Hundly Goes Missing

Curious George and the man in the yellow hat took the elevator to the lobby. The bright Spring sunshine shone through the revolving door, and George was ready for adventure!

The doorman was normally cheerful, and quick to give George a wave. But today he was busy with a bundle of papers. He took one and taped it to the window by the front door. As the man in the yellow hat stopped to talk to the doorman, George took the opportunity to slip through the revolving door and look at the paper the doorman posted.

There were letters on it in a particular order: L-O-S-T D-O-G, but George couldn't read, so he ignored them. Instead, he focused on the picture of his buddy Hundly. The doorman had made a poster in honor of his fabulous dog! George was elated, and did a backflip to show it.

The man in the yellow hat patted the doorman on the shoulder, then he and George got into the car.

"Hundly is missing, and the doorman is very sad," the man in the yellow hat told George, but George was already looking for the hot dog man.

They drove until the tall buildings of the city were replaced by trees full of green buds.

George sneezed.

The car stopped in front of a small house with writing on the window, which George couldn't read.

The man in the yellow hat sat George on the hood and said, "All right, George. Remember what we talked about last night?"

George did not remember. He wondered if it was nearly lunchtime.

"I must go inside, and I know they don't allow monkeys inside. Okay?"

George mad a sad face.

The man in the yellow hat pointed to a lovely Elm in the side yard, "Why don't you climb that tree while I'm inside, George? You will have fun and I will be right out to join you. Okay?"

Oooh, a tree! George ran off to find adventure in those tippety-top branches!

George swung from limb to limb, until he saw a funny-looking vehicle in the next yard, over the fence. Could it be the hot dog man? George swung over the fence to see.

There was a man, but he was not the hot dog man. He wore boots with no laces, and a long trench coat which hung past his knees, even though the day was warm. And he smelled of vinegar.

The man in the yellow hat read books to George every night before tucking the little monkey into bed. George's favorite story was Peter Pan, with Wendy, the boys, and of course those naughty pirates!

George thought this man in the trench coat MUST be a pirate, because he was missing an eye. But instead of a pirate patch, this man had a telescope lens for an eye! George had never seen that before, but thought that must be pretty exciting to have a telescope lens for an eye.

There was a lot of noise coming from the man's car, a sort of van.

George hoped the man with the telescope lens for an eye sold ice cream cones, but he did not.

"What do we have here? Come here, little monkey."

Of course George went to the man with the telescope lens for an eye. It would be rude not to.

The man scooped up George and tossed him into the van. There were lots of dogs inside, and their barking made George cover his ears. Noisy dogs!

But soon, the man with the telescope lens for an eye took him from the van to a shack with no lightbulbs, attached to a big building which smelled of sawdust. At first, George was pleased, but soon the tiny shack was filled with barking dogs, and George frowned.

George ignored the dogs and looked around the shack, which was pretty sparse. There was a three-legged table, a refrigerator that sounded like a chainsaw, and a broken television in the corner. George sighed. This place didn't seem like much fun at all.

Among the barking was one George recognized. He looked down and saw his friend Hundly! George hopped to the floor and gave Hundly the biggest hug.

Eventually the sunset peeked through the windows.

The man with the telescope lens for an eye sat at the three-legged table and began writing out notes, chuckling to himself about ransom demands... whatever that was. George was thinking of churros.

George wanted to be with his friend, the man in the yellow hat. He scampered away from the seated vinegar man and climbed onto a large conveyor belt that smelled of wood. At the far end was a circular saw bigger than George!

The man in the yellow hat had taught George that saws were dangerous, and George felt a little nervous around them. He accidentally backed into a lever, and suddenly the saws came to life. It was louder even than the barking dogs! George covered his ears.

Just then, the man in the yellow hat came in with a gray dog on a leash, sniffing for George's scent. It was George's buddy, Charkie!

The man with the telescope lens for an eye said a loud word George didn't catch, and climbed to a second-story window.

In his hurry, the man with the telescope lens for an eye lost his balance and fell.

The man in the yellow hat yelled, "NO!" and the man with the telescope lens for an eye fell onto the conveyor belt with a THUMP!
George couldn't see over the top of the wooden guard rail, but the saws suddenly made a grinding noise, and the man in the yellow hat was covered in red.

George had never seen anything so funny, and rolled on the ground with laughter as the man in the yellow hat just stood there.

George thought it would be funny if his friend changed his name to the man in a RED hat!

Silly monkey!