Jolly Solly: Monkey on the Loose
| July 26, 2017
E li the animal trainer was in his van on the way to visit his good friend Jolly Solly. With him in the specially adapted vehicle were Gimpel the Goat and Manny the Monkey. Manny was in a cage.
As Eli was unloading the animals from the van Fishel and Faivish passed by. They stopped and stared excitedly.
Gimpel was prancing around merrily while the monkey grinned and waved at everyone who went past.
Eli led Gimpel inside first leaving the monkey in his cage on the sidewalk.
“Why does he need to be in a cage?” Fishel wondered aloud.
“Yeah bet he’d much rather be free ” declared Faivish.
Hearing this the monkey immediately switched his happy grin to a somber expression and hung his head mournfully.
“Aw. Poor thing ” murmured Fishel.
“Mm hmm ” said Faivish agreeing with his brother for a change.
The monkey gave an obliging groan.
“I have an idea ” whispered Fishel looking around to make sure Eli wasn’t back out yet.
“What?”
“You know how we’ve been learning about doing extra acts of kindness and being nice to each other before Tishah B’Av? Well I think it would be a big act of kindness to let the monkey out of the cage” he said piously.
“Hmm” responded Faivish doubtfully. “I think the principal was talking about kindness to friends and stuff. He didn’t say anything about monkeys.”
Fishel decided this was no time to engage in a long debate. If they waited too long Eli would return and then he might squash the idea flat. Adults were funny in that way. Quick as a wink he prepared to take action. There was a bit of a scuffle as to who would actually release the monkey but in the end they both unlatched the cage together. The monkey leaped out without hesitation — and promptly ran off!
This made Fishel and Faivish slightly nervous. They began to wonder how Eli would react when he found his monkey had vanished. In the end they decided the safest option was simply to run away and leave Eli to deal with the situation as best he could.
They had barely arrived home breathless and anxious when they heard Mr. Krankowitz yelling outside.
“Someone’s taken my hat! What a nerve! I left it on the garden wall while I went to get my pruning shears — and now it’s gone!”
The troublesome brothers looked at each other nervously. Could this be something to do with the escaped monkey? Was the mischievous creature up to its tricks again? They decided it was safest not to say anything at all.
The old man was still ranting loudly when another small distressed voice made itself heard.
“My scooter! A big dog is riding it!” (Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr. Issue 670)
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