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It was one of those days that you’d
call perfect. The sun was shining, puffy white clouds floated lazily
across a blue sky, and it was just the right temperature. Not many days
like this happened in the savanna, so the animals enjoyed it. The
hippopotamus waddled into the river and splashed about, sinking down under
the water. The only thing you could see was their ears, eyes, and tops of
their heads. Fish jumped out of the water and then dove down to the reeds
that lined the riverbed. Butterflies spread their wings and fluttered from
flower to flower. Dragonflies danced through the trees, enjoying the
summer day.
Chike, Juma, Chiamaka, Kisha, Faraji,
and Jabari sat among the grasses lining the riverbank. They watched the
hippos playing in the water. "Do you think one of those hippos could
swallow me?" Jabari wondered.
"I don’t think they could swallow a
whole lion," Chike replied, "but they could eat a monkey like me."
Faraji croaked. His tongue flew out
of his mouth and wrapped around a fly that was buzzing near his face.
GULP! "Hippos are vegetarians," he said.
The two mice started to squeak.
"That’s good. I’ll bet a hippo could fit a hundred mice in its fat belly,"
Keisha laughed.
"I feel lazy today," the monkey
said. "My mom took Chipo to find some bananas. I didn’t want to go with
them. I’m glad I didn’t. Now I can sit by the river with my friends."
Juma yawned. A growl came out of his
mouth. "It’s nice to have friends, isn’t it? We can sit together and enjoy
a beautiful day. We don’t have to do anything else except be ourselves. I
love living in the savanna. One day, when I’m not a cub anymore, I want to
do some exploring. I hear there’s a great mountain north of here. Maybe
I’ll go there and see what it’s like, but for now, I’m content where I
am."
All day long they sat at the river.
It was just one of those lazy days where friends should enjoy each others
company not doing anything at all. |
