Monkey's Afternoon At Starbucks

James Mitchell visits Miami on business for a few days about four times a year. When he was here several months ago I had Monkey, my childhood stuffed toy, with me. Monkey is a chick magnet. He's over sixty years old and looks a bit worn, which is to be expected. Women seem intrigued that I still have this chilhood playmate after all these years. Men aren't supposed to be sentimental. We're not suppose to play with toys.

In the past few years I've photographed Monkey all over North Miami, from the pony rink to city hall, from the post office to the supermarket. He's ridden in my truck and in grocery carts. He went Priority Mail to San Francisco where Todd Frederick photographed him at the zoo with gorillas in the background, and visiting a variety of famous landmarks there. He came back with Monkette, a young girl stuffed toy monkey, but he also came back wearing a gold earing in one ear. Just what kind of bars did you take him to, Todd? Oh well, at least there aren't any tatoos.

So James, Monkey, and myself were visiting Starbucks and these two gorgeous young ladies wanted to know all about him. One of them, Val, exchanged Email addresses with James and when he knew when his next Miami trip was to take place they made arrangements to meet once more at Starbucks. Val was insistant that Monkey be there. Monkey doesn't drive (although he could probably drive a lot better than many of the drivers here) so I was elected to take him over to meet up with James and Val. Monkey isn't much for converstation, and James and Val were pretty much into their own thing. At least James picked up the tab for the coffee. Thank you, James.