Sam looked around himself in awe; “Wow,” he gasped, “This is so…”

“Cool?” Autumn suggested.

“Oh yeah,” Sam junior agreed and followed Autumn into the centre of the tree house. Leonard was a [baboon] from across the plains, a place called Quirm. He was as intelligent as they come, and was, above all things, an artist. He lived in a tree not far from Pride Rock, a place where the Patrician liked to keep an eye on him - Leonard was a well-meaning monkey, but sometimes he created things that, if used in the wrong way, might upset people. The use of an antelope’s skull as protection for the head, example, hadn’t gone down well with the antelope community, and the marvellous sharpened stones for cracking open hard nuts and also served well to crack open one another’s heads, or so the chimpanzees had discovered.

Autumn sat down and looked up; Sam followed her gaze and saw Leonard was drawing something on an overhanging bough, high above.

“Hi Leonard!” she called up to him.

He looked back down at her, hanging upside down from the branch, “Oh, hello Autumn! You’ve brought a friend, I see.” He swung down and landed before them, “Would you care for a drink?”

He reached up and grabbed a large, round fruit from somewhere, cracking it in two with his stone-for-cracking-hard-fruit-in-two device and offered a half to each of them.

Sam sniffed it and looked at the flesh of the fruit within, all moist and shiny; he then hastened a bite and found the taste sour… but not unpleasant. When Autumn didn’t protest, he ate her fruit as well.

“Could you draw Sam, Leonard?” Autumn asked as she watched Leonard go back to work on his bough - it looked like he was drawing a sun with his chalky powders, dabbing his fingers in the yellow or orangey colours before smearing them on the bark.

“I certainly could, Autumn.”

“Could you draw him next to me?”

Sam swallowed his final mouthful of fruit, “What do you mean, ‘next to you’?” he mumbled.

She nodded to the left and Sam saw, up on the wall, a row of drawings… of Autumn. There was one of her as a tiny cub, with little or no tail and no hair, going across to one which looked more like she looked now.

“Draw it next to me,” she repeated, “The latest one.”

“I remember you when you were born,” Sam said, venturing forward and staring at the tiniest Autumn drawing, “You looked like that.”

Leonard dropped down between the pair, “Hello, Sam, I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said. He had an open, friendly face, though was missing all the hair on top of his head, giving him a bald appearance. He held out his hand to Samuel; Sam thought he had abnormally long toes… or fingers, or whatever they were called.

“Hi,” Sam nodded, placing his paw into Leonard’s hold; the monkey shook it for a moment, then swung back up into his branches and began to collect the natural pastels with which he would paint Sam junior.

He was back within a few seconds; “How is your father, Autumn?” he asked as he forced young Samuel into a pose. Sam looked irritated, especially when Leonard flattened his spiky hair, but he thought that he’d better be polite, and made no protest.

“He’s fine, Leonard. He sends his regards.”

“Oh, how kind of him. Do give him mine in return.” He looked at Sam, mixed a few of his pastels together in an empty fruit shell, then began to draw him on the bark, beside Autumn.

“And your mother?” he ventured on.

“She’s great, too.”

“Good, good…”

Sam was curious to see how his likeness was materialising on the wall, but he daren’t move round. “Wow, that’s great, Leonard,” Autumn said, though, and Sam trusted her judgement.

“Thank you, Autumn. Have you been getting under you father’s feet?”

“Why?” she asked.

“Well, he wouldn’t have sent you here just to have your friend painted.”

Autumn might have blushed if she could - Leonard was simple, so he could see through everyone and everything. Not always to best effect, but he could.

“Yeah… He’s busy all the time.”

“Ah, this is a big place to rule.”

“I know. I hope I never have to do his job. It must be boring.”

“You think so?”

“My dad’s got a cool job!” Sam piped up, “He’s head of the Watch! He keeps everything under control.”

Autumn gave him a quick scowl, half envious of him.

“I want to grow up to be just like him!” he said. He sounded like an advert for the perfect son in a happy families game.

“Excellent,” Leonard nodded, “I wish you all the best.”

Sam beamed.

Autumn scowled - she didn’t want to be like either of her parents. She still loved them but, well, a Patrician or a Preener were not her idea of any future careers.

“There!” Leonard said, “Done!”

“Already?” Sam gasped, turning around. He smiled widely, “Wow, Leonard, that’s just like me!”

It wasn’t just like him, but in a world where scratches in the dirt can be gossip, a pastel picture on the bark of a tree can do wonders. His likeness was stood facing Autumn, with spiky hair and all.

“Thanks Leonard,” Autumn nodded.

“No problem,” he smiled, and vaulted back up to his sun on the higher bough.

--End of Notes