Anne Southworth

Talky the Talking Toucan and Chalky the Child

Chalky, the Child, and Talky, the Talking Toucan, woke up to warm rain. They were on their tree in the rainforest. The tree was mediocre in height. It wasn’t the tallest tree or the shortest tree.

Chalky rose from the branch and yawned. She was a child of about 10 years. She had long blond hair and blue eyes.

The sun was up in the sky and a new day had arrived. She brushed her long hair with her fingers and looked at Talky.

Talky was a black toucan with a wonderful rainbow beak.

"Good morning, Chalky," Talky said cheerfully.

"Morning."

Chalky gathered some of the food she had found and broke it up into a powder and put it into water on the branch for soup. She handed Talky some, using a leaf as a cup.

"What do you want to do today? I have no itinerary planned," Chalky said to Talky.

"I don’t know. Maybe we could…. no…. um…. maybe we could go play with the monkeys."

"Yeah, that should be fun. I’ll go climb up this tree to see if they’re there."

Chalky set down her soup. She grabbed the long vine and climbed up the tree. She climbed past Ernie the tree sloth, past the birds, and up.

She finally came to the monkeys’ home. She peaked in and saw no one. The monkeys were not there!

She climbed down the tree despondently.

"Talky, the monkeys are no there."

"What?! They must be out. I was really looking forward to seeing them."

"Maybe we can ask Father Eagle."

"No, he’ll try to eat me!"

"Only if we mention toucans. You know how close I am to him. He raised me. He is very wise. We can ask him anything," Chalky said.

So Chalky, the Child, and Talky, the Talking Toucan, climbed down the tree and walked through the jungle. The two colleagues finally reached Father Eagle’s home.

Chalky knocked on the tree. An old eagle popped out. His wise eyes smiled as he looked at her. The eagle’s tree looked palatial and grand. It had ancient writings and banana’s on it.

Talky looked at Father Eagle. She was very scared. She tried to be complaisant and careful not to offend. She knew that this would not be the time to be irreverent.

"What do you want, child?" Father Eagle asked Chalky.

"Father Eagle, where are all the monkeys?"

"Child, I am afraid that your ignorance has caused you to forget that they are all at the monkey birthday party at Monkey Boulevard. Didn’t you see the invitation?"
"No."
"Oh, yes. I forgot that you are illiterate in monkey writing. Well the party is at Monkey Boulevard."

"Thank you Father Eagle, goodbye."

Chalky and Talky ran down the path, toward Monkey Boulevard.

The party was a very wild party. All the monkeys came to greet the two.

"Thank you, thank you for coming. You are just in time for the race up the tree."

"What kind of race?" They asked.

"You see that prominent looking tree?"

"Yeah," Talky and Chalky said.

"Well you need a partner and you tie your legs together and climb it to get the banana at the top. The winner gets a special prize."

Chalky and Talky decided that they would race.

Chalky tied her leg to Talky’s and the monkey held his hand up.

"Ready, set, go!"

Chalky and Talky pulled themselves up. They rose higher and higher. All the monkeys were far behind. Talky could see the banana. She reached out and grabbed it. They won!

Back at Monkey Boulevard, the monkeys congratulated them.

The monkey leader handed them a decorated box.

Full of anticipation, Chalky opened it. To her disgust, it was full of paltry and worthless bugs.

"Do you like?" The monkeys asked.

Talky looked at Chalky. They both hid their disgust.

"Yes, yes."

"Eat," the monkeys urged.

Talky and Chalky closed their eyes and ate the bugs.

"Umm, we need to go."

"Bye."

Chalky and Talky ran home and threw up. It was getting dark and they lay down to sleep.

"What do you want to do tomorrow?" Chalky asked.

"Anything… except remind me to always let the monkeys win."

They laughed and prepared themselves for another day full of adventure.