The Town Gossip Gets It Wrong Again

There is a gopher hiding in the gooseberry bushes, Kaie, the town gossip told me. I looked hard. Got prickled by the bush’s thorns too. Got bloody. Hey! Someone said. It was a snappily dressed gorilla. He was wearing a Stetson with a paisley hat band. He tipped it to me when he saw I was not picking gooseberries. Howdy, he said. Hi, I said back. Surprised he spoke cowboy. Have you seen a gopher? I asked him. We looked together, but could find no evidence of one. I reported this back to Kaie, gladly. She is always getting something wrong. I know it was an animal that started with the letter G, she said. She began naming animals. Grouse? Guinea pig? Goat? My friend the gorilla tipped his hat to me from the window. I waved back. Gorilla? I asked her. Don’t be silly, she said.