There is a monkey that lives at CCC. A small little monkey. Smaller than a cat with a longer tail and weirdly human-like hands with tiny fingernails. At first it seems cute. And like a sort of cliché of what life in Africa should be like. Of course our compound would have a pet monkey.
But, I've seen Outbreak. So even though I liked the idea of the novelty of a pet monkey, I kept my distance my first few weeks. I'd sort of carefully scratch her head sometimes. Give her bits of fruit. I was going for a sort of unspoken understanding--I don't mess with you, you don't mess with me type thing.
I appreciate how cute the monkey is with the girls. Especially the smallest ones. It's pretty precious how she'll sit on the five-year-olds heads and (literally) come running over when she hears them crying. They're little friends and that's cute.
What is NOT cute is how she eats beads. She eats the freaking beads! And loves to spill them. And will sometimes take whole strands and run up to the roof with them. And sometimes she takes the girls candy and makes them cry. One day the girls went in for lunch and the monkey went and spilled six cups of beads into the dirt.
She bites the girls sometimes. When they hit her or throw things at her. I get it. They don't treat the monkey well sometimes, so I get that she responds with biting. But one day she was trying to go inside the dorm and I was blocking her and she jumped on my leg and bit me really hard through my jeans and drew blood. This was the end of our cordial relationship. My indifference turned to distain.
And she noticed. She knows I don't like her. Maybe she hears the way I say "Stupid monkey!" each time she takes beads and knocks over the trash can and in general makes my life more difficult than it needs to be. So now she does this thing where, as I walk by, minding my own business, ignoring the furry trouble maker, she'll LUNGE after me and try to bite me!
Um, excuse me!? I still give her bits of food because she is a living thing, so what the heck?! More than once, several times in fact, I'll be walking by to go into the dorm or something and she'll start running after me. I run of course because I, uh, don't like being bitten by monkeys. And the girls will always laugh (it is funny, I suppose), but will stand between us and block her. Which is sweet. Dumb monkey.
A few of us would be ok if she, um, relocated elsewhere. I guess its good for the girls to have a pet? But they do abuse her sometimes. And she has gotten more aggressive. So I'll continue to keep my distance...and keep beads away from her as much as I can. Pet monkeys. Not all they're cracked up to be.
But, I've seen Outbreak. So even though I liked the idea of the novelty of a pet monkey, I kept my distance my first few weeks. I'd sort of carefully scratch her head sometimes. Give her bits of fruit. I was going for a sort of unspoken understanding--I don't mess with you, you don't mess with me type thing.
I appreciate how cute the monkey is with the girls. Especially the smallest ones. It's pretty precious how she'll sit on the five-year-olds heads and (literally) come running over when she hears them crying. They're little friends and that's cute.
What is NOT cute is how she eats beads. She eats the freaking beads! And loves to spill them. And will sometimes take whole strands and run up to the roof with them. And sometimes she takes the girls candy and makes them cry. One day the girls went in for lunch and the monkey went and spilled six cups of beads into the dirt.
She bites the girls sometimes. When they hit her or throw things at her. I get it. They don't treat the monkey well sometimes, so I get that she responds with biting. But one day she was trying to go inside the dorm and I was blocking her and she jumped on my leg and bit me really hard through my jeans and drew blood. This was the end of our cordial relationship. My indifference turned to distain.
And she noticed. She knows I don't like her. Maybe she hears the way I say "Stupid monkey!" each time she takes beads and knocks over the trash can and in general makes my life more difficult than it needs to be. So now she does this thing where, as I walk by, minding my own business, ignoring the furry trouble maker, she'll LUNGE after me and try to bite me!
Um, excuse me!? I still give her bits of food because she is a living thing, so what the heck?! More than once, several times in fact, I'll be walking by to go into the dorm or something and she'll start running after me. I run of course because I, uh, don't like being bitten by monkeys. And the girls will always laugh (it is funny, I suppose), but will stand between us and block her. Which is sweet. Dumb monkey.
A few of us would be ok if she, um, relocated elsewhere. I guess its good for the girls to have a pet? But they do abuse her sometimes. And she has gotten more aggressive. So I'll continue to keep my distance...and keep beads away from her as much as I can. Pet monkeys. Not all they're cracked up to be.
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