Bakun250794 *^__^* Story by Bertie.

Bakun250794 *^__^*

Story by Bertie.
Read by Richard.
Proofread by Jana Elizabeth.
Listen out for Richard’s big news at the end of the story.
The three monkeys were not cops. That much was obvious. They weren’t wearing uniforms, but that did not prove anything as they could have been working undercover. Both Neet and Sifu could see by the way that Theo was talking to them that they were friends. Yes he was clearly angry with them for turning up uninvited, but it was more like a family dispute than all- out war. All doubt disappeared when one of the new-comers started to pick nits out of Theo’s hair, a sure sign of monkey-affection. Theo appeared to calm down and accept the situation.
It seemed unlikely that there would be any more kung fu that evening. Sifu called the lesson to an end.
There was no way that Sifu and Neet could find out how or why the three monkeys had arrived at the lesson. They would have needed the power of monkey-speech to understand that. The two humans left the village hall together. When they were on the street, Sifu said to Neet:
“I am starting to doubt my instincts.”
“What do you mean, Sifu?’ asked Neet – who was himself wondering how his teacher would react to the new situation.
“The story that we are asked to believe is this: A lone monkey is fighting for justice. Many people in the city and some of the editors of the newspapers see this as the true story. They hint the authorities are painting him as a bad monkey because he knows their darkest secrets. Meanwhile a gang of criminal monkeys is attacking people in the streets. I too have been prepared to believe this story. But now it turns out he is not a lone monkey. He has three friends.”
“Why is that bad Sifu?” asked Neet. But as the words left his lips, he realised the answer. Sifu merely confirmed it when he said:
“Because Neet, one monkey is a loner, but four monkeys looks like a gang.”
As it happened, Theo was as anxious as anyone to know how the three monkeys had found him. If friends could find him, so could foes. He knew them of course, from his time at the zoo. They were three girls whose names were Ziglinda, Hyacinth, and Fleur. He only heard their full story when they reached the high branches of his oak tree in the woods.
Mr Grabber had taken them to see the Police Cadets do their stuff at the big ceremony in the garden of the Mayor’s house. When Theo appeared and started making trouble, the girls slipped out of their handcuffs and joined in the fight on Theo’s side. They followed Theo as he escaped over the roof tops, and they saw him jump onto the roof of a train just as it was leaving the station. The train on the next platform left shortly afterwards, and that was the one that they caught. But of course they did not understand that it was running on a different line to a different destination. It rattled and shook its way through suburbia. And although they saw some inviting gardens, some with tempting apple trees, they did not pass through any place where a monkey could hide out for long.