Hope Harper Daddy's Monkey Business ✦ Ultimate & Complete

“Phase One: Lullaby the capuchin – small size, nimble fingers. Phase Two: The Gala at the Savannah Natural History Museum – closing night of the ‘Gems of the Congo’ exhibit. Phase Three: Exit via the mandrill habitat – no one questions a mandrill.”

The real issue wasn’t the flyer. The real issue was that Hope, at seventeen, had already submitted early applications to three colleges far, far away. The personal essay was titled “Growing Up Human in a Non-Human World.” She’d written about responsibility, resilience, and the time she’d had to teach a howler monkey named Kevin not to throw feces at the mailman. hope harper daddy's monkey business

“Good,” Hope said, pulling out a chair. “Because I have some ideas. And they involve less feces-throwing and more actual planning.” “Phase One: Lullaby the capuchin – small size,

Hope looked at Cha-Cha, who was now picking her nose and eating it. Then she looked at her father – the man who’d been dismissed as a crank, who’d raised her among spider monkeys and howlers, who’d taught her that responsibility meant protecting the ones who couldn’t protect themselves. The real issue was that Hope, at seventeen,

Not in a cute, let’s-watch-Planet-of-the-Apes-marathon way. In a there-are-currently-three-spider-monkeys-living-in-our-dining-room-chandelier way.

“The monkeys aren’t the criminals, Hope,” her father said softly. “They’re the victims. Just like those artifacts. Just like the land Kimboko’s strip-mining.”