Monkey in a Cage: Do You Remember Your Last Trip to the Zoo?

I open my eyes in the morning and there they are. They are looking at me and squawking, pointing and trying to get over the railing. They are the humans.

It seems like they are always there. Almost all day, they are there. In the evening, when it gets darker, most of them stay away. Then the doors are shut and the building is dark and cool. The humans are all gone. This is my favorite time of day.

The taller humans lift up the smaller humans, so they can get closer to us. They all point at us. Some of them use little boxes to flash lights at our heads.

They like it when we eat. They like it when we scratch. They don't like it when we hide behind the rocks.

They throw things and try to hit us. They want us to pick up their garbage after it hits us. Sometimes they throw nuts in the shell. When we break the shell and pick out the nuts, the humans squawk louder and the lights flash even more.

We like the bars because the air gets in and the humans stay out. Sometimes they go over the railing and try to get closer. We hide. They squawk louder. Then our keepers come in and squawk at the humans.

The keepers can't help us. But they do bring us food.

When it is colder, the humans are wide and puffy. When it gets hot, they get thinner and sweaty. But they are always loud.

We have two walls of bars, so we have to watch all the time that the humans don't get close. The other two walls are hard and cold. They are made of the same flat material that the floor is, and the walls and floor outside where the humans are. The keepers are the only humans that can come by us through the bars.

We have two basins of water and a few rocks. We have part of a big tree in here. But if we climb the tree, we can't go out at the top because there are wires that keep us in.

The tree has no leaves, just one big log and some branches. We don't climb the branches too often, because the humans squawk louder. We like to hide behind the older ones, or behind a rock.

I have heard the older ones talking. They are happy because in two days it will be Christmas. I like Christmas. That is when the humans don't come.