Livora Gracely

The witness was eating the evidence.

A Banana Goes Missing

Pip had saved his banana for the afternoon.

He had tucked it beside a tree root, beneath a broad green leaf, and made a small mark on the stem so he would know it was his. Then he had gone to find a comfortable place to sit.

When he returned, the banana was gone.

Pip lifted the leaf. He looked behind the root and beneath two smaller leaves. He even checked the comfortable place, though he was quite sure he had not taken the banana there.

Then he spotted Bobo.

The gorilla was sitting against a fallen tree, enjoying a banana with his eyes half closed.

Pip hurried over.

“That,” he announced, “looks very much like my banana.”

Bobo opened one eye and looked at the fruit in his hand.

“It does look like a banana,” he agreed.

The Witness Has a Snack

“I left mine by the tree,” Pip said. “Now it’s gone, and you’re eating one.”

Bobo considered this. “I found mine near the fallen tree.”

“This fallen tree?”

“Yes. I was already sitting here, so it was very convenient.”

Pip folded his arms. “Did it occur to you that it might belong to someone?”

“I looked around,” Bobo said. “There was no one here.”

Pip glanced at the banana. Bobo took another bite.

“Please stop eating the evidence!”

Bobo paused with the banana halfway to his mouth.

“Is it evidence?”

“It might be.”

Bobo looked at what remained. “Then we should find out soon.”

A Very Useful Peel

Pip paced in front of the fallen tree. “I put a mark on the stem of my banana.”

“That sounds helpful.” Bobo held out the peel. “Would you like to see?”

Pip took it and examined the stem. He turned it over, then held it closer to the light.

There was no mark.

“Perhaps it rubbed off,” he said.

“Perhaps,” Bobo replied. He waited while Pip checked again.

A breeze moved through the trees. Behind them, the broad leaf beside the root lifted and fell against the ground.

Pip looked up.

His banana was there, resting in a hollow between two roots. The leaf had covered it so neatly that he had looked over it twice.

He stared at the banana. Then he looked at Bobo, who was still waiting patiently with his hand out for the peel.

“I think,” Pip said, “I may have found another possibility.”

Bobo leaned to one side. “Is it the yellow one?”

“Yes.”

“With the mark on its stem?”

Pip went to check. “Yes.”

“That does sound promising.”

For the Record

Pip returned the peel and sat beside Bobo on the fallen tree.

“I’m sorry I said you took it,” he said. “I should have looked more carefully.”

“That’s all right.” Bobo finished his banana and placed the peel beside him. “I’m glad we found the evidence before I finished it.”

Pip fetched his own banana. He peeled it, broke off a piece, and offered it to Bobo.

“For helping with the investigation,” he said.

Bobo accepted the piece, but held it up before taking a bite.

“Would you like to make a note of this?”

“A note?”

“That you gave it to me. For the record.”

Pip found a small leaf and scratched a mark on it with a twig. He handed it to Bobo.

“There.”

Bobo inspected the leaf. “Very official.”

They sat together in the warm afternoon light, eating their bananas. Pip kept the marked leaf between them until they were finished.

Then he checked beneath it, just in case.

Livora Gracely ♥