Hi, my name is Brie, and I am 10 years old. I live with my family, my mom June, my dad Hank, my twin sister Grace, and my little brother, Tommy. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention our lovable aussie-doodle puppy, Pearl. We are moving from my childhood home in upstate New York to Georgia for my dad’s new job. My dad’s job needs him to start ASAP, so my parents bought a house sight unseen. 

My mom fell in love with the pictures online, she said it was the perfect farmhouse for us kids to grow up in. It is a mansion and has 6 bedrooms so at least I know I will find something to do and the perfect room for me!

Today is moving day! As we approach the driveway, my dad drives slowly and carefully avoiding the almost pool-sized potholes in the gravel. My mom quickly claims, “those potholes were NOT in the pictures!” I’m feeling relieved that we are finally here, and I can stretch my legs but a little nervous about what to expect. I am really going to miss my old house and my old friends.

It’s been several weeks since we moved in. We have been working hard to get the house livable because it's been empty for almost 20 years. This is probably why my dad was able to get a great deal on the house. Anyway, it’s Saturday morning and it's started out like any other day. My mom has been bugging me and my sister to go through the items in the attic. Today, we finally agreed. I’ve been avoiding it because this house is older than my parents (yes, that OLD) so I'm pretty sure that there will be a ton of cobwebs and probably creepy crawlers up there! 

As me and Grace climb the ladder to the attic, I see that it is larger than I expected it to be. There are a lot of furniture pieces, some small, some big, all covered up by white sheets. As I suspected, there are plenty of cobwebs and dust. I guess the good thing of buying a house sight unseen is we inherit anything left behind. However, no one could have anticipated what we were about to discover.

We didn't know where to begin so I asked Grace to pull the sheets from the smaller items and I would focus on the big ones. The first sheet Grace pulled, revealed a trash can underneath. “Why would someone cover up a trash can?” she asked. Immediately, I was thinking this is going to be a long and boring job. As Grace continued with her side, I started surveying and looking for the biggest piece of furniture I could find. I pulled the sheet back to find a very large box TV. “What in the world? I’ve only ever seen these in pictures or on old TV shows!” Grace runs across the attic to see what the fuss is about. “How does this thing work? Grace asks. I grab the cord from the back of the TV and search for a nearby outlet.  Surprisingly, there is one within reach, so I plug it in.

Suddenly, a bright light flashes on the screen and a picture of a jungle appears. Grace and I both look at each other in amazement that it actually still works. As I get close to the screen Grace is occupied with the remote. I inch closer and closer to the screen, and it feels like I can jump right in. As I raise my hand to touch the screen, instead of hitting a structure, my hand disappears into the TV. I scream and quickly pull my hand out in disbelief. “Did you see that? Or is it just me?” I yell to Grace. Based on her wide-open mouth and confused gaze, I knew it wasn’t my imagination. Consumed with curiosity, I reach out again to the same result, my hand goes through the TV. This time I lean forward and instead of pulling back I go in further and further until I am immersed in the jungle. I faintly hear Grace scream “Brie, Brie…. where are you?”

I stand up and look around wondering what just happened….as I turn, I hear Grace freaking out, running towards me. I tell her I am fine and ask where we are. “I think we fell into the jungle on the TV!” she replies. I am so baffled; how could we possibly have ended up on the other end of the TV. What kind of TV was this and how will we get back home? My mind is racing with all these questions. Since Grace and I are twins we have a lot of “twinning moments” where our thoughts are in sync. I didn’t even need to ask her, I could read that she was searching for an explanation as well. Even though this could quite possibly be one of the strangest moments ever I am going to embrace this unexpected adventure. "This is awesome!” I say. Grace is not as enthusiastic, she is always the more level-headed and responsible one. She does not take risks or explore outside her comfort zone but somehow, I convince her that we should look around so we can figure out how to get back home.

As we are walking, I hear a ruffle in the trees above. Grace is startled and exclaims “What is that sound?” I reply “I’m not sure, maybe it's a bird or something? All of a sudden, a blue haired monkey swung down onto Grace’s head. Grace promptly begins screaming and jumping around trying to get it off. This of course sends me into a completely uncontrollable belly laugh. As quickly as the monkey landed on Grace’s head he swiftly then moved onto my head. I was loving this moment and declared the obvious, “OMG…. there is a monkey on my head!” The monkey must have been puzzled by my excitement because he suddenly started staring into my eyes and tilted his head in confusion. Watching the monkey’s reaction Grace was no longer scared but rather curious about the blue haired monkey.

The monkey started to talk and said “Hello.” Completely taken back, I reply “How are you talking? Do you have a name?” The monkey smiled and said, “Of course I have a name, it’s Mike.” Grace and I looked at each other in amazement, I mean, first, we magically transport through a TV into a jungle and then, meet a talking monkey. Just another typical Saturday for sure! I didn’t want to be rude, so I introduced myself and Grace, and then explained about the TV and how we just showed up here. Given that we are in uncharted territory, I thought it might be smart to have a local escort us around. I ask Mike to join us, he tells us he has never been on an adventure before and gleefully accepts my invitation.

We looked around enjoying all the plush green leaves and beautiful blue sky as the hot afternoon sun shone down. I was surprised at how quiet everything was, it was so peaceful. Peaceful, except for the sound of Mike chewing his yummy, delicious banana. Seeing him eating made me instantly hungry. I remembered that I stuffed a pack of gummy bears in my pocket before I went into the attic. I shared them with Grace but all that did was just made us hungrier. Mike noticed that we were still hungry and said he knew of a place that we could go to get fresh pineapples and coconuts. Hungry and thirsty, we pursued behind Mike closely. After walking for what seemed like an eternity we arrived at his secret food hideaway, I drank 8 coconuts and ate 2 pineapples. Grace drank 2 coconuts and ate 5 pineapples. It must have been the surreal experience because even though I hated pineapples it tasted like the best food I ever had. Now that our bellies were full, I decided it was time to enjoy a nice nap by the water.