Monkey Lyly clutched her mother’s hand tightly as they walked along the jungle path, the sun beginning to dip behind the trees. They had just visited Grandma’s treehouse deep in the forest and were making their way back home. Lyly loved these trips, but something felt different this time.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the trees. A cart, pulled by jungle deer and loaded with bananas, had tipped over near the river crossing. Fruits scattered everywhere. The driver, a nervous parrot named Pico, flapped his wings in a panic. Lyly’s mother rushed to help, but Lyly stood frozen.
“Mom, what happened?” Lyly asked, wide-eyed.
“There’s been a small accident, sweetheart,” her mother replied gently. “Let’s help clean up.”
But Lyly couldn’t move. Her mind was spinning. The noise, the suddenness of it all — it scared her. She had never seen anything like this before. She didn’t understand why she felt so uneasy.
As her mother and other animals gathered the bananas, Lyly sat on a log, confused and shaken. Why had the cart fallen? Could it happen to her and her mom? Was the jungle not as safe as she thought?
Pico eventually calmed down and thanked everyone. No one was hurt, and the deer were fine. But Lyly’s thoughts were tangled. On the walk home, she was unusually quiet.
Her mother noticed. “Lyly, are you okay?”
Lyly hesitated. “I don’t understand, Mom. Why did the accident happen? And… could something bad happen to us too?”
Her mother knelt beside her. “Accidents can happen, even when we’re careful. But that doesn’t mean we live in fear. We learn, we help each other, and we keep moving forward.”
Lyly nodded slowly, still unsure, but comforted by her mother’s calm voice. As they continued walking, hand in hand, the jungle didn’t seem quite as scary anymore.
