Up In Flames

Chapter 1

4 ½ years later...

"You awake little guy?" I hear Bombo, the toucan, ask.

I rub my eyes with my small paws. "Good morning Uncle Bombo, what's for breakfast?"

Uncle Bombo isn't really my uncle. He is my mama's friend, who raised me because my mama is making a long journey to visit my father. He was apparently away because he had "work" to attend to, or so Uncle Bombo claims. Mama left a few weeks after I was born. I am a 5 year old tree kangaroo, which means I am already one-fourth of the way through my lifespan.

I hope my mama comes home soon because I really miss her. Daddy is coming back with her, I think. I try talking to Uncle Bombo about it, but he doesn't seem to like conversing about the matter.

"Flowers and sap," replies Uncle Bombo, answering my question. "I am going to help a friend reconstruct their home today."

"No! Please don't send me with Kembi! She is so overdramatic!" I beg.

Kembi is a weird, ugly monkey. Her species name is a long one, so I won't even try to pronounce it. Kembi's personality is really something. She is a diva. One might even describe her as sassy.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I can't find anyone else. Besides, she is a close friend of mine. You have to trust me. She'll take care of you."

I grumble, but then decide to make the sad eyes. I'm still young enough that sad eyes might convince him that sending me to Kembi's tree is a very bad idea.

It doesn't work.

"Sorry little guy, but you're on your way to Kembi's place." I sigh and climb out of our tree hole. I swing on a few vines and I arrive at the front branch of Kembi Coco's house. And what a branch it is.

Pink sashes cover the tree, along with bows, glitter, sparkles, frills, hearts, flowers, you name it.

Before I could knock on the wooden door to the tree hole, Little Miss Diva herself pulls the door open and makes a sound that could kill a fully-grown jaguar.

"HELLO FRUMBLE! IT IS SO GREAT TO SEE YOU! I HAVE NOT SEEN YOU FOR AGES!"

I almost die right then. She is so loud. I guess my hearing affects my talking abilities because Kembi seems offended by my silent greeting.

"Give me some sugar, honey! I don't bite! Talk to me!"

I am still rubbing my ear, but I begin to respond. I guess I wasn't fast enough, because Kembi began to sob.

Great.

"What did I do to you?" she asks between sobs. "I just come out to greet ya and ya don't even say hello!"She was blubbering like a baby. Oh boy.

I try to comfort her, but making Kembi stop crying was like trying to get a monkey to stop eating bananas. So, impossible.

"What's going on?" asks a familiar voice. Oh no, it's Bombo.

"What are you doing to that poor Proboscis monkey, Frumble?"

"I'm not doing anything, Uncle! I just got here and she started crying because I didn't respond to her in time."

"Really sugar? Ya mean it? Ya wanted to talk to me?" Kembi asks, sniffling. Welcome to my world.

"Of course Miss Kembi."

"THAT IS SO SWEET OF YA TO SAY!" Kembi screams.

Uncle Bombo gives me a look that says to be patient. He flies off, leaving me with a very emotional Kembi.

"Sugar, I gotta run and get some plants for lunch. Stay here with Pookie, my new maid."

"Maid?" I ask, turning to Kembi. But she already left me, a little tree kangaroo, alone with a strange maid.

"Hello there, I am Pookie, Miss Coco's maid." I swivel again to face the maid, but I am not disappointed at what I see.

As I am busy admiring the maid, who is a tree kangaroo like me, a faint trace of smoke fills my nostrils.

"Is that smoke?" Pookie asks, worried.

"It sure smells like it," I reply, also worried. "Should we evacuate?"

"Pookie! Frumble!" shouts an oh-so familiar voice. "Hop on my back! I'll explain on the way!"

Pookie and I look at each other, then jump onto Bombo's back. as he lands on the branch we are sitting on. He has a wild look in his eyes, and you could tell something bad had happened.

Just as Bombo began to fly, a thought pops into my head. "Wait! What about Kembi?"

All Bombo does is shake his head. I know what that means.

Kembi is dead.