Billy from Borneo (2)
When they got to the sleeping trees Mother was weaving leaves in the tall branches, making leafy beds for them. They watched her testing each one out to make sure it was strong enough. Then they got bored watching and had a game of “try to hit each other on the top of the head”. The idea was simple enough but there was a bit of skill involved trying to avoid getting a right slap in the face. A slap in the face didn´t count. You had to get the top of the skull to win the game. Eventually Mother called them and made them test their beds.
“We have to get a good sleep tonight, tomorrow we are going on a journey,” she said.
“We can´t go without Daddy,” said Billy´s sister Scaffold, so called because she was always trying to build tree houses.
“We are going because my instincts tell me Daddy is in a bit of trouble. I had a bad dream last night about it too so now I´m convinced, you all know your father has been in the territory of the apes that take everything. He´s normally able to collect food without being seen and if they trap him, he´s always been a master of escaping any kind of cage. But this time it´s different. We´ve got to go find him,” answered the Mother.
Then she gave each one a big cuddle and they all got into their leafy nests and slept. Billy couldn´t sleep. He was excited and scared at the same time. He had never been out of this part of the jungle before. His mother and father never spared him any of the horrors that lay awaiting them, not just in the forest but also outside it. They wanted him to be ready for anything so they did their best to explain in great detail all the terrible and great adventures they had had trying to survive. He was still very young but he knew how to use a stick well, although his Mother always told him the best defence is to run.
He wasn´t really worried about his father, he was well known for getting out of dodgy situations. He rolled over in the leaves and faced his family. Then he slipped off into the dream zone.