Robbed by a Monkey

Evidence of where the monkey snuck in, that little brat!

I am writing this just after I was actually robbed by a monkey. This little monkey had the audacity (as they usually do) to sneak through our front kitchen window with both Mike and I home. I was in my room and Mike was outside on the deck, but I could hear rustling in the kitchen so I thought I better go check it out and low and behold, there’s a monkey perched on our kitchen shelf helping him/herself to whatever it felt inclined to.  When I saw it I just screamed and yelled, “Auhh, there’s a monkey in our house!” and it got startled a bit, jumped back and just stared at me. This scared me enough to do the only logical thing, hide in my room. This gave the monkey the opportunity to get back to what it does best -rob me blind of the only treat I bought from town (which is an hour away), homemade granola snack bars; needless to say they are delicious enough that a monkey chose them over the bananas that were also a perfectly accessible option. I finally peeked out from my room just as it grabbed my treat and made a mad dash back through the window and into the trees.

This is now the second time I’ve been ‘robbed’. Once a few months ago I left my runners (known here as “tackies”) and one other pair of shoes on my balcony overnight, which I had done for months, but this particular evening they were stolen. Oh right, how could I forget, I also had my running jacket “go missing” from the balcony on a different occassion, although at the time I thought the wind may have swept it away??? I should add, this balcony is quite a few stories high, so in order for someone to take something it would take a bit of strategic planning; although completely understandable for a country that has an unemployment rate of 25%, (the Eastern Cape province, where I live, has an even higher unemployment rate of almost 28%). Based on these facts alone it is not surprising people are opportunists, and I actually don’t blame someone for taking my shoes that were left out in plain sight. Ok, I admit at the time I was a bit resentful, who wouldn't be? The mysterious part is that there were other shoes still remaining on the balcony, so only select items were stolen, hmmm...