A  page from Cindy Smith’s Diary                                                   

  Kate Loveday

Dear Diary,

What a disaster! And I blame it all on the monkeys.

     It was like this.

I went on holiday with my parents and a group of family friends to Kuta Beach in Bali and we were having a great time until one day an excursion to Ubud was arranged. Mum and Dad decided not to go – they wanted to lay by the pool – but I decided to go anyway; Adam from my school was going and I rather fancied him.

I checked myself in the mirror before I left. I wanted to look good and I’d been eating heaps since we left home so I wondered if I was getting fat. I turned this way and that, stood up straighter, sucked in my stomach. I decided the shorts still seemed to fit okay and I really liked the top I’d bought at the market in Denpasar. It needed something extra though.  Mum’s coral earrings would set it off just right.

I found them in a drawer and put them on. Yes, they were perfect. I know I really should have asked if I could borrow them but Mum wasn’t around; besides they were her favourites, Dad gave them to her for her last birthday, so she might say ‘no’, and I was only going to borrow them for a while.

When we reached Ubud we went first to the Monkey Forest. There were monkeys everywhere. They chattered and hung from trees and scampered along the ground. As soon as Adam held out a banana a cheeky fellow darted over and snatched it from his hand then sped away at supersonic speed.

 I was busily checking out the gargoyles on the Temple of the Dead when I I felt a thud on my shoulder. I let out a yelp of terror as I felt a sharp pain in my earlobe and I grabbed at my ear. But I wasn’t fast enough - a monkey ripped the earring from my ear. I tried to grab the thieving little beast but he was too quick for me and disappeared high into the treetops - with my mother’s coral earring!

Now I was in big trouble. I was so worried I even forgot about trying to be close to Adam for the rest of the day. On the way home in the bus I decided I had only one hope of avoiding total disaster. We had two more days left before we went home. If Mum didn’t discover the loss of the earring before then, I could go to the local jewellers where Dad bought them and buy another pair. It meant I couldn’t spend any more money while we were away and it would make a big hole in my savings, but it was the only way.

It seemed like my plan was working until the night before we were due to go home.

 Mum and Dad were going out for dinner and they were just about to leave when Dad said, ‘You look lovely, dear, but wouldn’t your coral earrings look good with that dress?’