In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle

Now back ‘in the day’ when monkeys were monkeys (and it was okay to say your kids were little monkeys), life was pretty free, but not always easy.   Oh yes,  no doubt, you could spend your life, swinging from the trees, chattering to your extended family or your pack, and picking bits and pieces out of the fur of your fellow monkeys.  Still, there was always the stress of the unknown, much like in a Cat Colony where the biggest and the meanest have a ‘my will be done attitude.’

Now you know me, (Ruby, The Incredibly Wide Eyed Monkey) I never lived in a pack in the Jungle. I mean, I am stuffed but even so, I am just as wily, intelligent and with the same need for socialization as a monkey born in a tropical rain forest.

That is why just laying on Momma’s bed with Jakita, Gen, Charlie and of course little Babby and Tigger, has helped me develop in to the well-rounded, trusted companion that I am today.  I know you know, I can not talk.  Still, I have learned through listening, as well as communicating through my gestures and my wide-eyed stare, how to tell a tale just through the process of osmosis.

And, do I have a story to tell you, Jakita, Gen, Charlie, Babbie and  Tigger. Forget Bad Boy Andy.  He would not believe me, anyway, just because of his high levels of testosterone (you know, men, only believe in sports stats) and they all seem to share low-levels of tolerance.

You see, when we were being created in the warehouse, (which tried to resemble a jungle, (without the catastrophic thunder, lightening and torrents of rain) the owner, Mr. Get Stuffed (just like we were) had a really wise old monkey who had been kidnapped, sold to bounty hunters who in turn sold him to an exotic pet enterprise who in turn sold him to Mr. Get Stuffed. Are you with me so far?  Maybe Mr. Get Stuffed thought it would be easier for his customers to put together a monkey, if they had a live prototype.  Still you could also craft teddy bears in the warehouse, and I did not see a bear shuffling around (thank goodness).  Go figure.  Maybe Mr. Get Stuffed just liked monkeys.

All I can say is that Mr. Wise Old Monkey had yellow teeth, a grizzly grey beard and patches of fur missing but he still had a twinkle in his eye…..and we all wanted to be like Mr. Wise Old Monkey when the fresh dew of youth passed us into another portal of reality.

Alas, you know the story.  Super Boy and Itty Bitty chose me for Momma so I bade farewell to my forever warehouse friends, as well as Mr. Wise Old Monkey…and I may be wrong, but I think I even saw a tear in Mr. Get Stuffed’s right eye or maybe it was his left eye. Either that, or he had a severe  allergy attack, just as I was leaving.

Now you know, I live the life of Riley with new best friends forever Jakita, Gen, Charlie, Tigger and Babby.  Sometimes when I am all alone on Momma’s bed (Gen is catching mice, Charlie has paws to the screen in the sunroom, dreaming of being brave enough to go outside, Momma is walking Jakita and poor Tigger and Babbie are wherever Jakita left them)….I am sure…

I hear the echo of Mr. Wise Old Monkey’s chatters and clicks and wish I could see him just one more time. He’d be so proud of me and….I have so much to tell him about how the other half lives.