The rain was loud—like a billion tiny drums pounding on the leaves of the jungle. Under one giant banana leaf, barely enough to keep dry, sat a small baby monkey. He was all alone, shivering, with big, sad eyes searching the trees. His name was Mimo.
Mimo didn’t know where his mom had gone. One moment they were jumping through the trees, chasing colorful butterflies. The next moment, thunder cracked, the skies opened, and Mimo slipped and tumbled to the forest floor. Now everything was wet, cold, and too quiet. The only sound was the endless, pouring rain.
In the distance, something stirred in the water. Mimo looked over the edge of a small flooded path. A fin? No… two fins! It was a baby shark—yes, a shark in the jungle! A twist of the storm had carried it inland, and now the baby shark was splashing in a muddy, flooded stream, also lost and scared.
The baby monkey and baby shark looked at each other. At first, both were startled. Then… they saw it. The same fear. The same loneliness. They didn’t speak the same language, but they understood one another.
Mimo gently tiptoed toward the water. The baby shark swam closer. Mimo offered a piece of half-soggy banana he had in his little hand. The shark didn’t eat bananas, of course, but he gave a grateful splash in return. It made Mimo smile for the first time since the rain started.
Now, the two lost babies were not alone.
They played under the rain—splashing, spinning, even dancing a little. Mimo rode a leaf like a boat while the baby shark swam alongside. They were an odd pair, but the jungle rain didn’t seem so scary anymore.
But where was Mama Monkey?
Just as Mimo was starting to feel sleepy, curled up against the trunk of a tree, a loud call echoed from the trees above. “MIMOOOO!”
Mimo jumped up. That voice! It was her! Mama Monkey swung down, soaked and frantic. When she saw her baby safe, she scooped him up in her warm arms and held him tightly.
“Oh, my little Mimo! I looked everywhere!” she cried.
Mimo pointed to the stream. The baby shark gave one last splash, as if saying goodbye. Mama Monkey gasped. “What’s that?”
Mimo squeaked happily, waving to his new friend. Mama Monkey smiled gently and waved too.
As the rain began to fade, a beam of sunlight broke through the clouds. The jungle sparkled. Mimo snuggled into his mother’s arms, safe at last, and the baby shark swam off with the rising current, back toward his ocean home.
They had met by chance, in the middle of a storm, two tiny hearts lost in a big world. But for one rainy moment, they weren’t lost anymore.