Monkeys and Me - by Roger
Tuesday, October 04, 2011 8:48 AM
Posted by: Roger
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Two decades and a half ago, a friend of mine and I were walking around the streets of Salem, Utah, goofing around as two ten year-olds would. We noticed a huge cage in the back of this house and wondered what it was being used for. So, we went to the house to check it out. I noticed a sign above the cage that read " Rex". We didn't see anything in the cage after much kicking and rattling. We waited and waited and as we waited we heard this weird cry from inside the house. A tunnel seemed to run from the house out to the cage. We saw movement at the opening located at the house and there walked out a monkey. A monkey named Rex. We both jumped back and laughed. We couldn't believe that there was a monkey. My friend put his hand up to the cage and the monkey came towards him. I saw a stick on the ground and I held it to the cage and the monkey grabbed it. We realized that people have been feeding Rex this way. He would take anything from your hand.
Weeks go by, and my friend and I are syched to know that there is a monkey in our neighborhood. I wanted to bring some food to feed Rex. I snagged some potato chips from the cupboard and went to feed Rex. I saw that Rex was out rooting around and doing what monkeys do best. I walked up to the cage and waved the potato chip and he came and grabbed it from my hand. It thought it was funny. I gave him another one and he took it from my hand. I noticed some kids coming toward the cage and as I looked away for a second, Rex grabbed my arm and bit me. I pulled my arm away from his fangs and ran back home. I was terrified and even began to cry. I showed my mom what had happened and we walked back down to Rex’s cage and straight to the owners.
It left me with emotional scars as well as actually scars where his fangs bit my wrist.
