Mongoose Madness

This was written in response to a prompt to write a poem and a piece of prose relating to the following article:
http://www.wildlife-pictures-online.com/mongoose.html
The poem has also been posted: "Mongoose Among Lions" 

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“Dad, Phil crashed his bike and wants mine”

Phil’s day just seemed to be going from bad to worse – this morning his family had forgotten his birthday so he hadn’t got the new bike he was hoping for. Now he’d written off his bike before he’d got half way to school, and had to return home to borrow his sister’s.

“Shhhh!” he hissed, too late, as their father clumped down the stairs, his face as red as beetroot.

Phil hadn’t expected his Dad to be quite this angry, and shrank back against the door, squeaking an apology.

Then Phil suddenly leapt into the air as if suffering a violent fit, and his Dad looked on in alarm, wondering what on earth had happened to his son. As Phil tried to get his hands up the back of his shirt, he turned and his Dad saw the lump in Phil’s jumper that told him that one of the ferrets had climbed up his son’s trousers and run up inside his shirt. Phil’s Dad stepped forward and grabbed the bulge in the fabric, holding it still until Phil could catch it on the inside and extract the furry mass. As the ferret hung upside down in Phil’s hands, he could practically hear it laughing in delight at this latest form of chaos that it had discovered.

Phil could have kissed the ferret, smelly as it was, because his Dad now seemed slightly unsure of what he was doing, and stood in the middle of the hall with a slightly perplexed expression on his face. At that moment Phil’s Mum walked out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of a sloppy beige-coloured mixture.

“What’s going on out here – you’re only home for a few seconds and already there’s a commotion!”

Phil saw what was going to happen before his brain registered it, but was too slow to say, and he watched, almost in slow motion, as his Mum stepped on the tail of the fox that was sleeping under the stairs. The tail was promptly withdrawn into the darkness and she flew forwards, crashing into his Dad, and throwing the bowl straight at Phil. His Dad had stopped his Mum’s fall and as they turned to look at Phil, dripping beige goo onto the door-mat, both initially opened their mouths in shock, and then to howl with laughter.

Two of the cats appeared and began to lick the drips as they fell, and one of the monkeys appeared and ran off with the bowl. Phil’s Mum set off in hot pursuit because she didn’t want a repeat performance of the previous week’s wait at the bottom of a tree. Phil’s Dad worked at a rescued animal shelter and was forever bringing home recuperating animals to attempt to restore their trust in humans. Phil wasn’t sure that his madhouse family was the best place to do this, but for the time being he couldn’t care less.

He shouted an insult at his Dad and tried to storm past him up the stairs to his room. His Dad reached out a hand and caught him, though, spinning him sideways into the living room, where Phil’s day suddenly got a whole lot better. There in the middle of the floor was a brand-new imported Mongoose BMX bike and a whole stack of presents.

“We thought we’d keep it as a surprise for you until tonight, but it looks like you maybe need it now” said his Dad, licking sticky goo from the hand with which he had pushed Phil into the room.

“Happy Birthday, kiddo!”