"The Case of the Missing Monkeys"
By Erin McCarty
Copyright © 1999
"The condition of Prince Daniel of Driftwood is steadily growing worse. A reward of $150,000 will be awarded to anyone who can cheer him up," announced the radio. Marvin stretched and yawned, prepared to start another day. At first glance, this 3-and-a-half-year-old monkey looked no different from any others at his home in Cliffwood Zoo, but those who knew Marvin well recognized him as the great mastermind that he really was. In fact, he was known to his fans as Marvin the Marvelous.
Marvin began his morning as he did every morning, by eating a ripe kiwi fruit. He was the only monkey he knew who didn't like bananas. As he was finishing his breakfast, he began to plan out his day. Two weeks ago he had planned a trip to visit his cousin, Shaggy, in Mooville Zoo. His zookeeper, Joey Smith, would be taking him there at noon. Marvin sat back in his hammock and settled down to read his paper.
Three hours later, Joey Smith arrived to take Marvin to Mooville. Joey was a tall man with brown hair and a face that always wore the same expression: the expression of innocent stupidity.
"Ready to go?" asked Mr. Smith. Marvin jumped into the back of his rusty red pick-up truck. Within moments he was on his way to see Shaggy. His hour-and-a-half long trip was silent, which made sense, seeing as Marvin couldn't talk. Finally, Joey Smith's truck slowed to a stop at the Mooville Zoo parking lot.
Before Joey could even get out of the vehicle, Marvin was racing through the zoo toward the monkey cages. When he arrived at the monkey cage, however, he could not get inside because of the crowd that had developed around his cousin and his companions. Before he could stop to wonder what was going on, a large man with a big curly mustache stepped out into the front.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for! Presenting our marvelous monkeys!" boomed the loud voice. Marvin leaned over in interest, but he couldn't help thinking that this seemed more like a circus act than a zoo attraction. The monkeys began their act immediately, flipping in the air, swinging from branch to branch, and doing all sorts of fancy tricks. The man standing next to Marvin seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the show. He was a man with a long black beard, and although he was probably just a regular zoo visitor, there was something about him that seemed suspicious to Marvin. He shook off this thought and sat back to enjoy the show. Marvin had to admit that the monkeys did look pretty comical. All too soon the show was over, but Marvin didn't mind because this meant he could visit with his cousin.
"Hello, Shaggy," Marvin greeted him in monkey language. "It is good to see you once again. I enjoyed your show."
"It is good to see you, too, cousin. I am glad you enjoyed our show. We all worked very hard on it. By the way," Shaggy added in a lower voice, "how would you like a tour of the zoo?"
"That would be delightful, Shaggy, but how will you get out of the cage?" Marvin questioned.
"Oh, that's easy. We have a hole in the top of our cage. All we need to do is climb up there and climb right out. We just go in and out as we please, as long as we're back by showtime."
"An admirable plan," complimented Marvin.
"Thank you, Marvin. So, shall we go?" suggested Shaggy.
"Oh, yes. I believe I would like that very much," answered Marvin. As the two were departing, Marvin noticed the same suspicious-looking man from the monkey show crossing the street and getting into a brightly colored ice-cream truck. "Shaggy, do you know who that man over there is?" Marvin inquired.
"Who, the man in the ice-cream truck?" Marvin nodded. "Oh, that's just Mr. Mush, the ice-cream man. He's always nice to us."
"Oh," replied Marvin thoughtfully. He had a funny feeling that something was about to happen.
The next morning, Marvin was still troubled by the appearance of the strange man. Worst of all, he was sure he had heard a strange noise around midnight. He decided to talk to Shaggy about it. It was at that moment that he realized that he was alone. Suddenly, a terrible thought struck him. Shaggy and all of the other monkeys had been kidnapped! Quick as a wink, Martin was at the zookeeper's guest cabin, where Joey Smith was staying. He jumped onto the sleeping man's chest and began jumping up and down. Joey rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"What are you doing here?" he mumbled. Marvin grabbed his hand and yanked on it. "Oh, here, you want some breakfast?" Mr. Smith handed him a banana. Marvin shook his head in disgust and plugged his nose. Humans can be so exasperating, Marvin thought irritably. He tried again.
"Oh, what do you want now?" grumbled Mr. Smith. Marvin grabbed the car keys that were by the bedside and ran off with them. "Oh, great, just what I need," he complained as he pulled on his pants. "Come back here, you stupid monkey!" the angry zookeeper yelled as he ran after Marvin. He chased him all the way to the monkey cage. At first he was so upset at Marvin that he didn't notice anything wrong with the monkey cage, but then as he examined the cage more closely, he realized that one very important feature was missing: THE MONKEYS!
"Oh, no!" he exclaimed in horror. "Marvin, I'm sorry! Please forgive me for yelling at you! You're the only monkey left! All the other monkeys are gone! Boy, travelling can be so risky these days..." Before Joey could babble any more, Marvin left him to do whatever his mental capacity could allow him, which wasn't much. In the meantime, Marvin went off to investigate the mysterious ice-cream truck, but was shocked to discover that it was no longer there. Marvin was now convinced that Mr. Mush was the culprit. If only he could prove it!
As he drew nearer to where the ice-cream truck had once stood, he found an obvious trail of ice-cream pointing in the direction in which the truck had gone. Banana-nut, Marvin realized with disgust. He was glad he didn't need his nose to tell him which way the truck went.
He followed the trail for half an hour until he found himself at the gates of the great castle of Driftwood. He snapped his fingers. Of course! he thought. Mr. Mush's motive for kidnapping the monkeys was in order to make the prince laugh and collect the $150,000! It was all so obvious! Why hadn't he realized it before? He easily climbed up the palace walls and into the prince's bedroom window.
To his amazement, 8-year-old Prince Daniel did not look amused in the least with the performing monkeys, but the moment that Marvin jumped into the window his face lit up with glee.
"I want that monkey!" the young prince commanded. Marvin leaped over to Shaggy.
"What is going on?" he demanded.
"Oh," said Shaggy. "Allow me to introduce Mr. Primer, monkey trainer, alias Mr. Mush" Martin looked very confused.
"Let me explain," interrupted Mr. Primer in monkey language. Marvin's mouth hung open. "I am a professional monkey trainer. I trained these monkeys, but I became Mr. Mush to avoid too much public attention. Last night I brought out my new ice-cream, chunky monkey, to lure the monkeys to the ice-cream truck because the king had asked me to bring the monkeys to the castle, thinking they could cheer the boy up. Obviously that didn't work, but you seemed to do the trick just fine."
"But how do you know how to speak our language?" questioned Marvin.
"You'd be surprised the things they'll teach you in college these days," Mr. Primer replied with a laugh. Marvin nodded.
"Could you go back to the zoo and explain this to Mr. Smith?" requested Marvin.
"Good idea," agreed Mr. Primer. He and the monkeys went back to Mooville and found Mr. Smith still babbling to himself by the monkey cage. Mr. Primer tried to explain the whole thing to Mr. Smith, but he didn't seem to understand a word of it.
As for Marvin, he stayed with Prince Daniel, and the boy was never unhappy again. Marvin lived in royalty with whatever he wanted and gave up the detective business. Everyone lived happily ever after, but Mr. Smith lived stupidly ever after as well.
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