CHAPTER 31

The following morning when Evie awakes, her mind is whirring with her plan. She’s ready to go. Outside her bedroom window, it’s overcast but she can see the sun trying to push through the clouds. Before she can put her plan into action, Evie must do her chores so everything appears normal.

As she opens the door to the stables, mayhem greets her. Simon and Mini are going wild, swinging from the rafters and hooting and screeching.

“Come down here,” calls Evie.

They bare their teeth at her, and jump and leap around her, just out of arms’ reach. They swing into the hayloft and begin tossing bundles of hay down to the ground.

Evie stares at Rhino and he stares back at her as if to say, what do you want me to do?

“Stop! Stop it, Simon! Mini, come down here now!” calls Evie.

The little monkeys trapeze between the rafters and continue to swing back and forth and back and forth. Evie watches them, twirling and whirling, swinging to and fro, thinking, they’re very impressive!

Evie gasps and puts her hand over her mouth as Simon lets go of the rafters. He somersaults and spins through the air, tumbling and falling, before landing upon Rhino’s back. He grabs hold of his ears and pulls them hard. Rhino receives such a shock, he roars and takes off, tearing around the stables at breakneck speed.

Mini also drops from the rafters, landing as light as an acrobat on top of Dominique, who moos in fright and takes off around the stables. Evie’s grateful Bernard is out in the yard.

She doesn’t know what to do so she opens the stable door. Rhino charges through it with Simon on board, clinging onto his ears. Mini rides astride Dominique. Her bell is clanging and banging as they tear around the yard.

“No! Stop!” wails Evie, feeling helpless. Simon and Mini are out of control. She has to stop them, but they’re not listening. They’re dodging and darting, always remaining just out of arm’s reach for her to catch them.

Passing the clothesline, the little monkeys leap from Rhino and Dominique’s backs onto the clothesline. They swing along it, and begin pulling off the washing!

Pop, pop, pop. Pegs fly into the air.

One by one, Simon and Mini fling the clothes off the line, tossing them into the garden.

“Stop! Stop it!” hisses Evie, waving her arms, trying not to attract attention from inside the house. She doesn’t think Grandpa will be able to hear the commotion from the study, but Cook in the kitchen might.

Sure enough, Cook appears at the kitchen door.

“What’s all the racket?” says Cook, taking in the scene. “Bloomin’ heck!” She spins on her heels and hurries back into the house, only to bump into George. She stands in such a way that she blocks the view from the door.

“It’s just Evie, clangin’ a bell to scare the cockies off the vegie patch, like I asked her to,” Cook explains to George. “Rhino’s helpin’ her and so is the daft cow.”

Rhino reappears by Evie’s side, puffing and panting with his nostrils flaring. From deep inside his belly comes a growling sound.

“I didn’t know cockatoos were such a problem?” Evie hears George ask.

“Absolute pests, they are,” says Cook. “Come into the pantry, lad, I want to show yer some spices . . .” says Cook, her voice trailing off as they fade back into the house.

Rhino puts his head down and snorts, before pawing at the ground with one foot.

“Oh, no!” says Evie.

Rhino takes off, and charges at the monkeys.

“No, Rhino!”

Rhino skids to a halt, no less than an inch from the clothesline and the little monkeys’ faces. Simon and Mini gape at him, with surprised, wide hazel eyes. He inhales before bellowing directly into their faces. He moos with such gusto, Evie sees their hair blow up off their heads, like a stiff breeze, only grassy smelling.

Whether it was the volume or the force of Rhino’s bellow that stopped the monkeys in their tracks, Evie doesn’t care. Simon and Mini drop from the clothesline and sit beneath it looking meek and bewildered, obviously in some sort of shock.

Evie watches as the little monkeys’ attention quickly turns to Bernard, who is standing harnessed into the buggy.

“Oh, no, you don’t. Don’t even think about it,” snaps Evie. They hurry toward her, hanging their heads. “So you should be,” she says, gathering a monkey in each arm, returning them to the stables and shutting the door.