There was once a girl named Zimkhitha who never stopped laughing. She made her dad mad. One day he was driving her home from school. When he reached the beginning of their road, he’d had enough! He stopped the car.

“Are you going to stop laughing or are you going to walk home?” he asked. But Zimkhitha just laughed louder.

“Right,” he said, “you can walk home.” He made her get out of the car and he drove home.

“Where’s Zimkhitha?” asked her mom when her dad walked in the front door. “I’m cooking her favourite dinner.”

“Oh dear,” her dad said. “I made her walk home from the corner because she wouldn’t stop laughing.”

“My precious baby?” cried Zimkhitha’s mom. “You made my precious baby walk home? All alone? We’d better go and find her.” They looked and looked, but there was no sign of Zimkhitha.

“Where did you leave her?” asked Mom. “Where is she, Ron?”

“Oh dear,” muttered Zimkhitha’s dad, checking under every bush and up every tree.

“Zimkhitha!” called her mom. “Where are you?”

A woman stopped her car. “Can I help you?” she asked.

“We’ve lost our little girl,” said Zimkhitha’s mom. “Have you seen her?”

The woman drove round the block and came back to report, “I saw a black cat, and a yellow dog, and a man selling bananas. But I didn’t see a little girl anywhere.”