Angie offered, "Danny has hair on his head, not his whole face". "Of course it's not Danny", Joey exlaimed, lowering his volume when Curt shot him a look. "It's not Danny, we must have exchanged him for this monkey", he finished. Pop smacked his hand to his face. "Uh, oh", June chimed in sympathy. "We have to take it back, Pop", Curt suggested, his siblings nodding. "And get Danny back!", Angie shout-whispered.

Pop straightened his back, and drew a deep breath. He very gently placed the cap back on the monkey, mumbling some there-theres and tut-tuts in his calmest grandfather voice. "We'll take the monkey back", he reassured the kids, and exchange him for our Danny. "And if you're all really good, and... don't tell your parents... I'll get you all any soda, ice cream or burger you might want on the way".

Not even Curt remembered to keep his voice low as they cheered in unison.






Notes ▼

Written for the June 2023 activity "Invalid Item" 

Prompt:'Write a short story about a wild monkey caper gone seriously wrong! '

Words: 734