What is an Orangutan

 

Midge ran out the gate to her front yard and made her way down the sidewalk to Booker-T's house. She hurried through the gate and as she walked to the back of the house, Booker-T was coming out his doggie door.

'Hi Booker-T," said Midge. "What are you doing?"

"Hi Midge," smiled Booker-T. "I was going to come to your house."

"What were you going to do at my house?" asked Midge.

"I was coming to your house," smiled Booker-T.

"I beat you and came to your house," laughed Midge.

"Lets go get Jake and go to the zoo," said Booker-T.

Midge agreed and they started along the sidewalk going to Jake's house. They walked along taking their time and checking out anything they found on the sidewalk or the road.

"Hey guys!" greeted Gabby as he flew down in front of them. "Where are you guys going?"

"We are going to see Jake," said Midge.

"Are you guys going to the zoo and see the new animal that is there?" asked Gabby.

"What kind of animal is there today?" asked Booker-T.

"Today, they have a couple of meerkats there and a brown bear, a wolf and an orangutan," said Gabby.

"What is an orange tan?" asked Midge.

"No," laughed Gabby. "Not an orange tan. It is called orangutan."

"What is an orangutan?" asked Booker-T.

"It is like an ape," said Gabby.

"We've never seen an ape before," said Midge. "Are they little or big?"

"Apes are big and the orangutan is little smaller than that," said Gabby. "I've seen them at the big zoo on the other side of town."

"I want to ride the train and go to the big zoo one day," sighed Midge.

"Me too," said Booker-T. "That would be fun."

"But if they don't let us back on the train," said Midge. "We would have a very long walk to go home.

"They have one of the orangu things at the little zoo now," said Booker-T. "We can go see it."

"Let's go," said Midge as they started to hurry along the sidewalk to Jake's house.

They turned the corner and hurried along to Jake's house and ran through the gate. They found Jake sleeping on the porch.

"He Jake!" called Midge. "What are you doing?"

"Hi Booker-T and Midge," said Jake as he sat up after hearing Midge call his name. "What are you guys doing. Hey Gabby. I didn't see you."

"Hey Jake," greeted Gabby as he flew down and landed on the porch railing.

"Are you going to come to the zoo with us?" asked Booker-T.
"Maybe," smiled Gabby. "I want to see the orangutan."

"What is an orangutang?" asked Jake.

"Not orangutang," laughed Gabby. "It is an orangutan."

"What is it?" asked Jake.

"It is little like an ape," said Gabby.

"I don't know what an ape is," said Jake.

"Lets go see it," said Booker-T. "Before they send it to the big zoo."

The three hurried across the front yard and out the gate and Gabby flew above them as they all hurried along the sidewalk. The got to the corner and looked both ways and then crossed the street to the zoo building. They stood at the open door and saw the animal in the corner cage with dark red fur.

"Wow!" said Midge. "It has red fur."

"It looks cool," smiled Booker-T. "Lets go see it."

They walked to the cage and stood there staring at the big animal in the cage.

"Hey you!" said the orangutan. "What are you staring at?"

"Sorry," sighed Midge. "We were looking at you. You have red fur."

"Yes," said the orangutan. "Do you like my red fur?"

"Oh yes," said Booker-T. "It is nice. My favorite colors are orange and black."

"That's because you are orange and black," laughed the orangutan. "Can I come out there with you? We could have lots of fun."

"You have to go to the big zoo," said Midge.

"Don't you live in the zoo?" asked the orangutan.

"No," said Jake. "We live in houses with humans."

"Humans are funny," laughed the orangutan.

"I know," agreed Booker-T.

"Do you have a name?" asked Midge.

"Yes," laughed the orangutan. "My name is Clyde."

"This is Midge and this is Booker-T and Gabby is up there on top of the cage," said Jake. "And I'm Jake."

"What do you like to do?" asked Booker-T.

"I play in the trees and eat," said Clyde.

"Jake likes to eat all the time," laughed Midge.

Clyde started to swing in the tree inside the cage. jumping up and down on the ground and running around the cage. He grabbed an apple from the pan of fruits that sat near the tree. He ran to the bars and held out an apple to Jake. "Want to eat?" asked Clyde.

"We don't eat fruit," said Jake. "Thank you."

"You don't eat Fruit!" said Clyde. "Fruit is good."

"We eat dog food and Booker-T eats cat food," said Jake.

"Can you do this?" asked Clyde as he jumped up and down and grabbed a tree limb and swung back and forth.

"We can jump up and down," said Midge as she jumped up and down on all four legs. "But we can't swing in the trees. Booker-T can climb up a tree but he can't swing on the branches. You have hands like the humans do."

"We only have four feet," said Booker-T.

"My brother was in a movie," said Clyde.

"Oh wow," said Midge. "Your brother was a movie star."

"He had lot of fun," said Clyde.

"Do you want to be like the humans?"asked Midge.

"No," said Clyde. "I like being me."

"Midge would like to be and do things like a human," said Jake.

"She will try sometimes," said Booker-T. "And she is funny trying."

"But it is fun," said Midge.

Two big humans entered the area behind the cages and opened Clyde's cage. "Come on Clyde," said one of the men as he tossed a rope about his neck. "Time for us go go. You will have friends to play with at the big zoo."

"Bye Clyde," said Midge.

"Bye you guys," said Clyde. "Come to see me."

"it is too far for us to come," sighed Jake. "Have fun in your new home."

"Bye," waved Clyde as he followed the men out the door to the truck in the back.

"He's cool," smiled Midge. "He would be fun to play with."