The Temple Unleashed (Book 1) | ONC 2024

Chapter 2

For most kids in the morning, they get woken by one; their mother, two; an alarm clock, or three; a rooster. But for Charlie Nite, he gets the privilege of getting woken by...a monkey. At least, you could say it is a privilege but Charlie would probably beg to differ.

"It's a nuisance," he flat out told Hudson, when he called him.

The Nite family lived in Kenya though they were from England. Charlie's father was a zoologist and his mother was a vet, so naturally they moved to the country with the most interesting animals. Charlie's alarm clock was called Knips, named after the monkey in his favourite book The Swiss Family Robinson.

It was near the end of May and Charlie had just graduated from the long and tedious year of 9th grade. As a surprise, his parents surprised him with a two week long trip to tour the countries in Europe they had not visited yet.

On the flight home back to England, his parents went over the itinerary with him.

"So, we visit your grandparents for a day or so back in Manchester, then, after that we'll fly down to Paris, stay there for about three days then we'll drive to Barcelona. After we stay there for around three days, we'll fly over to Rome and then to Bulgaria. After that, we'll end our vacation back in Kenya."

Charlie had however drowned out his parents' voices and his thoughts wandered back to his home in Kenya. His pet monkey was being watched by Mama Abeba, the kind-hearted cook —though, secretly, Charlie had suspected that the cook wanted to try a new monkey dish she had heard about. Zola, his pet cheetah however, was sent to a local wildlife reserve until they got back. Many of the Nite's pets were sent to wildlife reserves, taken care of by friends or just lingered at the house, but Charlie missed them all.

The boy gave a quiet sigh of gloom, however, his mother ear's —like all mothers when they hear their child's sound of discontent — detected the quiet sigh and stopped her talking to ask her son,

"You homesick dear?" Charlie gave a little shrug and his mom took it as a yes. "Don't worry dearie, you'll have fun. Europe after all is your native continent even though you have lived almost your whole life in Africa. Besides, your father and I have a little surprise for you when we get back home," she gave her son a quick wink.

Their plane landed in Morocco and after a lay-over, they boarded another plane headed for the UK. At the airport in London, their Grandparents were waiting with open arms. They then drove the four hour trip to their little countryside home in Manchester.

They stayed for about a day with their Grandparents, then the adventure finally began (as Mrs. Nite put it). Early the next morning, they boarded the plane headed to Paris.

"Bienvenue à Paris!" the flight attendant greeted the passengers as they touched down on the paved airstrip.

The Nites then checked into a hotel with a beautiful view overlooking the Eiffel Tower and to Charlie's utter amazement, he saw a familiar face that he hadn't seen in over a year.

"Hudson! Mate, it's good to see you again!" he said when he saw his best friend's face in the hotel's dining room. His parents were talking with Charlie's and when Charlie's mom got his attention, she waved her son over.

"Dearie, this is the surprise we have been talking about!"

"What do you mean?" he asked, a question lingering on his features.

"Hudson will be coming with us for the trip but when we finish up in Bulgaria, his parents will come to pick him up, "his father explained.

"Brilliant!" Charlie grinned in response. Though Charlie lived in Kenya for most of his life, he and Hudson remained friends over Zoom calls and messages. On holidays, the parents made it a point to get the two boys together to hang out.