Kelly headed straight for a large oak with low-hanging branches. It sat just on the border of the park, and the neighbors had built a treehouse for their young sons many years ago. Now the boys were adults, and the family had moved away, but the treehouse remained. However, Kelly was more interested in the tree itself.
Pulling herself up with ease, Kelly scrambled along the branch until it curved upward. She followed it along until she caught sight of another branch, slightly higher and about two feet away at that point. Gathering herself, Kelly leaped across the divide, easily grabbing ahold of the large branch with her new hands and feet and even her tail, and balancing atop it. Looking back, Kelly saw Erica lagging behind on the first branch.
"C'mon, lets go!" Kelly called out, egging Erica on. Climbing uncomfortably up to the spot that Kelly had jumped from, Erica looked at the gap nervously. As a human, it would've only been a matter of stretching across and grabbing the branch; now, however, the distance between the branches nearly equaled Erica's current height standing upright. Erica shuddered nervously, but seeing Kelly's urging look, steeled herself and jumped.
"EEK!" Erica shrieked, realizing she had jumped just too short. However, before she could fall, Kelly hooked her tail around the branch, leaned down, and managed to catch her friend's flailing arm with a grunt. Terrified, Erica clutched at Kelly's hand. Kelly tried to pull her up to the branch, but could barely lift her weight.
"Use your tail," Kelly said through gritted teeth. Erica, panicking, reacted almost without thinking, reaching her tail up and managing to grip the branch, lessening the load on Kelly. Pivoting her own weight on the branch, Kelly maneuvered Erica up to the branch, and the two stood there, clutching the branch with hands, feet and tail, panting heavily.
"Well, at least we know your tail works too," Kelly said between breaths, trying to lighten the mood. Erica looked like she might run back for the house right then and there, but Kelly was determined to have some fun. "Next time don't tense up so much," Kelly advised, then scurried up the tree. Looking up, Erica saw her friend swinging around the upper branches with just her arms, like a child on the monkey bars. Although frightened, Erica didn't want Kelly to leave her behind, so gingerly followed her up the tree.
After a few flailing jumps and nervous landings, even Erica had to admit it jumping around the treetops was an exhilarating experience. Although it was dark, the full moon was out, and the bright moonlight made the branches stand out in stark relief. Forgetting about investigating why they had changed into spider monkeys, the girls spent hours swinging from branches and leaping from limb to limb, racing each other through the park. By the time the moon began to hang low in the sky, both Erica and Kelly moved as though they had been born in the trees.
Yawning and exhausted, the girls finally came to the realization they would have to find a place to bed down.
"We didn't change back!" Erica cried out, coming to the realization that the night was close to ending. "What do we do now?"
"Well," Kelly said, a yawn stretching her jaw to the maximum, "first things first; we need to get some sleep. We can figure it out after."