The Story of How Brownie Learned to Play Piano

One day, when Brownie, the elk who looks like a chipmunk with horns, was doing her job in Yellowstone National Park, conducting a nature talk, a little boy said to her, "Did you know you are an elk?" And Brownie had an enormous freak out and made the boy cry, and then she apologized and gave the boy a candy, but she still decided she needed to have a vacation.

So she talked to her supervisor, who was not an elk, and he suggested a trip to New Mexico. "I hear the desert is lovely this time of year," he said.

So Brownie the elk, who looks like a chipmunk with horns, got a Greyhound bus to Albuquerque. The bus driver looked at her when she got on the bus and said, "Did you know you're an elk?" But she just took a deep breath and said, "Yes."

She wandered around the desert, which was lovely that time of year, and took pictures. She met a man in the desert, and his name was Tom. The man's name was Tom, not the desert. Tom said, "I've never seen an elk in the desert in New Mexico before." He offered to show Brownie the special places in the desert where flowers grow, and which are especially lovely this time of year.

Tom took Brownie to special places in the desert, and she took lots of pictures of flowers, and felt very glad she had taken a vacation. She was so happy she thought she wouldn't even have a big freak out if someone asked her if she knew she was an elk.

Now Tom was a pianist in a blues band in Albuquerque, and he was a very good pianist. Brownie went to see Tom playing piano many times, and sometimes she took pictures of that, too. Tom showed her how to play "Chopsticks."

Plink plink plink plink plink plink.
Plink plink plink plink plink plink.
Plink plink plink plink plink plink.
Plink plink plink plink plink plink.

Then her vacation was over. She said goodbye to Tom and the desert and the flowers and took another picture of all of them, and got on the bus to Yellowstone. When she got back she went happily back to her job giving nature talks, and when children and bus drivers asked if she knew she was an elk she would say, in a very friendly way, "Yes, and I can also play piano!"

The End.