Alley Oops!
Instead of helping Jolly Solly, the monkey kept running to a corner of the stage and making growling noises
There was a crowd outside Tully’s Toyshop. Tully had gotten in beautiful stuffed animals. To celebrate, he’d invited Jolly Solly to perform outside the store. Many people were now waiting for the show to begin.
There was the sound of trumpets. Then, a big grin on his face, the clown appeared. He flipped onto a little platform. Right behind him was Manny the monkey. Manny tried to copy him but ended up rolling on the floor. The look on his face made everyone laugh.
Tully handed a box of stuffed animal toys to Jolly Solly. The clown started juggling with them. He threw them into the air, one by one, without dropping any. Everybody clapped. Then the clown snapped his fingers. The stuffed animals were gone! He snapped his fingers again. There they were, back in the box. Tully held it up to show everyone! Gasps rose from the crowd.
“What a great trick!” said Moishy Morris. He was near the front with his little sister, Miriam.
“How did he do that?” asked Miriam. “Is it magic?”
Chavi Morris smiled at her sister. “No, it just looks like it.”
Moishy was waiting to see what the clown would do next. Suddenly he saw something odd.
“Hey, look at Manny!” he said. “He’s acting funny.”
Manny was indeed acting funny. Instead of helping Jolly Solly, he kept running to a corner of the stage and making growling noises. The clown called to him, but Manny paid no attention.
Eli, standing nearby, stepped forward.
“Manny! Come here!” he said firmly.
In response, Manny ran off the stage. He ran into an alley next to Tully’s Toyshop. Eli and Jolly Solly chased after him. What a shock they got. A man hiding in the alley! The man tried to escape. But he tripped over Manny’s tail and fell. It was Mr. Ingleton, the environmental inspector. He and Manny were old enemies. The inspector kept trying to get Eli’s animal center closed.
A paper fell from his pocket. On it was written, in big letters:
“REPORT BY INSPECTOR INGLETON: BREACH OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS AT TULLY’S TOYSHOP.”
“I’ll deal with this,” said Eli to Jolly Solly. “You go back to your show. The audience is waiting.”
Only after the show was over did the full story came out. Tully invited Eli and Jolly Solly (and Manny) to his shop to hear it.
What a tale Eli had to tell! It seemed Mr. Ingleton had heard about the show. Since Tully was a friend of Eli’s, he decided to get some revenge against Eli. He would pretend that the stuffed animal toys in Tully’s window upset real animals. This would hopefully get Tully in trouble. Maybe even get his shop closed down!
Of course, the whole thing was baloney. Eli said he would report him to the mayor. The Inspector admitted that “maybe he’d made a mistake.”
Jolly Solly grinned at Manny.
“It’s all thanks to you,” he said. He pulled a banana out of his sleeve and peeled it. Manny gulped it down.
Tully shook a finger at the monkey: “Even if you do drive everybody bananas sometimes!”
(Originally featured in Mishpacha Jr., Issue 946)
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