Monkette Makes Some New Friends

I was sittng at Starbucks drinking my morning coffee and reading the newspaper a few Sunday mornings ago when two bicycles arrived which were being ridden by a young mother and her daughter of perhaps eight or nine. They came back outside to the patio with their drinks and sat down at the table next to mine.. The girl was still wearing her helmet, but now viewing her from behind I could see that her backpack contained a long armed toy monkey, its arms around her neck.

I went to my nearby truck and took Monkette from where she usually sits in the front seat then walked over to the table where the girl was sitting. I sat Monkette on their table facing the girl saying that this was Monkette and she'd been sitting in my truck when she noticed the other monkey. Could she please join them?

The girl's face lit up, eyes sparkling, with a huge grin! I told them the story of Monkey, how I'd had him since childhood, and about his recent trip to San Francisco where he'd met Monkette. Monkey was sleeping late so I'd taken Monkette with me for morning coffee. I said all of this as if toy monkeys were real people. The girl was now playing with both monkeys, which were sitting on the table facing one another. The mother was fascinated by my story and the girl was fascinated by the monkeys. I went back to my table and my newspaper. We all finished up with our drinks about the same time and said our goodbyes. I haven't seen them since.