Story by Bertie.

 

Read by Natasha. Duration 18.22 Original picture Tania Fernandes.

 

Proofread by Jana Elizabeth.

 

The monkeys who lived in the cage with Theo didn’t agree on many things, but they did agree on one – their keeper, Mr Hartley, was an extremely nice man who was always kind to animals, especially monkeys.

 

He always made sure that they were never short of branches to swing on. He fed them on the best bananas, berries and nuts. When the baby monkeys were sick, he helped their mummy’s to take good care of them. And he even let the monkeys watch television in the evenings, well past closing time for the zoo.

 

Yes, Mr Hartley was very popular with the monkeys. But he wasn’t popular with Mr Shingles. And that was a problem. Because Mr Shingles was the head zookeeper.

 

He didn’t believe in being nice, unless it was strictly necessary. And he didn’t like Mr Hartley, because he was far too nice all round. So one day he called Mr Hartley into his office and told him that he was being demoted – which meant he was going to do a less important job. From now on, Mr Hartley would be in charge of the stick insects. The monkeys were going to have a new keeper who had been hand-picked for not being nice. His name was Mr Grabber.

 

Mr Grabber started work the following week. The first thing he did was to order the monkeys to tidy up their cage every day – or else.

 

At feeding time, he didn’t give them the sweet bananas like the ones that Mr Hartley used to give them. No, he did a deal with the local supermarket. He bought cheap bananas that were past their sell-by date – which meant they were too rotten for people to eat – but he said that they would do for a gang of monkeys. And as for television, he banned it all together because he said that it only showed rubbish.

 

The monkeys weren’t happy. But what could they do? They were prisoners in their own cage.

Mr Shingles was very pleased with his new monkey keeper. He entirely approved of his strict methods. But still, he worried that even Mr Grabber would have trouble with one particular monkey. And so he warned him all about Theo:

 

“He might look innocent, but he’s a proper little blighter that one is. If he was a human, he would be a criminal,” he said.

 

And Mr Grabber made a note in his book: Theo – Criminal.

 

About a month went by, and one Sunday morning when the zoo was closed, Mr Grabber came to the monkey cage and said to Theo:

 

“Right now my hairy friend. I’m taking you out for a very special treat.”

 

And then Theo went for a ride in the back of Mr Grabber’s van.

 

He didn’t like that much, because Mr Grabber drove very fast and not very straight and shook him about. Eventually they stopped, and Theo hopped out. He smelt grass and trees.

Mr Grabber led Theo by a collar and chain through a garden full of flowers and into a house. Upstairs, they met a man and a woman who were waiting for them in a big room that was almost empty. The only piece of furniture was a chest of drawers. Mr Grabber undid Theo’s lead and said to the others:

 

“Now just stand back and watch what he does. If he finds it, he’ll get a banana.”

 

Theo wondered what “it” could be. He strolled around the room, and as there wasn’t much else to do, he climbed up onto the chest of drawers. The top drawer was slightly open, so he stuck his paw into the gap and opened it some more. Inside he saw something shiny. It was a diamond necklace. Theo took it out and wrapped it around his foot. Then he scampered around the room shrieking:

“Oooh Ahha Ahha Ahha!”

 

The woman took a banana out of her handbag and held it out to him.

 

“Clever little monkey,” she said. “Give me the diamonds and I’ll give you the banana. That’s a good swap now, isn’t it?”

 

Theo hopped over to her, and the woman shrank back because he had big claws and sharp teeth. She held out the banana and Theo grabbed it. But he didn’t give her the diamonds.

 

“Oi, that’s not fair!” said the woman crossly. “It’s just like I thought. You can’t trust a monkey to keep a deal.”

 

“Oh yes you can,” thought Theo to himself. And he unwrapped the necklace from his foot and gave it to the woman. The two men clapped and the woman smiled and gave him another banana. Theo felt very clever and pleased with himself.

 

Then, they all went into another room. This one was well-furnished. Theo searched through all the drawers in all the furniture, and brought various objects over to the lady like some nail clippers, a can of deodorant, and a remote control. Each time the woman shook her head and gave the object back to him. Eventually he found a gold ring under the pillow on the bed. He brought this over to her and every one smiled and clapped. This time Mr Grabber gave him something even better. A banana covered in chocolate. Theo was in monkey heaven.

 

After a few more practices at search and find games, Mr Grabber said:

“There. I told you this monkey could do the business.”

 

After that, Mr Grabber drove Theo back to the zoo. The other monkeys asked where he had been, but Theo didn’t want to say in case they were jealous. Instead, he fell asleep and dreamt of chocolate-covered bananas.

 

One evening, about a week later, Mr Grabber again took Theo for another drive in the back of his van. Theo thought to himself:

 

“I expect that they are taking me to play that game again. I bet that this time I’ll have to compete against some other monkeys, and if I win, the prize will be even bigger and even tastier. Yummeee!

Again they drove out of the town, and stopped outside the gate of a big house.

The same man and woman as before were waiting for them. But this time they didn’t go inside. Instead, they went around the side of the house, and Mr Grabber said:

 

“Now Theo. You want a choccy banana don’t you? Well you see that open window up there? All you have to do is to climb up the drainpipe, and in through that window, and find something nice and shiny like you did before. Bring it back to us, and we’ll do a swap with you.”

 

Theo understood all this perfectly. He climbed up the drainpipe and through the window. It was dark inside, so he turned on a light. He saw that there were some interesting boxes on the dressing table. He opened up one and inside found a sparkling necklace. The other boxes had rings with jewels in them.

 

“I bet these are worth a whole crate of chocolate bananas,” said Theo. And he went over to the window, and dropped them out onto the lawn.

 

Just as he was about to turn off the light and leave, he noticed another box by the bed. This one was even bigger than the others. He hopped over and opened it. Inside he found something wonderful.

Chocolates!

 

He started to stuff them into his mouth.

 

“Ooh Ooh, AAAh Aaah!“ he called out.

 

Out in the garden, Mr Grabber and his accomplices were waiting and getting rather worried. What if Theo didn’t come down? They would have to leave him there, and the police might find him…. It could only mean trouble. Big trouble.

 

“I warned you not to trust a monkey,” said the woman.

 

But soon after she said that, Theo did come down the drainpipe. Everyone was very relieved.

Mr Grabber took him back to the zoo, and hardly anyone noticed that he had been out, except for Fucious, who was a wise old monkey with silver hair. Theo was so excited that he couldn’t help telling Fucious what had happened. The wise old monkey shook his head and said:

 

“I fear that Mr Grabber and his friends are up to no good. In the human world bananas are cheap and diamonds are expensive.”

 

“In the monkey world, bananas are beautiful and diamonds are useless. So it is a good swap for me,” thought Theo.

Fucious could see what Theo was thinking and he said: “And you must not forget too that it is wrong to steal. The owner of the diamonds will be very sad to lose her beautiful things.”

 

And Theo wondered if the lady would be more sad about losing her diamonds or her chocolates.

 

A week later, the owners of the house came back from holiday. The lady who owned the jewels was indeed extremely unhappy when she found that her precious diamonds and gold rings had been stolen.

“It’s all your fault,” she said to her husband. “I told you to check that the windows were closed before we left…. And the blighters even ate my chocolates. Look at my curtain … and the bed clothes… they are covered in strange chocolaty marks… like… like paw prints. And see these thick black hairs on my pillow…disgusting.”

 

The husband telephoned the police, who said that they would come round to take a statement in a few days time. Then a neighbour called in to say that while they had been away she had seen something very odd indeed. She had been walking down the lane one evening, when she looked up at their house, and she could swear that she saw a creature like a monkey climbing down the drainpipe. Now that was strange – but interesting all the same.

 

A week later, some policemen came to the zoo and said to Mr Shingles:

 

“We have reason to believe that one of your monkeys has broken into a house and stolen some valuables, including diamonds and chocolates” said the policeman. “We checked our files and the name of one of your monkeys came up. Young Theodore. Seems like he has form. He was nicked last year for stealing chocolate.”

 

“Ah yes, Theo’s your monkey,” said Mr Shingles. “I can’t say I will be too sad to see the back of him.”

 

Six police officers put on white suits and gloves and spent all day searching the monkeys’ cage. They found plenty of monkey poo, berry stones, and banana skins, but no diamonds.

 

Theo was very relieved when the police officers left. Because it’s one thing to live in a cage in the zoo with all your friends, and quite another to live in a cell in a prison surrounded by criminals.

A few weeks later, Mr Grabber changed his van for a bright red sports car. The wise old monkey said that meant he had sold the diamonds.

 

Theo was very puzzled by the way things had turned out:

 

“Oh wise one,” said Theo to Fucious: “If there is right and wrong in the world, how come Mr Grabber has bought himself a new sports car, and the lady is still missing her jewels and is very sad about what happened? Why didn’t the police find out that it was Mr Grabber who stole the jewels?”

 

And Fucious, the wise old monkey, sat thinking for a while before saying:

 

“That is indeed the hardest question of all to answer, even after one has lived and seen the world for many a long year. I too often wonder why it is that bad people get away with doing wrong things. But believe me, young monkey, this story is not yet at an end. One day Mr Grabber will grow too bold with his success at wrong-doing, and then he will be caught.”

 

“And when will that day come?” asked Theo.

 

“We shall just have to wait and see,” said the wise old monkey.