Hold a Monkey

“All of us tourists were ushered into a cage and told to sit on a long bench, side by side. We could see the adjacent cages with the monkeys who shrieked and sqwaked and clung to the cage walls as close as they could get to us. You see, they know tourists mean treats and they wanted treats! They brought in our girl. We were told not to interact with the monkey, not to try and touch her, and to try to hold still and not scare her. I was at the very end of the row of people and thus was the very first person the monkey jumped onto. It was startling and everyone laughed. I could tell they did that on purpose. Then our pretty little monkey hopped down the line, from head to head, and the giggles followed her. She went up and down the line twice, so we each had her on us four times. I had a very hard time not interacting. She was warm and soft and adorable. And a little bit stinky.”