Go Bananas Go

by Don Nelson
(Brentwood, CA)

It was right after lunch when Jackson's mom handed him a grocery bag full of over-ripe bananas to give to his animal friends. Jackson yelled, ”Yea” and ran out the backdoor and down towards the stream. Many of the animals were napping in the shade of the tall trees.

Jackson called out, "I need some help. Who's the best banana peeler here?"

The animals all waved wildly except Nicolas, a little brown monkey. “How odd.” Jackson thought. He knew how much monkeys loved bananas.

Jackson asked Nicolas, “Hey, what’s up with you. Why didn’t you raise your hand?”

The little monkey didn’t say a word. He turned and jumped up into the nearest tree and swooped from branch to the branch till he reached the top.

Jackson looked back at the animals. They were still waving their feet and furry paws. He chose Mr. Raccoon for the peeling job because he had been the first to raise his paw. Soon the bananas were peeled and broken into squishy pieces. The animals lined up according to size with the littlest animals first and then gobbled them up. Nicholas hung from his hands and tail, watching his friends gobble up the bananas. The animals thanked Jackson for the snack.

Jackson hollered out to Nicolas. “Would you please come down here, I have something to ask you?”

It took just seconds for the monkey to swing, hop, and slide down to where Jackson was.

“ Are you feeling OK?” Jackson asked.

The monkey looked down at his little feet and said, “Last week my family and I went on a picnic and I ate too many bananas and I got a tummy ache. My mother told me I can’t eat any more bananas for five days. That’s a really long time to go without my favorite food. What am I going to do?“

Jackson said, “That would be like me going without pepperoni pizza for a whole week. Let me think about your problem and I will be back to see you tomorrow.”

The next day, he and his mom made a special trip to the grocery store and brought home the greenest bananas they could find. When Jackson ran down to the stream, his monkey friend was eating leaves, seeds, and insects. They tasted so bad, Nicolas was holding his nose every time he took a bite.

“I have good news,” Jackson hollered out holding up a brown paper bag. This will help the week go by more quickly.”

The little monkey jumped up and down. “Show me quick, what’s in the bag, I hate eating bugs!”

Jackson pulled out the greenest bunch of bananas Nicolas had ever seen and tied them onto a tree branch with a piece of rope. The monkey frowned and scratched his head. He wondered how a bunch of green bananas was going to make the week go by faster.

Jackson said, “It takes about four or five days for a green banana to fully ripen.”

The monkey’s expression brightened as he said, “I understand now. I can watch these green bananas every day until they turn brown and squishy.”

Jackson watched as Nicolas looked up at the bananas and began singing to them. “Go bananas, go bananas, go bananas, go.”

Three days later, Jackson went down to the stream to see if the bananas were ripe. He heard lots of different animals taking turns singing the same words. “Go bananas, go bananas, go bananas, go."

Nicolas ran up to Jackson and said, “My friends think the bananas are ready to eat.”


Jackson agreed and the animals cheered as Nicolas climbed the tree and grabbed a brown squishy banana. He peeled it and chewed it slowly. It was the best banana he had ever eaten. He threw the rest of the bananas down to his friends. Nicolas had learned the hard way, you can get sick if you eat too much of your favorite food.

As Jackson was leaving, he told his friends. “You know you can play this game anytime you want. There are other fruits and vegetables that have to ripen before you can eat them. Several days latter, Jackson heard the animals singing, “Go tomatoes, go tomatoes, go tomatoes, go.”