THE GORILLA IN MY CUBBY*
I'm stuck here in my bedroom - Mum is cross with me.
She doesn’t like me playing with friends she cannot see.
She said, "Too much imagination that's your problem son!”
But I'll tell you about my friends
One by one by one.
I found a g'rilla in my cubby. One day he 'just was there.'
Fast asleep and snoring in my little chair!
I called him Gazza - we were good friends him and me.
We played games together and sometimes he climb our tree.
He'd swing in the branches and land on the trampoline.
We'd bounce around together then he'd scramble up the screen
That Dad put on the fernery, and he'd leap on top of the shed.
Then I'd have to leave him there when it was time to go to bed
I didn’t tell Mum and Dad that Gazza came to stay.
I hoped they wouldn't know 'cos they wouldn’t let me play
With a hairy scary g'rilla who's very big and black
And they'd say he couldn’t live in the cubby out the back.
It happened before! They made me say goodbye
To another friend called Henry. It was sad. It made me cry.
Henry was my hippo who swam in our backyard pool.
When it got real hot he lay on the bottom to keep cool.
Mum and Dad didn’t like it when I threw him some fish.
Leftover fish fingers I'd put on Mum's new silver dish.
They went a bit berserk saying “There's no hippo there!”
I had to sit for hours in the corner, on a chair.
I missed him very badly for a couple of days at least
And Mum said, “Don’t talk to me about that ugly beast!”
She didn’t know the fun we had playing sharks and hide and seek.
He wasn’t with us very long-only about a week.
After Henry's visit, I had my friend called Fred.
He was a cute little Zebra who lived under my bed.
In a cardboard box on a blanket was where he slept at night
And we'd have long conversations after mum turned out the light.
We planned big adventures in the jungle stalking bears.
Next day to make it real, I'd bring in the dining chairs.
We'd crawl around between the legs looking out for tracks.
When we got real brave, we peaked over the backs.
Fred's and my adventures didn’t last for very long
'Cos one day, what we planned went horribly wrong.
We thought it would be great to have a parachute jump,
And I put a blanket on the floor so I wouldn't make a thump.
I got the umbrella then standing on the chest of drawers
I climbed on top of the cupboard using knobs on the doors.
With my open umbrella and a 'Be Careful' from Fred
I leapt towards the blanket, but missed and hit my head.
Oh it hurt! I saw stars. Mum came in like a flash.
“What were you doing George? What was that dreadful crash?
Why do you get into mischief? Come here love lie on the bed.”
As I lay there with the icepack, I knew it was 'Goodbye Fred!'.
Then this afternoon I heard Mum calling out for me.
She didn’t sound real happy. What could the trouble be?
When I saw her angry face I knew this was the end.
I was going to have to tell about my big black hairy friend.
“You go to your room young man, this nonsense has got to stop.
I only went out yesterday to buy bananas at the shop.''
She didn’t believe me when I said ' Mum, Gazza scoffed all eight.”
I even showed her in the cubby the peels piled on his plate.
But that didn’t help. She only got more cross.
And said she was really going to show me who was boss.
She'd had enough of hairy g'rillas, zebras and big hippos
This was a house we lived in not a place for circus shows.
Trouble is you get lonely, with only a baby sister Kate.
She doesn't talk or walk or play and she can't even skate.
But wait a minute “What's that noise? Oh, I mustn’t laugh.
Peaking round my cupboard door is Jerome the Giraffe!”
*children's outdoor playhouse
LINDA SIMPSON