CHILDREN'S BOOK: "Gorilla My Dreams"

GORRILLA MY DREAMS

                         Chauncey the Gorilla looked through the bars at all the people. He
            wondered what they were doing in those cages.

                        He yawned. Another boring day. (Illustration.)

            Most of the people just stared back at him. One little boy scratched under his arm pits and went “Woo, woo, woo.” Chauncey just looked at him. “Woo, woo, woo, yourself,” he thought. Stupid kid.  (Illustration.)

Chauncey went over to his cave and sat down. He dangled his feet in the water. Boy, what a hot day. He was sure getting tired of not having anything to do. Day after day, all he ever did was watch those stupid people behind bars. Boy, were they ever boring. All kinds of people. Little people. Big people. Old people. Fat people. Ugly people. Some cute little ones in strollers. (Illustration.)

       Boy, could he use one of those ice cones. Lime was his favorite. Suddenly, there was a loud commotion. Then screams. All of a sudden, a man dressed all in black rushed into view. He had a mask over his face. More people screamed. Chauncey yawned. Who was this jerk? (Illustration.)

             “Don’t anybody move,” the guy yelled in a deep voice. Suddenly, he grabbed a kid in red shorts and a white T-shirt that said “I’M THE ONE,”  He was a little blond kid about 5 years old. He was so startled, he just stared at his captor.  (Illustration.)

His mother, a tall blonde, screamed, “Don’t hurt him.”

Suddenly, police came on the scene. “Stay back,” the man yelled. “Stay back or the kid gets it.” (Illustration.)Boy, Chauncey  thought, this was better than TV. The guy was a better actor. He sat up and watched.

            People started backing away. The man himself backed up to the ferris wheel. He got on with the kid and motioned to the attendant to start the ferris wheel. (Illustration.)

            “What are you doing?” the kid’s mother screamed. He motioned to the attendant to stop the wheel.

            “Listen,” he was addressing the cops. “I am going to have him start this thing and run it to the top. I got the kid with me. Try anything and I throw him overboard.” (Illustration.)

Groans rolled through the crowd. The kid’s mother screamed again. “I’m not kidding,” the bad guy continued. “I want you to order a helicopter and have it lower one of those ropes to pick up me and the kid. I’ll tell the pilot where to take me. Try anything funny,” he leered, “and I drop the kid.”

            The people gasped, as they watched the ferris wheel roll to the top and stop. (Illustration.)

            Chauncey stood up and looked the situation over. Hmm, he thought. He walked over and leaped on the fence of his partition. Nobody realized that he could get out whenever he wanted. He was only about 12 feet from the ferris wheel. He leaped over to the ferris wheel and started climbing up the seats.  (Illustration.)

The bad guy’s back was to him. Nobody noticed Chauncey, as he climbed up the back of the seats, hand over hand. When he got to the top, he grabbed the bad guy in one hand and the kid in the other. Both of them screamed.  (Illustration.)

Chauncey smiled. The kid stopped screaming. He smiled back.  (Illustration.)

Chauncey looked at the bad guy. He didn’t smile at him. The guy did not stop screaming. Chauncey casually threw him over the side of the ferris wheel. (Illustration.)

Everyone screamed. The bad guy landed in a net that the police had put up. He bounced a couple of times before the police quickly apprehended him. (Ilustration.)

            Meanwhile, the tall blonde screamed. Chauncey looked down and smiled . The boy, whose name was Chad, looked down and smiled, too. He put his arms around Chauncey’s neck, while Chauncey carefully started to climb down the ferris wheel. (Illustration.)

Suddenly, he stopped and sat in one of the seats, with the boy next to him. The ferris wheel man started the ferris wheel, and it  started going around and kept going. (Illustration.)

            Everyone cheered and applauded when it went by. Chauncey smiled. Chad smiled as he sat on Chauncey’s lap.  (Illustration.)

The next time around the wheel stopped. The two got off. Everyone cheered. Chauncey was a hero. He handed the boy to his mother.  (Illustration.)

Then Chauncey walked back to his pen, climbed over the fence and sat down next to his little pond. He dangled his feet in the water. He yawned.

 Another boring day.  (Illustration.)

                                     The end