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[monkeyland-blog1]

The First Day

   On Monday, 27 December, Monkey Martyshkina woke up in a very good mood. And that wasn’t strange. You might think that Monkey is a cheerful animal and she is always happy. In that case, you will be mostly right. However, on dull weekdays she usually gets up with an unpleasant smile on her face and thus you won’t put her into a category of happy animals. So why was she in good spirits then? Easy to explain: Monday was the first day of her winter holidays and on such days every animal-pupil in Monkeyland has the time of the life whether we refer to a bear, to a tiger, or even a penguin. However, the exception proves the rule: two best students of Monkeyland School №15, Duck and Rabbit, always feel unhappy and miserable during the holidays. But never mind, you’ll meet them later.

   And so Monkey sat up on her big bed and yawned, opening her mouth so wide that she might have swallowed the poor school caretaker, who is as tiny as a swallow (In fact, Mr. Perov, the caretaker, is a bird, but not a swallow.) She glanced at the small black and white alarm clock, which was hiding behind the leaves of a Phalaenopsis – her grandpa’s favourite plant – it was nearly 10 o’clock. Not very late for Monkey, she often gets up after 11-12 am on holidays. But now she woke up earlier and didn’t want to stay in bed anymore despite that the pinky pillow was so soft. So she got up. While dressing, Monkey gazed in the mirror; to say the truth, she is similar to all the monkeys hear in Monkeyland: she has a lot of medium brown hair around her limbs that are a pale shade of brown, strong muscular arms and legs, enormous feet and hands. Monkey is also very tall as for her age. She is now nearly 150 centimeters tall and she is only 12 years old and studies in sixth form. For example, Monkey’s classmate Duck (yes, that same con!) is more than a meter shorter! Thereby, she dressed into a pair of blue jeans and her favourite yellow T-shirt with the words ‘Super Monkey’ on it; smiled, making a thumb-up gesture in the mirror and rushed out of the room into the corridor, both spacious and long. Firstly, Monkey went to the bathroom and washed. Then her aim was to find Grandpa… But that was easy! She perfectly knew where he was – the place, which animals visit briefly in the morning to feel their bellies with something edible, the kitchen! The aroma of recently cooked banana porridge, coming from there, only confirmed Monkey’s supposing. So without hesitation she opened the door of the kitchen with a bang and a cheerful exclamation: ‘Good mornin’, Grandpa!’

  Grandpa’s tranquil snoring above the daily newspaper might have been disorganized or, better to say, disturbed by Monkey’s energetic voice in the silence if he hadn’t noticed her feet hitting the floor just a few moments ago. And so that he heard that wild noise, which reminded him of the old buddies brother elephants Pino and Piko running a marathon, this relaxing condition wasn’t neither disturbed nor disorganized. He only leaned back on the rolling-chair, closing the paper and placing the reading glasses on his forehead, and greeted Monkey: “Good morning! How’s everything?”

  ‘Excellent! I jumped from a very high tower and flew in the air for a minute or two in one of my dreams!’ - Monkey made some wild movement with her arms.

  ‘Ah’- Grandfather coughed and laughed. ’That can be explained by the fact that you were growing up while you very asleep.’

  ‘Maybe. I was also chased by some huge bananas..’ – now Grandpa looked even more amused for he had no explanations for such sort of dreams. They both laughed.

  ‘..and I kicked Belobrys!’ –Monkey finished.

  ‘I can’t understand why you don’t like that bear so much! Hatred will not bring any good!’ – said Grandfather, now looking serious. ‘I’m not telling you to make friends with Belobrys and other bears but you must not loathe them, that’s my word!’

  ‘Yeah, I know, it was only a dream!’ – agreed Monkey, scratching her head slightly, - ‘But he was nasty during this school semester!’

  ‘Oh, I think that dreams are the production of your real thoughts and emotions. And you should avoid conflicts anyway! Especially with bears!’ – Grandpa was about to give Monkey a small lecture but it was time for him to go to work and it was the beginning of the holidays – the most unappropriated time for morals. In addition, Monkey made such a nice face that he just smiled and said: ‘Never the least, I’ve already cooked breakfast. You can have it, but firstly…’

  ’.. wash my hands. Yeah, I know. I’ve already done it,’ – said Monkey, showing up her clean hands. ‘Thanks for the porridge, by the way. I really love it.” – she added, putting a white napkin decorated with green peas around her neck.

  ‘You’re welcome. Now…’ –said Grandpa, standing up and stretching a bit. ‘I must hurry for work’

  “Ok.”  - Monkey took her place at the dining table.

  And a few seconds later she was already tasting this porridge. Not a kind of delicious meal but very tasty. Especially for primates.

  While her daughter was eating, Grandpa left the flat. He is a retired seaman and now works in the Monkeyland Soviet. This job is connected with different papers and meetings. Not very interesting as for Monkey but Grandpa on the average works 4-5 hours a day and has a lot of free time. Moreover, the payment is good as for a pensioner.

  And so it was nearly noon and Monkey was eating and meanwhile looking around the kitchen. What about the interior?  One wall covered by light green wallpaper with two beautiful pictures on it, the other three walls tiled, the furniture (the cooker, microwave, different cupboards etc.) all clean and beautiful, one big window with a view of the yard. Monkey likes this room and in fact, she loves this entire place. By the way, although this apartment is big and spacious, only two animals live here – Monkey and her grandparent. Monkey’s parents have business in the Big City – the richest part of Monkeyland so they usually stay in a house near their job. And Monkey mostly stays with her Grandpa, goes to school here, has a lot of friends in this area.

   In fact, “Monkeyland” is the name of both the country and the capital-city where Martyshkin family leaves. The capital occupies a large area of land and is divided into 5 parts: the Big City – the main one, where all the government places are situated (including Monkeyland Soviet so Grandpa usually gets to work by bus), Portu – the part near the sea with its havens and ports, the Eastern, Northern and the Western part, where Monkey Grandfather’s place is. This Western part is maybe the most peculiar one because you can find everything here: beautiful nature, old buildings and historical places, some pieces of modern architecture. This place isn’t busy at all so you can enjoy yourself during a peaceful walk in the park. Although there is a school and some clubs here so that you won’t get bored. And maybe the oddest fact: there are more bears than other animals (even monkeys!) in this part of the capital despite the fact that Monkeyland is the Motherland of primates, which is quite obvious.

[monkeyland-blog1]

P2

   15-20 minutes after breakfast Monkey was already out in the street because it is some sort of a crime to stay indoors when the weather is fine and you are on holidays. Maybe ‘fine’ isn’t the most appropriate word, the weather was really fantastic as for winter! Soft snow all around, shining brightly in the sun and making you forget all the troubles and feel pleased with everything in this world, even though blinding your eyes a bit; dark blue sky with not a single sign of a cloud on it; a little frosty but not that much as to get a frostbite… Monkey was walking along Tiger Street, which starts in the Western part and ends only in the Eastern one, thus crossing the whole Monkeyland-City and being the longest in the capital. There are some two-, three- and even five-floored block of flats (the sort of place Monkey and her grandpa dwell) and a ruin of an old castle (one of the historical places) in the beginning of Tiger Street. The houses are mostly on the right side, there is a field and a planting on the left. But if you go further along Tiger Street (and that was Monkey’s destination) you can face an area with both small old houses and recently build big new cottages, which embrace everyone with their size and architecture, and seem rather odd in the neighborhood of old dreary, scanty houses. Luckily, Monkey’s friend and classmate Druzhock Belokurin lives in a brand-new brick cottage.

  She quickly walked along the street and reached her friend’s house. It has only one floor (some houses nearby are really huge in comparison with Druzhock’s) though there are three big rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen on this floor, an attic and a garage. The whole house is quite ordinary but as for Monkey, it is simply marvelous. In addition, our friend also thinks that the best garden in the world is Druzhock’s garden. There’s nothing special about it, too: a hedge going along the brick fence, a path comes from the house door, crosses the whole garden and comes to an end near the garage, some apple and pear trees and two benches aside this path. But Monkey, Druzhock and their best friends Tiger and Tuzik have a lot of unforgettable emotions and memories connected with this quite ordinary garden as they spend a lot of time here, even in winter. They often talk, play, make up different things here.

  So, Monkey perfectly knew that Tiger (a guy older than her in a year) and Druzhock – her lifelong buddies – were there… And indeed, the striped member of the cat species (the largest of them as a fact) and the white dog with black spots (probably he has the Dalmatian breed genes though he surely isn’t a pure one) were in the center of the garden, talking and laughing just as they always do when they are together! 

   Druzhock, who had already noticed her coming up, ran to the gate and opened it. In an instant Monkey rushed into the garden (fortunately, she didn’t run into the block fence, so that she was near to), taking both Tiger and Druzhock into a huge hug and clapping their backs with joy. “Mornin’, guys!” – she shouted. “Yeah, great morning!” – said Tiger, getting out from Monkey’s embrace  and pulling on his navy blue hat, which fell over his eyes as a result of Monkey’s hugs. ”The weather is really awesome, we can do anything we want!” – added Druzhock, straightening his coat that also slightly slid down from Monkey’s friendly clapping.

   ‘I think the bears are looking forward for our snowballs!’ – grinned Tiger after a while when the three friends finished exchanging gleeful exclamations that were a result of their meeting (They haven’t seen each other for more than 12 hours, that’s a long time indeed as for lifelong buddies!).

  ‘Yeah,’ – agreed Monkey, but without real delight in her voice. ‘Er, I think we’d better go sledging or skiing. Never mind looking for those nasty bears or waiting for them to come. I stand for the idea that they’ll come themselves when we really need them’.

  ‘So I’m going for my new sledge, - said Druzhock, rushing towards his garage, - You must see and try it! Really awesome!’

  ‘A new sledge?’ – asked Monkey in surprise though Druzhock was already far near the garage and didn’t hear her.

  ‘Yeah, haven’t seen it, too, yet, - said Tiger, - must be something really nice, - How’s your Etibeti by the way?’

  ‘Cool, - answered Monkey a bit sarcastically, the two of them following Druzhock. - I’ve finally finished the first level. That was very, very hard!’

  ‘Oh, I am sure that me completing that one was only an accident’, - said Tiger, thinking about the first level of “Etibeti 4 World of War” – a computer game about war, - Go playing online today! .. in the evening.’

  ‘Ok. Its gotta be easier, - Monkey sighed, but then her attention was taken completely by the brand-new sledge of an enormous size, painted red and blue, with blades shinning brighter than the snow itself in the winter sun, - Wow! Simply wonderful!’ – she shouted.

  ‘Here we go!’ – Druzhock looked at the sledge with joy. Monkey and Tiger came up to the garage, too. ‘I don’t know how about skiing, – said Druzhock thoughtfully, - it’ll take a lot of time to prepare the equipment.’

  ‘And don’t really want to go back home for my skiing costume..’ – said Tiger.

  ‘Me too!’ – agreed Monkey, scratching her head.

  ‘Never mind! Sledging is also wonderful! And we can find something else to do in the park – it’s always a fantastic place foe different adventures!’ – Druzhock summarized their discussion. ‘Luckily, I’ve got some older sledges somewhere here..’ – he added, searching among the stuff his father kept in the garage (different tools, machines etc.).  

  Druzhock quickly found two pairs of older sledges (one smaller for Tiger, the other – bigger for Monkey) and a few minutes later the three friends were on their way towards the park where they usually sledge or ski in winter. Monkey, Druzhock and Tiger were moving and pulling the sledges fast. To say the truth, this park is not very far away from Druzhock’s house, which is situated on some hills aside Tiger street. Just behind those hills starts the area, which you can without any doubt call a part of the park. But this same place is a lowland – very marshy and difficult to go through as there are a lot of weeping willows, old stumps (mostly willow too) with a terrifying amount of shoots and bushes with sharp branches. More than that there isn’t a single plot of dry land – only water and mud everywhere. So it was wise of our three friends, so as it is referring to other animals, to reach the park by more comfortable although distant paths.  It would be worth telling that the last known animal who tried to get through this marshland was Monkey’s classmate and enemy Lupoglazyi. He is often quite fearful and was running away from some older guys. Of course, they didn’t follow him but Lupoglazyi wanted to get through the marshland and to the other side of the park. ‘That would be safer,’ – he thought. Not a good idea. Especially on a November evening. He nearly stuck in the marsh. Luckily, he got out but the water was very cold so he caught a cold, had a fever during several nights that passed after that and coughed for three weeks. Only real bear spirit, which is hiding inside Lupoglazyi and showing itself only when he definitely needs it, helped him to recover…

  ‘How’s Tuzik? – asked Monkey as they passed on eof the huge cottages and came up to the beginning of the park wall, which surrounds most of the civilized part of the park.

  ‘Oh, he’s fine for sure. Probably a bit fed up with his grandmother’s meat patties, - said Druzhock and added, - Well, the last time I called he was certainly choking with one.’

   ‘Ahhaa,’ – Monkey and Tiger laughed.

  ‘Though everything else’s normal, just as it always is at his Grandma’s place. He continues studying Math, he simply loves that stuff… something monophanical in it, isn’t it? Maybe? But he has a lot more chance of getting a fee in the university or collage than all three of us do, you know. But the amount of those patties…’ – Druzhock continued (Tuzik Sobakin, Monkey;s classmate and a friend of our three fellows, usually goes to his Grandma’s place in Doggie – a small village in the east of Dogland. There both much (like all the house work, cleaning, gardening etc.) and nothing to do there (no Internet, no computers, except only for the one in the mayor’s office). And as you see, his Granma always thinks that he doesn’t eat enough, though Tuzik doesn’t object)

  ‘You are simply jealous!’ –grinned Tiger.

  ‘Jealous? – Duzhock laughed, - Maybe I am, or maybe I’m not. Just wishing the best to my fellow. See, he isn’t slim enough and a lot of food won’t make him fitter. By the way, I don’t like eating the way he does, as you know.’

  ‘He’s clever, maybe he doesn’t even need to be that fit’ – said Monkey thoughtfully. Meanwhile, the animals passed one of the entrances to the park. However, the gate to this road was closed and that wasn’t strange at all. In fact, that was a path, which isn’t used much nowadays. So, our friends went on walking and talking.

  ‘Maybe, but we lost our last match versus the bears because of his mistakes. He was better at football when he was slimmer!’ – said Druzhock disappointedly.

  ‘His mistakes weren’t the only reason we lost,’ – said Monkey ironically, - ‘If someone, not to mention his name, had scored from a penalty and a dead ball situation, we would have won the score back..’

  ‘Oh, not to mention his name! You’ve trolled me with that stuff thousands of times! I know I was bad on the field that day but you let Belobrys score twice!’ – said Tiger, he was angry a bit, to say the truth.

  ‘Oh, don’t be angry, my dear friend, I wasn’t good, too. However, we can hate Belobrys and the bears but we have to admit that his second goal was brilliant. A strong strike, the ball hit the bar and flew straight into the goal – he didn’t leave me any chances!’

   ‘Yeah, maybe the best goal the bears ever scored!’ – agreed Druzhock.

   ‘Ok, Ok!’ – said Tiger for he wasn’t really angry with Monkey. Best friends often make fun of each other - that’s normal. Anyway, all of them: Monkey, Tiger, Druzhock and Tuzik knew that they could have played better in their match versus the bears. Their lose 2:0 wasn’t a result of somebody’s concrete mistake. It’s all complex.

  The three friends were on half way to the park. They were just passing the gym with all the horizontal, parallel bars and simulators in the yard nearby. Of course, there is even more trainers inside but doing sport outside is doubtless better. Without much hesitation, Monkey, Druzhock and Tiger decided to train a bit. Despite the fact that it was quite cold, they put off their coats, jackets and mittens, and began doing different exercises on the bars. The animals did many interesting and useful things…

  When Monkey, Tiger and Druzhock were about to leave the sportsground the door of the gymnasium opened and Tiger’s classmate Motia Begemotov went out. ‘Hello!’ – he said, smiling though looking serious as he always does. In fact, Motia is the incarnation of health, strength and calmness. He also looked cool in his muscular T-shirt out there in the cold. ‘I saw you training. Well done, guys!’- Motia said as he shook the animals hands. Monkey, Tiger and Druzhock looked pleased.

  ‘Motia’s cool!’ –said Monkey at a length, as they continued walking along the brick park wall, which is not only tall but also long, - ‘He goes in for sports, doesn’t smoke and drink! He’s especially cool in comparison with his brother though. I can even say I like him.’ Moinkey smilled in a strange way.

  ‘Yeah, by the way, Motia’s twin will possibly be expelled from our school,’ – said Tiger, who wasn’t pleased with monkey’s last words, though he didn’t know why exactly. Anyway, he decided to turn their conversation to Motia’s brother topic for he had something interesting to say.

  ‘What?’ – both Monkey and Druzhock looked surprised. ‘We don’t know something important!’

  ‘Yes, as a fact my dear classmate…’ – Tiger put a sarcastic emphasize on the last words.’…did much harm on the last school disco. Crasavchick told me everything,’ – he explained for none of the three friends has been to the disco and Monkey and Druzhock were a bit surprised by Tiger talking about it. ‘Well, Hippo Begemotov provoked a big tussle between our pupils and the students of lyceum №3, who also came to the disco. The fight was stopped after a while by the huge efforts of the duty staff and some adequate senior students. To his misfortune some of the fighters complained to the teachers that it was exactly Hippo, who called out the lyceum students with bad names and gave a huge amount of kicks to the youngsters. And the worst thing for Motia’s twin is that he was drunk as hell and the teachers noticed that just after he was accused of provoking. For some reason it’s their own fault: they must have confiscated the alcohol Hippo brought to the disco. But never mind… Our dear deputyheadmistress Svetlana Ivanovna was informed about the incident very soon and… since Hippo has had a lot of misdeeds during the last school months Svetka and the headmaster decided to call his parents for a conversation on Monday, that means today… When Svetka telephoned the twins father they had a very long strict talk so … Motia told Crasavchick and thereafter Crasavchock told me that possibly Hippo will be expelled and has to look for another educational institution.’

  ‘I’ll be glad if this idiot will be turned out from our school!’- said Druzhock cordially, he just remembered how Hippo locked him in the school toilet with some younger students a few weeks ago but he decided not to tell this unpleasant story to his friends.

  ‘Yeah, that’ll be great!’ –agreed Monkey… ’What about you, guy? – she asked Druhzock at a length, - Are your parents still angry with the grades?’

 ‘Oh, yes,’ – Druzhock sighed. ‘They are very bothered about my “4” in Maths and Physics … and Chemistry. “So important subjects” they say! Damn school, I hate it! … But they do not understand my bad mark in Music, I’m good in it, they know.’

  ‘Oh, don’t pay attention, - said Tiger, - Svetka teaches this subject.’

  ‘Yeah, that explains everything,’ – agreed Druzhock grinning.

  ‘What about your marks? – Monkey asked Tiger after a while; she smiled ironically, - You’re very nearly good this semester, weren’t you?’

  ‘Oh Mon, you’re got me with this same question a goddamed number of times!’ – Tiger said irritatingly. ‘It’s not that hard to be good when your class con is such a cool guy as Peter is.’

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ – Monkey agreed, still smiling.

[monkeyland-blog1]

P3

   And so, a 20 minute walk and the three friends reached their final destination – the place they call the Big Hills. It’s located in the beginning of the park and presents itself as one huge hill covered with trees and bushes placed in chaotic order all around its descents and several smaller hills beside the big one. In fact, this place is very good to sledge: there are a lot of different slopes, also pits, trees, bushes and stumps, which you should avoid unless you want a bump on the head or some other sort of accident.

  So, the animals spent all the day there, sledging, making up different competitions, playing snowballs – having fun on a not very cold snowy holiday. A couple of hours some discomfort in the stomachs told them that they were hungry. It could have been a big problem if Super Tiger (and that is Tiger’s surname not a nick, although he is definitely an awesome animal) hadn’t managed to save some chocolates, which Grandmother gave him as a gift for good grades. But luckily he had saved them in the pocket of his jacket (that same type of a jacket with a big amount of pockets). And although Monkey and Druzhock were not so good at school and their ralatives weren’t so grateful, and they sometimes even mocked at Tiger’s school achievements, the three friends shared the chocolates as it is usual for good fellows.

  A few seconds after Tiger gave Druzhock his part of the chocolate, the sound of a train moving along the railway disturbed their hearing. Oh yes, a usual type of noise for Monkeyland. The train station building, which was built in the XIX century and certainly is a great piece of architecture, is located in the Big City; from it, several railway lines spread into different directions and a few tracks go just through the park. So indeed an old-fashioned diesel-electric locomotive was pushing eight passenger coaches in the away-from Monkeyland direction while pieces of Milka chocolate were melting in Monkey, Druzhock and Tiger’s mouths.

  The train was moving rather fast… Through and out of the park… Along the fields and meadows covered with ice and snow. The train was moving further and further away from Monkey, Duzhock, Tiger and Mokeyland itself. The views were changing and the sky was also changing. Firstly, some white cumulus appeared on it, then it was replaced by a rather big amount of dark blue clowds. And after all Monkeyland’s blue sky was completely covered by a dull grey stratus of an enormous size.

  A small railway station and a town situated miles away from Monkeyland was the train’s final detination. About 8 hours and it’ll be there. Anyway, this same station wasn’t an interesting one: no station building, only a few railway lines, three booking-offices and some benches under sheds for waiting.

  At the time Monkey and her friends were snaking and the train was only at the begining of its way, the station yard was empty. There were no queues, no animals were waiting near the benches. Ahh, no! There was one… A grey-haired teenager-bear in a pair of ripped jeans, an old sports jacket and a dark grew shapka. However, this object could have drawn much attention (if there were other animals in the yard) for his behaviour was odd. This bear looked very thoughtful, he was walking around all the time with his front paws behind the back and mumbling something to himself. More fortunately than unfortunatelly, nobody could hear his mutter. Only the railwaysman, who was passing by, heard something like “we need revenge” and “we’ll show our strength”. However, the tired worker didn’t pay attention to these words.

  By the way, what was that teener doing out there in the station yard? Maybe waiting for a train to Monkeyland-City? Maybe… Who knows.

   At that time our three friends continued playing in and with the snow. Monkey made an enormous snow fortress and Tiger and Druzhock attacked it with snowballs (Unfortunately no bear came to the park so they had to play snowballs themselves). Only when it started getting dark – and the sun goes down quite early here in Monkeyland (the climate here is temperate continental) – the animals set up on their way home.

  It was late… The three friends made phone calls to their relatives so that they won’t get angry or worried. Monkey, Tiger and Druzhock also decided to make a short cut. With some difficulties (the animals had to climb some hills and get through trees and bushes with their bare but sometimes pointed branches and fir needles) they were on the path out of the park in about 10 minutes. That same path they passed by in the morning is not a main one so the animals don’t use it often. There are a few abandoned buildings on the right side that were clubs or meetinghouses half a century ago when this path was frequently used. Now there are no windows or doors, some rubbish inside and the walls decorated with graffiti and some interesting writings about different animals. The path itself is surrounded by trees on both sides: not decorating type but old twisted, bent or branched tree trunks. To say the truth, it’s a little scary to walk along this road in the dark, especially alone.

   Just when our three friends reached the path Druzhock said ‘Hey, guys! It’s a little scary, isn’t it?’

 It was Druzhock’s mistake. ‘Scary? – Tiger gave out a laugh, - Are you frightened, my buddy?’ He bent closely to Druzhock and added: ‘Let’s tell ghost stories!’

  ‘Ghost stories?!’ – asked Druzhock in astonishment, no doubt, he was a little scared. But then he comforted himself and said: ‘You start. It’s your idea.’

   ‘Uchuuu!’ – Monkey whistled excitedly. She was going to hear something interesting.

 ‘Ok, - agreed Tiger and began his story: There is a legend about an old village on the north of Tigerland. It is believed to be a real home for ghosts, witches and other evil ones. At least 10 ghosts have been seen there. Some of the locals swear they ran into an old carriage, which was quite real, to say the truthmaterial, with four ghosts in it and no riders. Those four used to be rich and live in the village some time ago. The other villager once saw a spirit of a bear soldier, who seemingly was one of the bear army from Monkeyland wars in the 18th century, with a relict blade in his hands. In addition, someone saw a very famous merchant that lived more than 100 years ago. This poor animal once visited the haunted village while he was alive and was never seen again after that.’ Tiger finished the story and looked satisfied. His eyes sparkled with joy, he put on pace, he even unzipped and then zipped again his leather jacket.

   Druzhock looked even more scared. But Monkey just smiled. ‘Be careful or you’ll catch a cold,’ – she made fun of her friend. ‘Your story is interesting but it’s too scary to be truth. Here’s mine: not so frightening but more mysterious and realistic.’

  ‘Oh, come on!’ – Tiger grinned.

  ‘Here it goes… There was an old castle in Ratlay, a country where gnawers natively live. It was built more than a thousand years ago in a peaceful locality. Nobody knows to whom the castle originally belong bot in the end of the 15thcentury it was owned by two mice, who were believed to be witches. At that time a lot of mysterious things happened: some animals disappeared, some were found dead… But a few centuries ago a strange thing happened, on the night of October 31st the castle disappeared and was never found or seen again.’

  ‘Nonsense, - said Druzhock, - It can’t be true!’ But he wasn’t so sure and was looking for Tiger’s support.

  ‘Yes, I agree’, - said Tiger, he was just going to explain something when Monkey burst into laughter. ‘Of course, it’s not true! I made this story up on our way along this creepy path’, - she said slyly. ‘I’m good in storytelling, am I not?

   ‘Oh, yes! That was brilliant. I nearly believed in that, you know?’ – said Druzhock, looking relieved.

   The three friends finally reached the end of the path and got through a small entrance in the closed gate. They were in Tiger Street again. Monkey, Tiger and Druzhock talked a little on their way home, but they mostly laughed. In about 10 minutes Druzhock’s brick cottage was again in front of them. Monkey and Tiger heiped Druzhock to put the sledges back in the garage and turned to say goodbye.

  ‘OK guys, bye for now, - said Druzhock, shaking hands with his friends, - see you tomorrow.’

  ‘Or maybe this evening, online, plating Etibeti?’ – smiled Tiger, holding his hand.

 ‘Oh, I really don’t know,’ – said Duzhock, confused, - ‘I wanted to get in touch with Tuzik first, then play the accordion and then… OK. We’ll see. Maybe… Bye!’ And he turned into the garden.

[monkeyland-blog1]

P4

   Monkey and Tiger carried on their way home. Just a minute later, they were passing Monkey Lane, a small narrow road, which goes near Monkey’s house, when some strange noises made them stop. Those incomprehensible sounds were coming from the lane, which was not only narrow but also dark. In fact, there couldn’t be any light in the windows of the first house on the left because it was abandoned. As for the other houses, their owners were either asleep or out. Moreover, the lantern at the beginning of the street was broken and another one could be seen only further along the lane. Anyway, the two friends peered through the dark trying to understand the origin of the noises. After a quite short while, when their eyes got used to the dark, Monkey and Tiger recognized two figures moving along the lane.

  The first one was a silhouette of an ordinary bear. Neither tall nor short, he had strong legs, muscular arms and a haired head with small ellipse ears. Yes, a typical bear, although he looked stronger than his contemporaries did. And older than Monkey or Tiger. The second silhouette was also a bear older than our friends, but this figure was very odd. The bear had a strange physique: long thin legs and huge feet, a big fat body with a beer belly, skinny arms and big oval hands, and a head of an enormous size with the same ellipse ears as the only definite proof that he really was a bear.  

   Without any doubts, Monkey and Tiger knew who these two were – Kostia Shyrnikov and Michailo Potapych, better known by their nicknames – Kostiphan and Teletub. And these two were moving towards Monkey and Tiger! Kostia was holding a bottle in his hand (probably beer or something stronger) and singing some songs that were either pirate or simply hooligan. Misha was shouting “Yo-oo-oo-oo!” loudly in a high squeaky voice and perhaps smoking. The two bears approached and while Monkey and Tiger hesitated whether to stay (Not a good variant because even his nick told that Teletub’s reputation among the Monkeyland society was dreadful) or continue their way home, Misha saw them. ‘Yo-oo!!!’ – he shouted gleefully and even more squeaky. ‘Just look who we’ve got here, Kostiphan! .. Striiiped! And let me guess, – he coughed, imitating some kind of thoughtfulness, - Mooonkey Martyshkina, kiss my ass!’

  The two bears came up to Monkey and Tiger. Not a pleasant meeting, not at all. Though Misha shouted gleefully ‘Hiii!!!! How’s your stripy life, Striped?’

  No doubt, Tiger was in angry with Misha for calling him with that stupid nickname, which was only used among his enemies. But he calmed down and said in German so that Teletub doesn’t understand (learning languages is often useful): ‘Alles in ordnung, arcshloch!’

  ‘Damn that stupid language! We don’t understand it!’ – said Kostia, angrily because he is the one, who doesn’t like using difficult constructions even in his native language, nothing good to mention about learning foreign ones. However, to Tiger’s surprise Misha just smiled widely. Surely, he didn’t understand the bad meaning of Tiger’s message, but he wasn’t irritated like his fellow. ‘The best things can be told, or in my situation asked, the same way in all the languages, Kostiphan!’ – he said, no doubt studying to enter the university made his speech clearer and better than it was before. Then he approached to Tiger, put out his big hand and said: ‘Er.. Aine-eine Sigarette-Zigarette, please.’

  Now Tiger clenched his fists and replied rudely: ‘No way. I do not smoke and damage my health like you, Teletub!’ He put a very clear emphasize on the last word – the nick Misha hates even more than Tiger hates being called Striped. The bigheaded bear (a big head does not always include a good brain) seemed to be both angry and disappointed. Maybe simply drunk because his face looked very strange representing all his emotions. So Misha moved even closer with his disappointedly angry face, perhaps he was going to punch Tiger, who took a defensive position with Monkey in the same condition on his left side; but then suddenly he stopped, moved back and grinned gleefully (his face looked even more odd and stupid now). Seemingly, he wasn’t so drunk and didn’t want to get into a tussle. He patted Tiger on his striped head, while Monkey’s buddy stood still too surprised with this strange behavior to respond, and turned away, leaving. ‘Come on, let’s go!’ – he addressed Kostia.

  What about the yellow-haired bear (Oh yeah, Kostia’s hair really had that strange color)? He was watching this scene as if it was a football match: now and then sipping bear and swearing loudly. But the match was over before Kostia could finish a half of the bottle consistence and represent a third part of all the swear words he knew. He yawned lazily and followed Misha along Tiger Street. Monkey and Tiger also turned to leave when suddenly Telebub called out them with some bad names. The two friends were about to follow the nasty bears but they were not quite sure. Firstly, Kostia was also strong enough to cope with them both. Secondly, the bears were already far away, on the corner of Bobryskin Avenue, which runs perpendicular to Tiger Street. So all ended this way: Misha showed Monkey and Tiger, who couldn’t consider an appropriate respond at once, a very bad gesture and the two bears disappeared in the darkness.

  Tiger flew into a rage. ‘How dare you?’ – he shouted, although nobody heard him. Nobody, except Monkey and an old lady, who was watching them from a window and perhaps murmuring to herself that the new generation acts in an unacceptable way. ‘Don’t pay attention. Teletub is stupid, especially this year. He thinks that he is cool, entering university and all that stuff. Next time we’ll show him all our strength.’ – Monkey tried to comfort her fellow.

  ‘I will not stand his behavior,’ – said Tiger through clenched teeth. ‘Especially when it refers to me’

  ‘Oh, forget it! You could have beaten that Teletub: he’s a drunk weakling. But I’m not sure we could defeat Kostia, that nasty bear is much stronger,’ – continued Monkey calmly.

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ – Tiger spat on the ground; he was still angry but now agreed with Monkey.

  By the way, the old lady couldn’t hear anything from her apartment of course. But she was sure that the tiger out there in the snowy dark yard was speaking out his mind and that the monkey was listening carefully to everything he said. ‘I don’t quite understand that Kostia. He gets along with Teletub, smokes, drinks.. I mean, the nature had given him excellent physique.. He is much stronger than Teletub.. Not to mention that weakling.. Kostia is much stronger than Belobrys and his gang. He could have been a good wrestler.. and yet, he continues damaging his health!’ – Tiger turned his fury into words.

  ‘Oh, damn him! He is a bear anyway and bears are often stupid. And he gets along with Teletub!’ – Monkey was glad that a short speech made Tiger feel better. The two animals were smiling now. ‘Ok, bye for now!’ – Monkey  said for she was already at the door of her house. ‘Bye!’ - they shook hands. Tiger continued his way home while his friend ran up the stairs (Monkey leaves in the flat № 12 on the third floor).

[monkeyland-blog1]

P5

    Tiger lived nearby, in a block of flats just like Monkey. Also this one was older and smaller: only two floors and eight flats.

    Nevertheless, Tiger’s neighbors are quite peculiar. 5 of the 8 flats are occupied by his relatives: 1) Tiger’s least favourite teacher Svetlana Ivanovna Pryn’ko; 2) Tiger’s worst enemy and in addition classmate – Belobrys Misha; 3) Tiger’s classmate Crasavchick Potzeluev, who is funny though sometimes bothersome; 4) Duck Carasenko, Monkey’s classmate and the best pupil of the class, who is much more bothersome than Crasavchick just because he is crazy about school, different morals and rules, in fact, he is a real monophan, a word the animals use referring to cons; 5) Piter Petegru, who is, to say the truth, the most adequate of Tiger’s wide circle of neighbor acquaintances, despite of being his classmate and a good pupil. But at that moment, Tiger was thinking about his daily adventures, Teletub and Etibeti – a computer game popular among Monkey’s friends. He was just going to come home and rest a bit, and then play online with Monkey. But when he stepped into the entrance, full of different and in a lot of ways not very pleasant acquaintances, he nearly ran into one of them. There was still no light on the first floor so Tiger nearly bumped into Crasavchick, who was sitting on the stairs. ‘Watch your step, my dear fellow,’ – the red-eared dog said in a calm voice. ‘I’m very sorry.. By the way, why didn’t you turn on the lights, it’s really dark here,’ – answered Tiger, groping for the switch . With the light Tiger’s surprise grew to a very high level. He could now see Crasavchick clearly and his dear classmate wasn’t simply spitting on the ceiling: he was holding a big tasty pancake in his front paws and eating it. ‘What’s the hell are you doing here?’ – were Tiger’s words. ‘Eating,’ – said Crasavchick even more calmly then the first time. ‘Did the sudden light make you blind for a moment?’ – he continued in his usual cheer energetic voice. ‘Happens sometimes, no doubt. Your eyes should have used to it and now you can see that I’m eating, that’s all. Nothing’s strange, isn’t it?’

    Tiger hesitated for his has known Crasavchick for a long time, just since the moment when the red-eared dog arrived in Monkeyland with his family. They came from Dogland and settled in a flat right beneath Tiger’s. Crasavchick’s best friend is Slavick Mamaev – a guy from Tripoli, who comes to Monkeyland-town time from time (especially on holidays). He got along with Crasavchick because their families are very close to each other and the two animals used to spend a lot of time together in childhood (Slavick used to live in Monkeyland then, too), played different games, did a lot of interesting stuff. All in all, Crasavchick and Slavick grew up together. Now they don’t see each other every day though they go to the same football session (Crasavchick and Slavick are crazy about this game: they both play pretty well, watch football on TV and go to football matches). Seemingly, in this case distance only strengthens their friendship.  

  Crasavchick’s second best friend is Motia Begemotov – his classmate, who is also keen on football and other sports. More than that, Crasavchick isn’t a conflict person at all: he can easily communicate with both Monkey and her fellows and with Misha-Kostia duet. He can even get in touch with the bears like Belobrys, Dracosha, Lupoglazyi and Bobrov, who have very peculiar characters (Belobrys in the biggest measure, Lupoglazyi – in the least).

  But Crasavchick is a great joker – he likes playing tricks and making fun of his friends. Hiding different things from behind your nose, making trips to his enemies in the corridor, trolling different animals in the Internet, blowing up detonators in front of Duck and Rabbit – that’s his jam(However, he never does anybody a really bad turn)

   And for that reason Tiger knew that Crasavchick wasn’t sitting there on the second stair and eating pancakes without any purpose. It was surely part of a joke. Of course, having a brief snack on the way home or out is normal, but sitting and eating in the rather cold entrance on a winter evening… very strange! Moreover, there was a plate covered with a big amount of fresh greasy stains on the second stair beside Crasavchick. So, there were a lot of pancakes so Crasavchick should have eaten them (in that case he’ll be sick in an hour or two) or…

  ‘Never mind!’ –thought Tiger. ‘What funny thing could he do with those rich pancakes? Maybe, it’s not even a joke. A normal person wouldn’t have been eating in the entrance when you can eat at home, with comfort, watching your favourite TV show. But Crasavchick isn’t that normal. And he could have been trying to draw somebody’s attention, by the way.’

  So, Tiger decided that his thoughts were useless, said ‘nothing’s strange’, stepped over the first two stairs occupied by his classmate and went up to his flat. To his surprise, Crasavchick finished the pancake at one gulp and hurried to leave. That abrupt hurrying made Tiger doubt that there was no connection between the pancakes and Crasavchick’s usual tricks. There was no evidence of a joke on the first floor, though. Well, the number of the fourth flat, where Belobrys leaves, was missing but there’s nothing strange in that indeed: (Teletub knocked it down when he was drunk and angry with Belobrys for some reason. Belobrys’ mother was thereafter angry with Misha and knocked him down the stairs. As a result, Misha knocked his head and had a headache for some time).

   But then Tiger reached the landing between the floors, where a quick glance through the entrance window made him stop. Crasavchick was already standing in the yard, right under a shining lantern. He was grinning. His smile became even wider when Crasavchick saw Tiger in the window. He held out the empty plate with greasy spots in front of the chest (just like a chef presenting a delicious meal).

 Now Tiger was sure that there was a trick. He turned around and made his way up to the second floor. Just then he understood what kind of joke it was. A huge fat pancake was hanging on the metal handle of Svetlana Ivanovna’s door right in front of his nose!  And another one (maybe not so big) on the Duck’s door handle on the right. Tiger slowly turned his head to the left – another two fat pancakes on the handles of his own and his neighbour’s wooden doors! Tiger’s anger returned. ‘I’m fed up with Crasavchick and his stupid jokes!’ – he thought running back to the window. The white-haired dog with red ears was no longer in the yard, which was obvious.

 ‘Oh, dawn him!’ – Tiger thought and went to his door again. ‘Not a big deal!’ He picked the pancake, which was still warm, and without much hesitation ate it. He was hungry after the daily adventures and pancake was very tasty so Tiger’s mood changed for the good. ‘Whoever cooked it, it’s delicious! I must admit,’ – he thought. And as the pancake warmed his throat and chest, Tiger’s spirits grew even higher for he imagined Svetlana Ivanovna or Duck’s mother (she is Svetka’s best freudin so it doesn’t really mater!) finding the pancakes on their door handles. ‘They won’t like it, of course!’ – thought Tiger. ‘And of course they would be both angry and surprised! It’s going to be a great scene!’ He was not angry with Crasavchick anymore. ‘Maybe this joke was intended to make fun of Svetka and Duck, those bothersome animals, not me’ – Tiger wondered but then some movement behind Duck’s door made him stop dreaming. Somebody (Duck or his relatives) was coming out! He didn’t want to meet that somebody because his handle had no more pancakes on it while the other ones had. It would certainly be fishy so Tiger quickly rushed into his flat. However, he closed the door with a bang, definitely too loud for the one, who wanted to avoid any suspicions.

   At that same moment Duck’s front door opened and Tiger heard Monkey’s classmate himself first clearing his voice ‘Criakkk-kkararak’ and then say: ‘Mother, there is a pancake on our door handle.. and one on Svetlana Ivanovna’s handle.. and another one on Mr Perov’s!’ (not Mr Perov - the school caretaker, only his remote relative)

  ‘Oh my dear!’ – it was Duck’s mother already. She came into the entrance, too. Just after that Duck ruined Tiger hopes of not to be suspected in one phrase. ‘I heard Tiger Super’s door close with a bang before I opened our door and his door handle hasn’t got any pancakes on it so I think it was his, definitely not very clever joke!’

  ‘Let us see!’ – said Duck’s mother and Tiger heard her footsteps coming in the direction of his door. She pressed on the bell, babbling something like ‘.. if he thinks that it’s funny..’ and ‘..I’ll show him!’

  ‘Oh no!’ –thought Tiger. ‘Damn that stupid Duckling!’ But he had nothing to do, so he opened the door and before Duck’s mother could start her attack, said ‘Good afternoon!’ loudly, but politely as well. Tiger’s polite strategy prevented Duck’s mother from a straight attack (for a very tiny moment he thought that she was in a loss for words) but in an instant she continued in the second pace. ‘There is a pancake on every door handle of our flat block except yours! If you think that is funny…’

  ‘I know it sucks,’ – Tiger said, trying to be polite. However, he made a mistake. In fact, using the word ‘suck’ was not considered as good manners by both Duck and his mother. ‘Tell him not to use such bad words, Mum!’ – cried the youngest member of Carasenko family for he was really angry with anybody using slang language or swearing. Indeed, it was the sort of bad behavior that drove Duck mad.

  ‘Do not speak to me like..’ – Duck’s mother was also angry. ‘I myself also had a pancake on my handle!’ – it was Tiger’s last chance to get away from them and these words stopped the Duck’s rage. ‘And where is it?’ – asked Duck, who seemed more curious than angry now. There was a note of mistrust in his high voice though.

  ‘I ate it,’ –answered Tiger. He tried not to but he did sound a bit proudly.

  ‘Oh, I don’t believe you!’ – cried Duck, coming closer to Tiger. He moved step by step with his tiny red feet in the same-coloured boots and continued: ‘You have a lot of misdeeds at school, Super Tiger, I definitely know it. You fight, use unappropriated words in your speech, break the rules and act not good at all! You surely wanted to play a trick on me or Svetlana Ivanovna! Why did you hide when I came from the flat? Why..’

  ‘I even suppose I know who did this trick,’ – Tiger interrupted him.

  ‘And who it was?’ – asked Duck’s mother, a little stupidly she sounded, while her son tried to recover from this sudden interruption.

  ‘Someone from the first floor! They haven’t got pancakes on their handles, you see?!’ - Tiger sounded aggressive now. And just after Duck jumped a few steps down to check this information and then returned, nodding approvingly, he continued his speech. ‘I think that was Belobrys, although I don’t know exactly,’ – he lied. ‘The bear has been really nasty lately!’

  'You say so only because you don’t get along with Belobrys Misha,’ – said Duck thoughtfully. ‘Though if it was somebody from the first floor… I think it was more likely Crasavchick’s joke than yours. Potzeluev is famous for such things and he often gets punishment for his tricks at school. No doubt, he deserves this punishment!’ Duck’s mother might have heard this stuff about Crasavchisk several times because Duck likes to report her about everything happening at school. However, she said nothing and completely believed her son.

  ‘Maybe Crasavchick,’ – said Tiger, finally relieved and amazed by Duck’s deduction. He also decided that it was time to get away, while the Ducks were hesitating, and made a short speech: ‘Maybe it was Crasavchick, maybe Belobrys! I don’t know! I was very angry and disappointed to discover a fat pancake on my door handle! And I was even more angry and disappointed by you for suspecting and accusing me on such sort of crime! Now… I want to be alone!’ – and he shut the door just before Duck or his mother could consider an acceptable reply.

  The door was closed and Tiger laughed a bit for his was out of this stuff and wanted to go to the kitchen. But then he heard Duck whispering something to his mother. ‘Super’s behavior was defiant’ – Duck’s voice was high enough for Tiger to make out the words. ’..must be punished!’ Mother-Duck responded quietly but then she said loudly to the closed door: ‘I’ll have a talk with your mother lately!’

  ‘Damn!’ – Tiger swore and kicked the clothes peg hard so that it nearly fell down. The poor animal had nothing to do so he just put the peg back on its place, took off his wet boots and clothes, hung then on some ropes on the kitchen to dry and went to the living room. There he fell into the cozy armchair and turned on the music – his favourite Woodlock songs.

“Call her back and call myself a freak

Bend the rules so I can show her home

Shave my head and change the way I think of

The way I feel

The way I feel

The way I feel”

… came from his mobile while Tiger tried to relax and calm down at last.

  At that same time, Monkey was also at home, washing the dishes. And although it’s not a very pleasant activity and she regretted about a thousand times that they hadn’t had a dishwasher at Grandpa’s place (to say the truth, washing up with a dishwasher is boring, too), she was in a very good mood because it was only the beginning of the holidays.  

THE END OF THE FIRST CHAPTER