No, this is not the name of a new band or even a new song, though it could be. My mother often told us about walking to school when she was a child. We have told our own children such stories about walking for miles in the deep snow, up hill both ways. No wonder they rolled their eyes. But my mother swore this tale was true. On her way to and from school, she had to pass a neighbor who had monkeys in his trees and they screeched at her as she passed by. She was petrified that one, or more than one, would swing out over the fence and jump onto her back. Every morning her mother would warn her, “Stay away from those monkeys.” Mother did her best, running as fast as she could go down the sidewalk. She didn’t slow down until she felt like she was safe. We laughed at her story. Mother told us to call her older sister, Eula. “She’ll vouch for me. Eula remembers everything.” We called. She did not remember. “How could you forget those awful monkeys?” Mother yelled into the phone. Silence. And so we teased mother about monkeys in the trees. After awhile, she stopped being mad and laughed along with us. We started giving her things with monkeys on them. Daddy even gave her a huge, stuffed monkey that made terrible sounds and we bought little ones that sounded even worse. Then came the monkey bags that an artist friend painted for her. Mother especially loved this one. She carried it to doctor appointments, to the beauty shop, and down to dinner in her assisted-living home. Now I use it to carry books when we travel or my Bible to church, but I haven’t yet carried it to dinner. Maybe I should, in memory of my mother and her monkeys.
6 Comments
Karin Wooten
10/6/2014 12:35:56 am
What a hilarious, yet touching story! Where in the U.S. would someone have monkeys in their trees?
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10/7/2014 01:16:02 am
Maybe they escaped from a band of traveling gypsies passing through. Didn't they always have monkeys?
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Karin Wooten
10/6/2014 12:40:33 am
What a hilarious, yet touching story! Where in the U.S. would someone have monkeys in their trees?
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Linda Prescott
10/6/2014 11:51:08 am
Monkeys in Kentucky??? Funny story! Maybe you get your gift of telling stories from your mother.
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10/7/2014 01:18:15 am
I always thought I was more like my daddy, but mother was the one who had an imagination. That is funny. Thanks Linda!
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Linda Prescott
10/6/2014 11:53:19 am
Monkeys in Kentucky??? Funny story! I think you get your gift of story telling from your mother.
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