This is a true story which spanned a period from an estimate of a total of 12 years.
Every Sunday night at 9:00 pm there was a half hour Sunday night TV Show called, “Wild Kingdom”. The show was hosted by Marlin Perkins and Mutual of Omaha was the sponsor.
One Sunday evening, my family was watching this show which, this particular Sunday night featured small monkeys. Specifically, “Spider Monkeys”.
I commented, “Hey Pop, look at those cute little monkeys”. “Look at the little hairs on their heads!” The hairs go straight up in the air …. “Can I have a monkey as a pet?” “C’mon Pop, how about it?”
Since I was quite young (Maybe ten years old or so), I had no idea what sarcasm was, my father replied, “Why not buy two of them? They are probably cheaper when you buy two!” …. I thought that he meant to say, “YES!” “YOU CAN HAVE A MONKEY!” ..
I was so excited, I checked the Newark Star Ledger, the local newspaper which was delivered to our house every day. After school, I checked out the classified section and looked under “Pets for Sale”. This search became part of my daily routine, after school.
Sure enough, it was on a Friday afternoon, when I found an advertisement which said, “Monkeys for sale $12.00 each”. I had been saving money from my newspaper deliveries for the past year or so and saved about $55.00. So the next morning, Saturday, after my deliveries, I took the bus to downtown Newark to “Joseph’s Pet Shop”. I got off and went inside. I saw the clerk and asked, “Do you still have the monkeys for sale … like the advertisement says in the newspaper says?”. He showed me to a very large cage where there were at least ten or more little Spider Monkeys.
I was so excited because the very same “Spider Monkey”, which I saw on the TV show I was just about to own one! The clerk asked me, “where will you keep him?” I replied, “in my room!”. He said, “I wouldn’t want you to do that!”.. I asked him why not? He said
“monkeys are not clean … you don’t want to keep him there!” Then he asked, “How do you plan to get him home?” I said, “I never thought of that!”.
He said, “You need to keep the monkey in a monkey cage”. He then showed me a cage which was the perfect size for the monkey.
“How much is that?”, I asked. I have a special price on that one, it is only $32.00. I had brought just enough money for both, the monkey and the cage! I then struggled the money out of my pocket and he put the monkey in a tiny carton and the carton inside the cage. Wrapping the cage with crepe paper, nobody could tell this was a live monkey inside.
I smiled and went outside and caught the bus home. I was so excited to have my very own monkey! The one with the little hairs on his head which stood up (much like the “Spiked Hair” look on people, today! At that time, I named my monkey, “Randy”.
I got home and when I entered the front porch, I first took the little carton out of the cage and, quickly let the monkey out of the carton. He showed his teeth to me as if he was saying, “You are the one who made me an orphan”… “it was YOU who took me away from my friends! I thought to myself, “I am the one who owns you … I paid good money for you.. why are you angry at ME????”
Well, it took about four solid hours with thick garden gloves to grab Randy and avoid a nasty bite from this creature’s sharp teeth that I finally got him into the cage. My sister, first, came home from school and saw the monkey. Remember at this time Edy, my sister, was all of six years old. She said, “How could you do this? … Where did you find this monkey?” I told her where and how I found him. “Where are you going to keep him?”, she asked. I told her, “In my room!” Your room already stinks, with a monkey, it will get even worse. “Our parents will never allow you to do that!”, she proclaimed
Well, I then called my father at work and when he got on the phone, I said, “Hey Pop, I have a surprise for you!” .. he asked, “What surprise?” .. I replied, “I bought a monkey!” .. he seemed to shrug it off and said, “Oh really?” and he hung up the phone with a laugh! It was obvious that my dad simply didn’t believe me.
Well, he picked up my mother at work and drove home and got to the house about 6:00 pm, his normal time and entered the front porch. I pointed to the cage and he gulped loudly! “Honey .. He DID IT .. HE BOUGHT A MONKEY! My mother could not stop laughing out loud .. and saying HE DID .. HE DID IT!
My father asked me “Where do you think you are going to keep that monkey?” … I replied, “in my room, Pop!” .. he loudly answered, “NO YOU’RE NOT!” “Take that animal out to the garage!” I could hear my sister laughing upstairs. She was probably thinking, “I told him he could never keep it in the house!”
I went out to the garage holding the cage by the handle and set the cage on a work bench just in front of the garage door.
Now keep in mind this was in early September, when the average daytime temperature was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I didn’t realize that October can start to bring freezing temperatures.
Sure enough, one early October morning, my sister came running into the house yelling “RANDY IS DEAD .. YOU DID IT, YOU KILLED RANDY!!! I rushed out to the garage and Edy showed me that Randy got out of his cage and seemed to DIVE into the cold cement floor. She cried out, “YOU MADE HIM COMMIT SUICIDE!” … “I TOLD YOU MONKEYS CAN’T LIVE IN COLD WEATHER!!
I was very embarrassed and felt terrible about poor Randy. Edy and I owned a number of dogs, cats, animals, snakes, fish, frogs, ducks & chicks but never intended for any of them to die!
The next day, we buried Randy in the same little “animal graveyard” in our backyard under the trees and next to the lilac bushes.
FLASH FORWARD TO TWELVE YEARS LATER …..
We were watching “Wild Kingdom” with the same “Marlin Perkins” as host. This episode featured, “Baby Elephants”. I commented, “Look at those cute little babies …. with the little hairs on their heads!” “Aren’t they cute??”
MY FATHER DIDN’T HESITATE … “YOU WILL NEVER EVER BUY AN ELEPHANT…. “WHETHER I AM ALIVE OR DEAD!” … “DID I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR, SON?”
IF YOU MAKE ANY ATTEMPT TO BUY AN ELEPHANT, I WILL COME BACK FROM THE DEAD, AND SHOOT BOTH, YOU AND THE ELEPHANT!!
TO BE CONTINUED, “THE ELEPHANT STORY“