‘Twas a golden, fall day in preschool land when the GRANNY in GLASSES prepped her toddlers for drama practice. Today’s Letter G involved a spectacle based loosely on Goodnight, Gorilla, by Peggy Rathmann, GREATLY loved by all three tots.
(Earlier that very morning, Oma had taken the GRANDPA aside. “Can you be the zookeeper?” she asked. “We’re reading Goodnight, Gorilla today. Do you know that story?”
Opa didn’t know it very well.
“It’s simple, but you can ham it up,” she advised. “Make sure my car keys are hanging out your back pocket so the gorilla can take them.”
“Are we teaching our grandchildren to steal?” asked Opa.
“Not exactly,” said Oma. “Oh, and you’ll need your jungle hat and a flashlight.”)
Next, she coached Miss Nomi on her opening scene. “What’s that sneaky gorilla doing?” she queried.
“God says stealing is wrong,” asserted Miss N.
“That’s right! I think he’s just borrowing the keys from the zookeeper,” reassured Oma. “You will take the keys out of Opa’s back pocket and help all of us gorillas unlock the animals’ cages!”
“You do it,” countered the concerned actress.
Preschoolers prepped and Opa staged in the dining room, Oma announced “action!” and the Goodnight, Gorilla drama commenced.
“Goodnight, Lion! I hope you sleep well tonight and don’t have any bad dreams,” whispered Opa to the Lion. “Goodnight, elephant. Do you have your binky? Is your blanket handy? Are you warm enough in your cage? Goodnight giraffe! Don’t get an achy neck tonight. Do you have a soft pillow?” Opa is GOOD at improv.
Finally, after hamming it up as much as he dared, the zookeeper trudged up the stairs to his bed. He was followed by four tiptoeing gorillas. (Little did the gorillas know, but Mommy Amy was already in the bed, pretending to be the zookeeper’s sleeping wife.)
“Okay,” whispered Oma. “Crawl in bed, gorillas. Take the elephant, giraffe, lion, and mouse with you. Shhhhh…don’t wake the zookeeper!”
“Goodnight, dear,” said Amy right on cue, as Opa crawled into bed and began to snore. We four gorillas chimed in — “Goodnight!” “Goodnight!” “Goodnight!” “Nigh night!”
You’ll understand from the story that this was a faux paux on the part of those sneaky yet well-meaning gorillas, resulting in their banishment back to the zoo.
Thus ended Goodnight, Gorilla for this Letter G day. Although our drama may need more work, critics will agree that Miss Em, Mr. Mo, and Miss Nomi may have budding careers ahead.
At least they rock that celebrity eye wear.
Also, Erin — you can be my back-up camera operator any day.