Monkey Stories, the Best Kind of Stories

"When the monkeys come we have to quickly close all the windows and close the doors that lead to the balconies because if we don't, the monkeys will come in and steal all our stuff. With their crinkly hands and perfect little finger-nails they reach in and grab whatever they can--safety pins, fruit, glass beads. If the doors are open they walk in and take entire bunches of bananas off of the dining room table. If my parents had told me this, I wouldn't have believed them but one heavy Wednesday morning, I walked in on a monkey doing just this. I watched in stunned silence as he looked at me, tucked the bunch of bananas under his arm and walked out again. In the past, the monkeys have opened small bottles of half dried oil paints because you know, opposable thumbs. They have dabbed their fingers into the paints (because, you know, curiosity) and proceeded to wipe their colourful fingers all over my mother's nice white walls... Left behind on the walls are unique yellow and green streaked examples of early 21st century monkey art." In this engaging piece, writer Snigdha Manickavel affords a colorful glimpse of the ways human life and monkey life intersect in her corner of our blue planet.

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