Ape's Odyssey; Part two of 'The Urban Jungle'

The sun was beginning to set when Timothy Monkey finished work. He
exited via the window, crawled along the window ledges, jumped onto a
street lamp and slid down its pole. He looked up at the sky. It was
full of clouds, as ever. Yet the sun still managed to ripple through
them, making them seem pink and light.

"What to do?" Timothy asked himself outloud, without thought. "Where to
look?" The people on the street hadn't heard him. Nobody noticed poor
Timothy. He crawled in the alleyway, out of the way of the clumsy
humans with their clumsy feet.

He leant against the yellow grit bin he used occasionally as a bed.
Opposite to him was a bright orange skip, parked against the wall. He
wouldn't have to be rummaging through that for scraps tonight. Instead,
he was going to search for the Urban Jungle! The only problem was he
hadn't a clue where to start.

He knew what jungle meant, all monkeys did. But 'Urban', that was a
tricky one. Ur-ban. Urrrrr-ban. A rule against indecisiveness? No, that
wouldn't make sense, not with what Anne said. To ban indecision; that
could be done by the most evil of individuals. Well, maybe it would
have its benefits... no, no of course it wouldn't. It would be a
terrible terrible rule. He wondered when Mr Stickley would introduce
it.

Mr Stickley.. he had been talking for the last week about urr-ban
development on... the green buckle? Timothy couldn't remember exactly,
though he could remember it causing Mr Stickley all sorts of trouble
with a building firm... buildings! It had something to do with
buildings, he thought. So an 'Urban Jungle' would be... a jungle
between buildings? The closest thing he could come up with would be the
park in the middle of town. It would be a start, if nothing else.

The park wasn't far from Timothy's grit bin, closer than Timothy had
realised. After passing through several dark back-alleys, avoiding a
stray poodle and ignoring two humans who seemed desperate to be only
one. He said hello to Pete the beggar, who was mad, and so safe to talk
to, before reaching the park's boundary. It was marked off from the
rest of the city by a mere three foot metal fence. Timothy slipped
through a gap in the bars, and cheerfully strolled inside.

So many trees! Timothy liked trees, even though these weren't really
his kind of tree. His kind of trees had vines growing between them, and
were full of colourful birds: parrots and finches, not starlings and
blackbirds.

Timothy sat against an oak tree and wondered what to do next. Suddenly
a ball flew towards him! Timothy darted up the tree like a startled
cat, and scrambled onto one of the branches. He looked down, and saw
two humans kicking the ball around.

A twig on the tree was brushing against Timothy's shoulder, tapping it
rhymically. What did the tree want? Timothy turned his head around very
slowly. Besides him was sat a red squirrel. In his hands he had an
acorn. He was offering it to him.

"That's not a peanut!" Timothy declared.

"No need to be like that!" The squirrel looked down. "You just look a
little, hungry, that's all."

"I am. I can't eat those though."

"Sorry, its all I have. Anything else I could help with?"

"I'm looking for the..." Timothy paused, pondering for a second whether
the squirrel was trust-worthy. He was offering food, offering help, he
had to be up to something. As things were though, Timothy hadn't a hope
of reaching his destination, so he might as well just ask.

"I'm looking for the Urban Jungle," Timothy said at last, in a
secretive whisper.

"The Urban Jungle?" The squirrel looked puzzled. "Wait yes I know want
you're after. They built the place a couple of years back. Tropical
World is its proper name. All surrounded by glass, I think. You'll 'ave
trouble getting in."

"Just tell me where it is!"

"I don't know, I haven't seen it. I just heard one of the sparrows
talking."

"Which sparrow?"

"I couldn't tell you. They all look the same to me."

Timothy put his hand on his head. "I'll never find it."

"Oh, it's on the bus route."

"What? Why didn't you say so?" Timothy hugged the squirrel, who
desperately tried to squeeze out of his grasp. Timothy let go. "Wait.
How did you know that?"

"I made my nest out of a timetable, didn't I?"

Timothy nodded. "But how I am going to get on a bus? I haven't any
money for the bus fare."

"Unless they accept acorns, I can't help you. The bus stop's just
across the road from here."

"Thanks!" Timothy shouted gleefully as he scrambled down the trees. He
ran as quick as he could, he was going to find it, going to find it!
The grass changed to gravel, then to concrete, and then Timothy stopped
dead just in time to avoid being struck dead by a super market lorry.
Timothy breathed in deeply, and calmed himself.

There wasn't much other traffic, so Timothy was able to cross with
ease, and only a little nervousness. He walked up to the shoes of some
humans, waiting outside the electronics shops Timothy occasionally
snuck into in order to watch telly. It was still open, Timothy guessed
it was a Thursday or something. It seemed the humans were wanting the
bus too, though with legs that long Timothy could hardly see why.

Besides Timothy was a large white shopping bag. He peered inside it.
Along with some boxes, there was an animal of some sort... no, it was a
cudly toy. A big soft cudly lovely chimpanzee! Oh, everyone loved
chimps, didn't they!? Nobody cared about a spider monkey. Timothy
hoistered the destested lump of cloth and stuffing out of the bag and
threw it onto the road. The owner didn't appear to notice. Making as
little rustling as possible, Timothy crawled inside. They were going to
have a nasty shock when they got this bag home!

From inside the bag the world looked eerily white. Timothy examined the
boxes he shared his world with. One, it seemed, was a travel chess set,
the other contained a clock. In fact he could hear the ticking.

Three more ticks later, and the bag was swallowed in shadow. Five, and
there was a deep gushing sound, like a giant sighing. Eight, and the
ground dropped until Timothy could feel it no longer. Squirming in
mid-air, Timothy managed to poke his head out of the bag, but saw only
human thighs and groins. Not a pleasant sight. He dived his head back
into the bag. Twenty-two, he heard lots of voices all asking for the
same thing? What was it? What had he gotten himself into? He would get
caught, the nasty humans would catch him, and send him to a zoo... or
worse.

Fifty-one. The ground returned, only it was warmer, and shaking.
Fifty-seven. Timothy finally lost track of the ticks. Two hundred and
eight seven point five: Timothy started making up numbers to amuse
himself. Six: Timothy experimented with the notion that making up lower
numbers would send him back in time. One hundred and eighty: Timothy
realised that it would never work, so decided he would pick a number he
liked, and stick with it.

One hundred and eighty one: Timothy decided it was time to move
on.

Timothy poked his head out of his bag. He could see it was one among
many. To his right, Timothy could see dozens of humans. He started
trembling, though whether this was due to nerves or the engine of the
bus, he wasn't sure. The bus parked, and the doors opened. One human
got up to get off. He watched her gather her bags from around him
through the bag handle. He glanced behind him, through the window.
There was some big glass building, not of much important, what did that
sign say? Timothy paused for a second. Tropical World! The Urban
Jungle! He leapt out of the bag and the woman screamed. Timothy landed
by the door and darted through it. The bus driver blinked. "That monky
didn't pay his bus fare!" The bus remained still for a few more
moments, while the driver thought about what he had just said.

Timothy ran through the empty car park. The lights running through it
glittered off the plastic trees lining its edge. Outside the door was a
large red enamel parrot holding a money jar. The sun had completely set
now, and if it wasn't for the lamps Timothy would be able to gaze at
the stars.

The glass doors wouldn't open. Timothy tried his hardest to get his
finger tips between them, but they were sealed tight. Through them he
could just glimpse an abandoned desk and a doorway covered in grey
plastic strips

"There's got to be a way in."

He climbed up the drain pipe onto the roof of the front building.
Before Timothy was a huge citadel of steel and glass. The moon's light
revealed plant upon plant, thousands of leaves, flowers and vines. This
must be it!

Something wasn't quite right though. If you were to get inside, could
you ever get out again? This place had a certain feel about it, the
structure one big metal cage, almost like.... a zoo. But if there were
peanuts, then would it matter?

Timothy clambered onto the curving glass roof, holding on to the metal
frame. He managed to get to the very top and looked down into it. It
was beautiful. The exotic plants grew high, some even grew right to the
roof. A little golden finch was sitting on a branch, looking right at
him. Timothy smiled and waved. The finch waved her wing back at him.
Her mouth started opening and closing. She was obviously chirping at
him, but he couldn't hear her through the glass.

"How do you get in?" Timothy called as loud as he could. The finch
looked at him blankly. "Is it nice in there?" he shouted, this time
right into the glass. Still there was only a blank look.

Timothy, balancing himself with his legs and tails, put his hands
around his mouth and blew. A circle of moisture appeared. With his
right index finger, Timothy started to write:

ereht R
stuneap yna
?

The little finch shook her head. Timothy slumped against the glass and
placed his head against his arms. After a few seconds, he pulled
himself to his limbs and began to climb down from the roof. The finch
waved goodbye. Timothy did not wave back.

Timothy crawled slowly out of the car park, looking down at the ground
as he went. He started walking down the street. He didn't care if he
got stepped on. What did it matter? He would never find his paradise,
never have more than one peanut a day.

A sudden kick sent him flying into the wall. He watched the stupid
humans pass. They didn't look back. It must have been an accident. They
were laughing and shouting. They were happy. Timothy wished he could be
happy. What's made them so happy, Timothy wondered. So happy they could
barely walk straight. There could only be one answer. Peanuts! They
must have peanuts!

Timothy ran excitedly down the street. He came to a door, he could hear
laughing and chatting. More swaying people exited, and a laughing
couple went in. Timothy backed off to the curb and looked up at the
building's sign. It was green, painted to look like leaves. In red and
yellow lettering were the word 'The Urban Jungle.' He had found it!