Part 2
But in the blink of an eye, everything changed!
Barnaby shifted his lower body to roll over, but as he moved, a sharp CRUNCH echoed from beneath the straw. 🌾
Gerald’s jaw dropped instantly. His hands slipped off Barnaby’s face, leaving Barnaby’s cheeks to snap back into place with a funny little pop.
“No… no, no, NO!” Gerald shrieked, diving face-first into the yellow bedding like a little furry swimmer.
He dug frantically through the dry stalks, throwing straw into the air until his little arms were a complete blur.
Barnaby sat up quickly, rubbing his sore jaw muscles and shaking out his messy black fur. “What did you break, kid?”
Gerald slowly lifted his hands out of the straw.
In his tiny palm lay a completely crushed, flattened piece of shiny metal.
It wasn’t a rare magical artifact, nor was it a crown. It was just a thoroughly squished soda cap.
Gerald’s lower lip began to tremble violently. His big, dark eyes filled with dramatic, watery tears.
He held up the flat disc of metal as if he were holding the broken pieces of a priceless treasure. “You killed my shield! The shadow beast is going to destroy us now!”
Barnaby blinked in confusion. “Shadow beast? Gerald, it’s a piece of trash a human dropped through the fence!”
“It was NOT trash!” Gerald whimpered, clutching the flattened cap to his chest like a precious baby doll. “It was the Sacred Shield of the Golden Sun!”
Barnaby looked at his little brother’s ridiculously heartbroken face.
Despite all the face-squeezing, cheek-pulling, and eye-poking he had just endured, Barnaby felt a sudden pang of sympathy.
Gerald was always living in a world built entirely out of his wild, hyperactive imagination.
To Barnaby, straw was just a comfortable mattress to sleep on. To Gerald, straw was a mysterious jungle filled with dragons, treasure, and secret missions.
Barnaby let out a long, quiet sigh, scratching his chest thoughtfully.
He looked over at the big rock wall behind them, where a cluster of bright green moss grew near a tiny dripping water pipe.
Beneath the pipe sat a perfectly smooth, round river pebble, glistening wet in the afternoon sunlight.
Barnaby pushed himself up on all fours, stroking Gerald’s back gently as he walked past his weeping little brother.
“Hey, Doctor Gerald,” Barnaby said softly, his voice full of warmth. “Come look at this.”
Gerald sniffled loudly, wiping his nose with the back of his wrist, and slowly dragged his feet over to where Barnaby was kneeling.
Barnaby pointed a long, dark finger at the smooth pebble.
“The Sacred Shield didn’t die,” Barnaby whispered, leaning close so none of the other bonobos could hear. “It evolved.”
