Good Morning, Gorillas Read online

  “I’ll come, too,” said Annie. She started to sit up.

  “No, no, catch your breath,” said Jack. “It’s not far. I’ll be right back.”

  He took off his jacket and draped it over her. “This’ll help you stay dry,” he said. He pulled on his pack and stood up.

  The gorilla screeched.

  “Stay with Annie!” said Jack.

  Then he dashed back through the cloud forest. He looked for the fat tree with the wide limbs padded with moss.

  As he peered through the growing darkness, Jack saw many fat trees. He saw many limbs padded with moss.

  Soon he could hardly see trees at all. He realized that both a storm and night had come to the forest.

  Forget the umbrella and flashlight, he thought. It was more important to get back to Annie before it was too dark. They could wait together for daylight.

  As Jack started back to Annie, he could hardly see. He didn’t know which way to go.

  “Annie! Bu-bu!” he shouted. He felt silly shouting, “Bu-bu.” But he didn’t know what else to call the small gorilla.

  Jack put out his hands. He moved slowly through the dark, rainy forest. He kept calling for Annie and Bu-bu. He listened for them. But he couldn’t hear anything above the loud patter of the rain.

  “Ahh!” he shouted. He had run into something that felt like a ball of spiderwebs!

  As he jumped back, he slipped and fell in the mud. He crawled over to a tree and huddled between two of its giant roots.

  I’ll just wait here until morning, he thought. Then I’ll find Annie. Or she’ll find me.

  As rain dripped all around him, Jack wondered if leopards came out at night. He quickly pushed the thought away. He tried to think about morning and finding Annie and going home.

  He was really ready to go home.

  Why did Morgan even send us to the cloud forest? he wondered. He tried to remember the secret rhyme.

  “To find a special magic … ,” he whispered. He couldn’t remember the rest. He felt tired and miserable. He took his backpack off and rested his head on it. He closed his eyes.

  “To find a special magic … ,” he mumbled.

  But he couldn’t find the magic. He couldn’t even find the words that finished the rhyme. Worst of all, he couldn’t find Annie.

  Their fun adventure in the cloud forest had turned into a nightmare.

  Jack felt something tugging on his sleeve. He opened his eyes.

  Bu-bu. The small gorilla was staring at him in the dawn light.

  Jack stood up. His arms and legs felt stiff and achy. His wet clothes stuck to his skin.

  He looked around the cloud forest. Misty sunlight shined through the tree branches.

  “Where’s Annie?” he asked the small gorilla.

  Bu-bu waved her arms. Then she bounded off between the trees. Jack pulled on his pack and followed.

  As the small gorilla led him through the cloud forest, her head bobbed above the leafy plants. Finally, she stopped before a row of shrubs.

  Jack took a few steps forward and peered over the shrubs.

  “Oh, man,” he whispered.

  Large dark figures were sleeping in an open, grassy area—gorillas! There were at least ten of them. Some slept on their backs. Some slept on their bellies.

  The gorillas were all sizes. The smallest was a baby sleeping in its mother’s arms. The biggest was a giant with black and silver fur.

  Jack pulled the book out of his pack. He found a chapter on gorillas and read:

  Mountain gorillas live together in families. The leader of the family is a large male called a “silverback” because he has silver fur on his back and shoulders. Gorillas do not hunt other animals. They mainly eat the plant growth of the forest. They are known to be shy and gentle giants.

  “Shy and gentle giants,” Jack repeated. That sounded good.

  He peered over the shrubs again. Bu-bu waved at him. She was standing at the far edge of the clearing. She pointed to something in the tall grass.

  Annie was fast asleep in the grass!

  Jack didn’t know what to do. If he called her name, the gorillas would wake up. He had only one choice. He had to sneak over to her.

  Jack put his book in his pack. He pushed past the shrubs and stepped into the clearing. His heart was pounding. He thought of the words from the book—shy and gentle giants.

  As he started toward Annie, he heard a grunt. The giant gorilla with silver fur opened his eyes. When the gorilla saw Jack, he sat up.

  Jack stopped in his tracks.

  The gorilla just glared. This giant did not seem shy or gentle at all.

  Jack saw a stick lying on the ground. He picked it up—just in case.

  Jack’s stick made the gorilla growl. He stood up. He was very tall and very wide.

  Jack dropped his stick.

  Bu-bu ran and hid behind a tree.

  The silverback growled again. His long, shaggy arms touched the ground. His fingers curled under. Walking on his knuckles, he stepped toward Jack.

  Jack stepped back.

  The gorilla stepped forward.

  Jack stepped back again.

  The gorilla kept stepping forward. Jack kept stepping back until he had stepped out of the clearing.

  But the silverback kept coming. Jack stumbled back through the brush until he came to a thick wall of plants.

  The gorilla kept coming. Jack couldn’t move back anymore.

  “Uh … hi,” he said nervously. He held up his hand. “I come in—”

  Before Jack could say “peace,” the giant gorilla went crazy. He hooted and leaped to his feet.

  Jack crouched down in a panic.

  The gorilla kept hooting. He grabbed a tree limb. He shook it wildly. He ripped leaves from branches.

  He gnashed his teeth. He cupped his hands. He beat his chest.

  WRAAGH! he roared. WRAAGH!

  The gorilla dropped on all fours. He charged back and forth past Jack. Then he threw himself on his belly. He began bashing the ground with his palms. He bashed and bashed and bashed.

  Jack scrambled on his hands and knees over to a tree. He hid behind the trunk, hugging his head.

  He waited for the maniac gorilla to find him and tear him to pieces.

  The pounding ended. There was silence … a long silence.

  Jack opened his eyes. He peeked around the tree. The silverback was sitting on the ground. His lips were curved in a smile. He looked pleased with himself.

  Was his whole act a fake? Jack wondered.

  Jack didn’t know whether to be scared or to laugh. The only thing he did know was he still had to get to Annie!

  Jack pulled out the research book. He found the gorilla chapter again. He read:

  To safely get close to gorillas in the wild, it’s wise to act like a gorilla yourself. Crouch down and rest on your knuckles like a gorilla. Keep your head down and act friendly!

  Jack packed up his research book. He put his pack on his back. Then he went down on his knees.

  Jack took a deep breath. He smiled a friendly smile. Pressing down on his knuckles, he moved out from behind the tree. His fingers hurt as he walked on them.

  The silverback grunted.

  Jack didn’t look up. He kept smiling a friendly smile as he crawled through the brush toward the clearing.

  When he got to the edge of the clearing, he glanced back. The giant gorilla was following him. He was frowning, but he didn’t seem about to attack.

  Jack kept going. He moved into the clearing. Then he stopped.

  More gorillas were waking up. A large gorilla hugged Bu-bu as if to comfort her.

  When Bu-bu saw Jack, she screeched joyfully.

  All the other gorillas turned to look at him. They made nervous sounds.

  Jack’s heart pounded. But he just smiled his friendly smile and kept crawling. He crawled around the gorillas and over to Annie.

  “Wake up!” he said, shaking her.

  Annie yawned, then ope
ned her eyes.

  “Oh, hi!” she said.

  “Are you okay?” asked Jack.

  “Sure,” she said. She sat up and looked around. She gasped.

  The gorillas were staring at Jack and Annie with bright, darting eyes. The silverback stared the hardest.

  “Oh, wow!” said Annie. A joyful smile crossed her face. “Good morning, gorillas!”

  Annie kept smiling at the gorillas. “Wow!” she said. “Wow, wow, wow.”

  “Didn’t you know you were sleeping next to them?” Jack asked.

  “No!” she said. “When you didn’t come back, Bu-bu led me here. But I couldn’t see anything. It was too dark.”

  Just then, Bu-bu left her mother’s arms and bounded over to Annie. She climbed into Annie’s lap and hugged her.

  Another small gorilla left his mother and ran over to Annie, too. He was about the size of a two-year-old kid.

  “Ho, ho!” he said. He gave Annie a playful poke.

  “Ho, ho yourself!” said Annie. “Is Ho-ho your name?”

  She tickled Ho-ho. She tickled Bu-bu, too. The two small gorillas made laughing sounds and fell onto their backs.

  The two mother gorillas laughed, too. Huh-huh-huh, they said.

  Jack felt a little jealous. He wanted the gorillas to like him as well. But he didn’t know how to join in the fun. So he just sighed and pulled out his notebook. He added to his “gorilla behavior” list:

  Suddenly, he heard a low growl.

  He looked up. The silverback had moved closer to him. He was glaring.

  “That big guy doesn’t understand what you’re doing!” Annie called to Jack. “He’s never seen anyone take notes before.”

  Jack quickly put his notebook away.

  The giant gorilla huffed. Then he turned to his family and gave a short bark.

  The gorillas began lining up behind the silverback. The baby traveled in his mother’s arms. Ho-ho traveled on his mother’s back. Bu-bu and Annie held hands. They all followed the silverback out of the clearing.

  “Come on!” Annie called to Jack. “Let’s go with Big Guy and the gang!”

  Jack shook his head.

  “I don’t think they want me to come along,” he said.

  Bu-bu screeched at Jack. She held out her free hand to him.

  “Bu-bu wants you!” said Annie.

  Jack smiled shyly. He took Bu-bu’s small, warm hand. Then he walked with Annie and the gorillas out of the clearing.

  On their ramble through the cloud forest, the gorillas found food everywhere. They munched flowers and ferns and leaves. They swallowed and burped.

  They munched twigs and branches and pieces of bark and bamboo. They swallowed and burped.

  As the gorillas ate breakfast, it started to rain again. But they didn’t seem to mind.

  Annie didn’t seem to mind, either. She and Bu-bu played tag in the drizzly woods. They ran around the trees, laughing and screeching.

  Jack tried to follow them, but he gave up. He was tired and cold. Shivering, he stood under a mossy tree to keep dry.

  While he was alone, Jack sneaked his notebook out of his pack. He made a new list:

  As he wrote, he heard a low growl. He looked up.

  Big Guy had spotted him. The silverback was standing close by. He was frowning at Jack, his lips tucked in a tight line.

  “Sorry, sorry!” said Jack. He quickly put away his notebook.

  Big Guy kept frowning.

  Jack quickly tried to act like a gorilla. He went down on all fours. He tore off the leaf of a plant. He took a bite. It tasted bitter, like vinegar. Jack pretended to munch and swallow and burp.

  Big Guy huffed, then moved on. As soon as he was gone, Jack spat out the leaf.

  “Yuck, yuck, yuck!” he said, wiping his tongue.

  Jack felt a tap on his back. He jumped. But it was just Ho-ho. The small gorilla offered him a twig to eat.

  “Oh, no thanks, Ho-ho,” said Jack.

  Ho-ho kept holding out the twig.

  “Oh, okay,” said Jack, politely taking it. “I’ll eat it later.” He put the twig into his backpack.

  Ho-ho’s mom came over to Jack. She held some berries to his lips.

  “Uh, no thanks,” Jack said.

  The gorilla stared at him with a sad look.

  “Oh, okay,” said Jack. He opened his mouth. And Ho-ho’s mom fed him the berries.

  Jack munched the berries. To his surprise, they tasted good. He swallowed, then burped just like a gorilla. This time, he wasn’t pretending.

  Bu-bu’s mom then came over to Jack. She offered him some rainwater from a cupped plant. Jack was very thirsty. He sipped the water. It tasted fresh and cold.

  Bu-bu’s mom took Jack’s hand in her wide hand. She led him through the forest to Annie and Bu-bu.

  Bu-bu screeched happily when she saw Jack. She threw her furry arms around him.

  “Hi! We missed you!” Annie said to Jack. “Are you having fun?”

  Jack smiled and nodded.

  Actually, he was having fun now. He didn’t mind the rain so much anymore. He didn’t feel so left out. Some of the gorillas really seemed to like him, he thought. They seemed to like him a lot.

  The rain ended. Slowly the feeding came to a stop.

  Big Guy led his family into a clearing. The tall grass sparkled with misty sunlight.

  The silverback lay down and tucked his arms under his head.

  The other gorillas gathered around him. Some beat the grasses until they were flat.

  Ho-ho’s mom made a bed of weed stalks for Ho-ho. Bu-bu’s mom made a bed of leaves for Bu-bu. Then she made two extra beds for Jack and Annie.

  They lay down with all the gorillas to take their naps. Jack used his backpack for a pillow.

  Lying on his leafy bed, Jack watched the mother of the baby gorilla groom her small baby. The mother parted his hair and searched through it, picking at his skin now and then.

  The baby soon wiggled free and crawled around in the grass. His mother’s gaze then rested on Annie. She moved over to Annie and gently grabbed one of her pigtails. She studied it carefully.

  “What are you doing?” Annie asked.

  “She’s looking for bugs, I think,” said Jack.

  “Oh, yuck!” said Annie, sitting up.

  Jack laughed. Just then, the baby’s mother reached for him.

  “Oops! No thanks! No bugs on me!” he said, and he sat up, too.

  The mother gorilla lay back in the grass and closed her eyes. Her baby crawled over to Annie.

  “Hi, Little Guy,” Annie said tenderly. She picked up the baby and stroked his head. The baby smiled at her and closed his eyes.

  While all the gorillas napped, Jack sneaked the book out of his pack. He found the gorilla chapter. He read softly to Annie:

  Gorillas are very smart. A captive gorilla named Koko has even learned sign language. Sign language is a special language used by people who cannot hear. Koko can say—

  “What?” Annie said loudly. “Sign language? A special language?”

  Her voice woke Bu-bu and Ho-ho. They sat up and rubbed their eyes.

  “So?” said Jack.

  “Morgan’s secret rhyme!” said Annie. “Don’t you remember?” She repeated the rhyme:

  To find a special kind of magic

  in worlds so far apart,

  speak a special language,

  talk with your hands and heart.

  “Oh … yeah!” said Jack.

  “I even know a little sign language,” said Annie. “In school, we learned how to sign I love you.”

  Annie held up a closed hand. Slowly she lifted her thumb, index finger, and little finger. She showed the sign to Bu-bu and Ho-ho.

  “I—love—you,” she said slowly.

  The small gorillas looked curious.

  Jack made the sign, too.

  “I—love—you,” he said to Bu-bu and Ho-ho.

  The two little gorillas stared at Annie and Jack. Then both of them
held up their hands. They tried to make the same sign.

  “They love us, too!” said Annie.

  “Wow,” said Jack. He glanced over at Big Guy.

  The silverback’s eyes were open! He was watching them. Jack quickly closed the book. To his relief, the giant gorilla turned over.

  “Well,” Annie said with a sigh, “I guess that does it.”

  “We spoke a special language,” said Jack. “We talked with our—” Before he could finish his sentence, Bu-bu pushed him.

  “Whoa!” said Jack.

  Ho-ho held his little arms above his head. He reared back and charged at Jack. With a flying tackle, he knocked Jack over.

  “What’s going on?” said Jack.

  “They want to play with you!” said Annie.

  Bu-bu jumped on Jack and put him in a headlock. Jack broke free from the two small gorillas. He jumped up and dashed into the forest.

  Bu-bu and Ho-ho charged after him.

  Annie carried Little Guy and followed. She laughed as the small gorillas looked for Jack.

  Jack hid behind a tree. He pushed his glasses into place. He waited for Bu-bu.

  In a moment, she walked by.

  “BOO!” Jack shouted, jumping out.

  Bu-bu screeched and leaped straight up in the air. Jack cracked up laughing.

  Bu-bu didn’t laugh, though. She bit her lip. She hid her face behind her hands.

  “Ohhh, Bu-bu,” said Annie. “Don’t be scared.”

  She gently put the baby on the ground. She reached out to comfort Bu-bu.

  Bu-bu wrapped her arms around Annie’s neck. She buried her furry head in Annie’s shoulder.

  “Jack was just playing,” said Annie.

  Bu-bu raised her head. She looked at Jack over Annie’s shoulder.

  “Friends?” he asked softly.

  Bu-bu stuck her tongue out at him.

  Jack laughed. Bu-bu showed her teeth in a big smile.

  “Friends!” said Jack.

  Just then, Ho-ho started screeching. Jack and Annie looked around. Ho-ho was pointing into the bushes.

  “Where’s Little Guy?” said Annie. She and Jack dashed around the shrubs.