It was midday in Uganda, and Asobora the monkey was playing in the forest where he lived with his friends, Magesi, an elephant, and Buzobosi the crocodile. The three friends were playing hide and seek. Asobora was very good at this game, as he was very little, and the colour of his hair blended in with the colour of the many trees that stood tall all around him. Buzobosi was also good at hiding, as the grass on the floor covered him so the others could not spot him.
Magesi, on the other hand, was not so good at hiding. Because he was large and grey, he couldn’t fit behind a tree to hide, and he could not crouch on the floor to hide because his legs were too small! So, because Asobora found Magesi, it was Magesi’s turn to find the other two boys.
‘Five, four, three, two, ONE! Ready or not, here I come!’ Magesi shouted, and off he went, wading his way through the trees and tall grass in the forest. All of a sudden, a glimmer of light coming from a bush caught his eye. He walked towards the light, treading carefully, as he did not know what it was he was going to find. He edged closer and closer, and all of a sudden there was a thud.
‘Ouch!’ Yelped Asobora, who had fallen from the tree where he was hiding, right into Magesi’s path. ‘Asobora, get up, we have to see what that light is!’ Magesi said as he pointed in the direction of the mysterious light. Asobora clambered on to the elephants back, as they continued to walk forwards.
Finally, they arrived at the source of the light. Asobora jumped off the elephants back, and picked up the thing that was creating the light. It was a small, black object, with buttons that had numbers painted on, and letters. Holding the object with both hands, Asobora turned to Magesi and asked ‘Is it an alien Magesi? Is it from space? What should we do with it?’ Magesi looked dumb, he did not know what it was either. The pair were scared, but very curious.
Asobora pressed the buttons, and numbers appeared on the screen. The monkey or the elephant had never seen anything like this. Asobora thought it might be a device to attract aliens to this spot, perhaps to take the food from the forest. ‘Maybe the numbers are to tell out of space how many pieces of fruit they have collected?’ Suggested the monkey.
‘Where is it? Where have I left it? I hope I find it!’ Asobora and Magesi heard someone say. The bushes around them rustled, and they huddled together with the device, afraid it might be the aliens coming to collect them. A figure appeared from in between the leaves, a tall figure, much taller than the monkey or the elephant.
‘Hello you two’ said the figure. ‘I see you have what I have been looking for.’ The two animals shook with fear. ‘I’d like to have it back please.’
Nervous, Asobora handed the figure the device. ‘Sorry, please do not hurt us, we do not want to go to out of space!’ He pleaded. The figure stepped into the light, it was a man, a friendly looking man. ‘Out of space, you must have mistaken me little monkey, I am just a man, and I had lost my mobile phone, that you have just given back to me. Thank you.’
Magesi looked at Asobora, and shook his head. ‘I knew you weren’t an alien!’ the elephant said. ‘But what is a mobile phone? We have never heard of one of those before.’ He asked.
‘A mobile phone is a way of speaking to people who you cannot see, who maybe aren’t in the same place, or country as you. If they have one, and you have one, you can dial a number and speak to them, by putting it next to your head.’ The man explained.
‘So, you can hear them, even though you can not see them? Wow!’ said Asobora. And as the man showed Asobora and Magesi what the mobile phone did, the bushes began to shake and the grass began to move, and up popped a small, green, bumpy figure from the ground. ‘Buzobosi!’ Magesi exclaimed. ‘Found you!’ He said, remembering that, for all of this time, Buzobosi had still been hiding in the bushes in the forest! ‘Sorry Buzobosi, we got distracted by this mobile phone - look!’ said Asobora, excitedly, as he showed him how to use it. ‘I know all about mobile phones now Buzobosi!’