Marcella was a little girl with bright red boots. She loved the zoo. She loved the soft lions, the tall giraffes, and the sleepy hippos.
One sunny morning, Marcella came to the zoo with Monkey and Teddy Bear. Monkey was bouncy. Boing, boing, boing! Teddy Bear was gentle. He liked slow hugs.
“Look!” said Marcella. “My yellow zoo bell is gone.”
The bell was small. It had a blue ribbon. Ding-ding! Marcella used it to say hello to every animal.
“Do not worry,” said Teddy Bear. “We will look together.”
“Together!” cried Monkey. He did three tiny flips. “Maybe the bell is hiding under a banana!”
They looked by the monkey house first. The monkeys swung on ropes. One monkey held a peel on his head like a hat.
“Have you seen a yellow bell?” asked Marcella.
The monkeys shook their heads. “Ooh-ooh, no!”
Monkey looked under a big banana. Then under a little banana. Then under his own tail.
“No bell,” he said. “Only banana smell.”
They walked to the elephant pool. Splash! An elephant sprayed a shiny rainbow of water.
“Have you seen my bell?” Marcella asked.
The elephant lifted his trunk. “Toot! I saw something yellow roll toward the penguins.”
“Thank you!” said Marcella.
Marcella, Monkey, and Teddy Bear went tip-tap, boing-boing, plod-plod to the penguin place. The penguins waddled in a neat line.
“Waddle, waddle,” said Monkey, trying to walk like them.
He wobbled. He sat down in a soft snow pile.
Teddy Bear giggled. “You are a silly penguin, Monkey.”
Marcella smiled, but she still missed her bell.
A baby penguin pointed with one little flipper. “Peep! Yellow thing went that way.”
It pointed to the tall giraffe hill.
Up they went. The hill was not too big, but Monkey said, “Oh my! It is the tallest hill in the whole, whole zoo!”
Marcella held Teddy Bear’s paw. Teddy Bear held Monkey’s hand. Step. Step. Step.
At the top, Giraffe was eating green leaves. Crunch, crunch.
“Hello, Giraffe,” said Marcella. “Did a yellow bell come here?”
Giraffe bent her long neck down, down, down. “I saw it,” she said. “A little breeze rolled it to the lion rocks.”
“The lion rocks?” whispered Monkey.
Monkey was bouncy, but lions made him feel very small.
Marcella squeezed his hand. “We can go slowly. We can go together.”
So they went slowly. Teddy Bear plodded beside them. The lions were sleeping in warm sun. Snore. Snore. One lion cub had something yellow by his paws.
“There it is!” whispered Marcella.
But the cub was not playing with the bell. He was crying.
“Oh,” said Marcella softly. “What is wrong?”
The cub sniffed. “My red ball rolled into that little hole. I cannot reach it.”
Marcella peeked into the hole. There was the red ball. It was far inside.
Monkey had long arms. “I can help!” he said.
He lay on his tummy. Teddy Bear held Monkey’s feet. Marcella held Teddy Bear’s feet.
“Reach, Monkey!” said Marcella.
Monkey reached. Reach, reach, reach.
“Got it!” he said.
Out came the red ball.
The cub stopped crying. “Thank you!” He pushed the yellow bell toward Marcella.
Ding-ding!
Marcella’s face shone. “My bell!”
Then the cub gave her something else. It was a small treasure box with a lion picture on top.
“For helping me,” said the cub.
Marcella opened it. Inside were three golden animal stickers, a tiny blue whistle, and a round cookie shaped like a star.
“Wow!” said Monkey.
“Lovely,” said Teddy Bear.
Marcella put one sticker on Monkey’s shirt, one on Teddy Bear’s paw, and one on her red boot.
Then she rang her bell. Ding-ding!
“Thank you, zoo friends!” she called.
The elephant tooted. The penguins peeped. The giraffe nodded. Even the sleepy lions gave a soft, happy roar.
Marcella smiled at Monkey and Teddy Bear. “We found my bell because we helped each other.”
“Together!” said Teddy Bear.
“Together!” said Monkey, doing one very careful flip.
And Marcella’s yellow bell rang all the way home. Ding-ding, ding-ding!