Some guy at the railroad told me how smart his dog was. Naturally, I had to tell that fellow just how intelligent my monkey was. I felt like a proud parent bragging on his son.
He said his dog knew several tricks. I said my monkey knew several tricks. My chest filled with pride. He said that his dog din't have to be put in a cage or even on a leash.
Well, he had me there. My monkey lived in a cage and if he wasn't right with me, he would definitely be hooked to his 25 foot chain.
Butch is my almost trained pet pig tailed monkey. Only I was afraid to take him off his chain or out of his cage for long periods at a time. But really, why was I afraid? Sure, when we lived in the city, there was a danger that he might escape if he wasn't on a leash. He might endanger somebody.
But now that Pat and I lived in the country with five and a half acres surrounding us, maybe I could take time to train Butch to stay with me without being on a leash all day. I knew that Butch got tired of living in his cage day after day. Sure, it was a big cage, and he had a whole lot of room to move about in it, but still it wasn't complete freedom.
Do you remember programs on television about monkeys who didn't need to be locked up in cages and monkeys that never had to be on a leash? I remembered too. The only difference between them and Butch was the training they had received. I knew I could do it. I could train my little buddy!
The longer I thought about, the more excited I became. When Pat arrived home from grocery shopping, I couldn't wait to tell her about my new plans for Butch. Her attitude was slightly negative.
"You'd better keep him in the cage where he belongs," she warned me, "If he gets out and attacks someone, it will be your fault."
Sometimes she could be so discouraging. Butch was already used to people, and if they didn' try to hurt him or scare him, I'm sure that he wouldn' bother them.
My mind was made up. I was going to train Butch to obey me without the use of his 25 foot chain. So the first thing I did was to call up the railroad and get four weeks leave.
I knew my work was cut out for me, but I also knew Butch. In my opinion, he was a very smart monkey. In fact, I was sure that within four weeks,Butch would even be house trained, provided Pat would let him in the house. You know what the answer to that was....
Butch's training beginning the next morning was all I could think about for the rest of the evening. I was so excited that I could hardly go to sleep that night. When I finally did doze off, I dreamed about Butch's first day without being caged or hooked up to his 25 foot chain.
At first, Butch didn't noticed he wasn't chained. When he did realize it, he made a bee line for the woods, so my dream turned into a nightmare as I chased him through the woods all day long. I woke up totally exhausted. Of course, it was only a bad dream. Butch wouldn't really do something like that, would he? "No," I kept telling myself, "Of course not."
The next morning, Butch began to experience a new freedom in his life, a freedom without being caged or hooked up to his leash. And, how did he react to it? Once he fully realized he wasn't fettered, he made a bee line straight for the wood.
"Butch, you little rascal! You come back here this minute," I yelled as I took off in pursuit of him through the woods. While chasing after Butch, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had recently done all of that before.
Duce is the penname of Carman J.W. Vance at the Crest Yard in Fort Worth.
2-98