On a lonely corner, a gray-haired man sat somberly, turning away at
his organ grinder. A small monkey clapped away, and did little
somersaults.
A boy of about twelve came up to the man and tossed him a coin.
"Pretty monkey you got there, mister."
"Yeah," the latter replied noncommittantly.
The kid eyed the monkey, who in turn ignored him with a passion,
concentrating on doing as many head-over-heels flips as it could.
"It's pretty good... for a monkey."
"Trained it myself," the man said. "Could do anything you could,
I'd wager."
"Really..." The child put his hands in his pockets and pulled out
several large bills, which he slapped on the organ grinder. "I'd
like to take you up on that."
"Suit yourself," the man said, stopping his grinding, slowly
dropping the monkey's chain.
The monkey itself seemed to glower at the money being presented.
As soon as the slack on his leash was evident, it did some stretches.
"That's funny," the kid smirked, then stood stock still. The monkey
stopped in front of him, and aped.
The kid leaned forward, bending at the waist, until his chin was on
the ground. The monkey did the same, tail straight behind it.
The kid straightened then bended to his sides. The monkey was
unimpressed.
The boy suddenly bent backward, supporting his torso with his hands.
In this spider-like posture, he turned... the monkey stared back at
him, upside-down as well.
Like a gymnast, the kid lifted one leg up, then the other, pulling
himself up at the other side. The little primate did one better,
using its tail as support.
Suddenly, the kid lashed out at the monkey, kicking with his shin.
The monkey jumped onto the leg, quickly clambering up the small man's
body, and biting him in the nose.
"OWWWWWW!" The kid swung his arm up, to claw at the assailant... and
ended up punching himself in the nose.
The kid slumped, with the monkey riding him, waving its arms in self-
congratulation.
The man finally stood, pocketing the cash. "Guess you lose."
The monkey looked up at the man, then burst into violent chattering.
"Don't give me that. Speak up, boy."
The monkey clambered over and around the corner, returning with a pen
and paper. It scribbled furiously, then gave the piece of paper to the
man.
"'Can we go home, now?'" Ranma smiled thinly. "Son, we don't even have
half the money to get back to China. If you want to get cured, you'll
have to work for it. Even if it does take all day today or tomorrow."
He sat down, and played.
***
Switch
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nikholas F. Toledo Zu @ WWW: The Entertainment Capital of UP Village
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Rain Man, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee, Datzo, Jewel, elf, Radler, Pinball, Mayhem, Chaos, Father,
Attar, Llewe and Katana @ http://nikholas-f-toledo-zu.webjump.com/ NEW!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------