To Help the Monkey Cross the River, which he must cross, by
swimming, for fruits and nuts, to help him I sit with my rifle
on a platform high in a tree, same side of the river as the
hungry monkey. How does this assist him? When he swims for it I
look first upriver: predators move faster with the current than
against it. If a crocodile is aimed from upriver to eat the
monkey and an anaconda from downriver burns with the same
ambition, I do the math, algebra, angles, rate-of-monkey, croc-
and snake-speed, and if, if it looks as though the anaconda or
the croc will reach the monkey before he attains the river’s far
bank, I raise my rifle and fire one, two, three, even four times
into the river just behind the monkey to hurry him up a little.
Shoot the snake, the crocodile? They’re just doing their jobs,
but the monkey, the monkey has little hands like a child’s, and
the smart ones, in a cage, can be taught to smile. From The
Cradle Place Houghton Mifflin, 2004 Copyright 2004 Thomas Lux.
All rights reserved. Rep