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The New Colorkeeper
By Chiara
Once there was a monkey named Momo who lived with his mother
whom he called Mei-mei. They lived together in a house made out of clay
in a little village on the edge of a little valley. The house had a tiny
garden full of pumpkins, tomatoes and a couple of zuccini in the east and
a giant oak tree that was great for climbing in the west. Momo was very
good at swimming and he always beat the others to the waterfall because
there were lots of lakes along the way which he swam in. Momo could focus
all his attention on one thing but when he did that it was very easy for
him to forget another thing.
One day, Momo was playing hopscotch. Throwing the rock, hopping to get it
and hopping back. Suddenly he fell back, because Mei-mei had come outside
to get him. She said calmly, ‘’Momo, I need to go to the market
to get some watermelon seeds. I don’t want you to look in the cupboard
in my bedroom.’’
Momo looked down at his knee and thought, “I wonder why Mei-mei doesn’t
want me to look in there.” It felt weird for him to be at a loss for
words in front of Mei-mei, but Momo knew he had to listen to Mei-mei so
he nodded his head. Mei-mei picked up her basket, put on her shawl and set
off.
After Mei-mei left, Momo decided to go into the kitchen to see if there
were any cookies left over from breakfast. He padded into the kitchen, took
the top off the cookie jar, peeked inside and saw that there were no cookies.
He loved cookies and was disappointed that there weren’t any.
“I shouldn’t have eaten them all during breakfast.’’
thought Momo. “I’d better make some more.’’ Momo
looked in the fridge for some dough but then he remembered that Mei-mei
didn’t like messes.
‘’Silly me. I should have thought of that before.’’
Then he remembered that he hadn’t made Mei-mei’s bed because
there was a picture of a quilt in the kitchen.
“I’d better go make Mei-mei’s bed.’’ He pitter-pattered
into Mei-mei’s bedroom and thought,’’I’ll just make
Mei-mei’s bed and I won’t look in the cupboard.’’
When he was in Mei-mei’s bedroom he went over to her bed. He pulled
up the quilt, flattened the creases and it was then that he noticed a golden
patch on the quilt. It reminded him of the old family album in the cupboard.
He started thinking about the pictures of when he was a baby and pictures
of Christmas and Easter. Momo focused all his attention on the family album
and went over to the cupboard to get it.
Just then he remembered Mei-mei’s warning, but it was too late. He
had already opened the cupboard. Momo decided that he had to face whatever
was inside. He forced himself to look around.
Surprisingly the cupboard looked the same as it had always looked except
for a strange book. Momo slowly moved forward to touch the book and when
it felt completely ordinary he closed his hand around it. Momo pulled the
book out, ran to his room and jumped into bed. He opened the book expecting
to see words but there was a great flash and Momo blinked. It felt like
he could see everything but in a way that he couldn’t recognize them.
Then Momo realized what had happened. All the color had disappeared. Suddenly
Momo felt like jumping on top of the book. He jumped on the book and what
he did not realize was that he had come into a world that still had color.
The first thing he noticed was that there was a man with a bulging sack
over his shoulder running in the opposite direction of Momo. Momo HAD to
get the color back (for he knew that that was what was in the sack because
for what other reason would the man be running)! The man was getting inside
a little boat to cross the river. “What a delay!” thought Momo.
Then, he remembered that he could swim! Without thinking, Momo jumped in
the water and swam as fast as he could. Momo got to the other side seconds
after the man. Then the chase began. Since the man had the large sack and
Momo had nothing it was easy for Momo to get in front of the man. The man
dropped the sack and fell on the ground, panting. Momo snatched up the sack
and ran as fast as he could to the boat. When he got there he hopped inside
and rowed as hard as he could.
Momo thought about all the animals and people who didn’t have any
color. That made him row faster and faster until he reached the other side.
Once on the other side Momo hopped out of the boat and appeared in his room.
Momo opened the sack and there was another strike of lightning as all the
color returned to its proper space. Just then the door opened and Momo rushed
to the door to greet Mei-mei.
“I hope you listened to me Momo.” Mei-mei said calmly. Momo
knew it was no use to lie (because he had tried many times without it working)
so he just sat down at the table and looked blankly ahead.
Mei-mei knew that Momo would have to find out someday. “I’m
sorry dear. I should have told you. I am the Colorkeeper. I make sure that
all the color stays in the right place.” Mei-mei paused and thought
for a moment. Then she said, “I’m getting old now and I need
someone young to take my place.” Mei-mei looked at Momo. Momo knew
what she meant. She wanted Momo to be the colorkeeper. Momo thought he wasn’t
worthy to be the Colorkeeper because he couldn’t even listen to very
simple instructions, but he also thought of all the adventures he would
have as Colorkeeper and Momo and Mei-mei looked together at the COLOR-FULL
sunset.
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