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It all happened because of a banana peel

 George Monkey didn't have the best of table manners. Of course, one couldn't call a tree exactly a table, but being a monkey, eating in a tree was normal enough. George never used a napkin to wipe his mouth when banana squished all over his fur, nor did he use a spoon or fork. He dipped in his paws and took out whatever he was eating and jammed it in his mouth.

 Seeing that George didn't have any table manners, it wasn't surprising that when he was finished his banana, he would throw the peel on the ground. After all, he was finished with it so he didn't really care what happened after that.

 Down the banana peel fell and landed on the ground under the tree. Maybe it would have become compost over a period of time, but at that exact moment Bonkers Tiger was running through rushing to a meeting.

 When one is in a rush, one doesn't always look out for little things, if a banana peel could be called a little thing. The result was disastrous. Bonkers hit the peel with his left foot and in slow motion performed a perfect l0 in floor exercises.

 It was sort of a flip-flop, half-double twist in a lay-out position. If Bonkers had been at the Olympics, he would have won a gold medal. But seeing he wasn't, he landed on the ground with a thud.

 To say the least, Bonkers was upset. He now had dirt all over the back of his suit jacket and banana peel goop all over his paws. Looking up he saw the culprit sitting up in the tree. George even had the nerve to give a nervous wave, which Bonkers didn't think was called for.

 Bonkers grabbed the tree and shook it. George held on for dear life, but seeing the condition of his paws being dirty and slippery, George landed on the ground beside Bonkers.

 Bonkers doesn't remember what he would have done to George, but George wasn't moving. He was obviously hurt and Bonkers felt terrible at his sudden burst of anger. Already he could see that a big bump was forming on George's head.

 "Oh, look at what I've done! I must get you to a hospital as quickly as possible," said the worried tiger.

 In no time Bonkers had George to the hospital and Dr. Joe Rat was giving him an examination.

 "That's the biggest bump I've ever seen!" said the doctor, making Bonkers feel twice as bad. George wasn't feeling a thing as he was still in la-la land thinking of bananas and kiwi.

 Dr. Joe proceeded to put a cast on the bump, in which all the nurses signed and made little happy faces, and then saw George would be top heavy. Dr. Joe went to the cabinet and took out a hammer and approached the table.

 "I will have to hammer that bump down a bit," announced the doctor.

 It was a good thing that George came to, if coming to, a doctor standing there with a hammer was a good thing. In fact, it was pretty scary and George lost no time in taking off leaving Bonkers to pay the bill and continue on to his meeting very late indeed.

 Question about the story: What did the nurses put on George's cast?

 Winners: Karley and Josie Stevens, Big Tancook Island.

 Send answers to: Storytime, c/o Verna Dunlop, RR#l Moser River, NS, BOJ 2KO, or e-mail answer to vernadunlop@yahoo.com Prizes will be sent to those sending in answers.