Francis, A Pet Spider Monkey

After spending more and more time in the garage keeping Smokey company, this one morning, Francis decided he did not want to be in the garage with the dog and balked. Mother was running late. She had to drop the boys off at school and get to work early, but Francis had a different agenda. When he started playing tag, Mother and Lewis found themselves in the dining room trying to catch Francis. Brent stayed out of the way and looked on.

Francis was cunning. He knew if he kept the dining room table between him and them, they'd never catch him, and that's exactly what he did. Francis kept Mother and Lewis at one end of the table and he stayed out of reach at the other end. Francis kept this charade going until Mother and Lewis realized they couldn't catch him.

Every time Lewis or Mother maneuvered around the table, Francis would move around the table staying just far enough away to keep from being caught. If it looked to Francis like he was about to be caught, he'd either duck underneath or scurry over the top of the table to escape. The one time they almost caught Francis, he grabbed the chandelier and swung out of the dining area into the living room. In the rain forests spider monkeys can fly 20 to 30 feet by spreading their arms and legs. They can sail through the air like trapeze artists, and jumping from the dining room to the living room was a piece of cake for Francis.

By now, Mother and Lewis were exhausted and getting angry. Francis watched as they sat down to catch their breath and figure out what to do next.

"This is crazy." Mother said. "Lewis, let's put our heads together and come up with a plan."

Since catching Francis was always a game of wits, they had to devise a plan that would out-smart him, and that wasn't easy. Francis continued to watch. He knew they were tired of his tomfoolery and something was about to happen, but what?

Francis was deathly curious when Mother got up from the table and left the room. He followed her with his eyes and watched her disappear down the hall. When she returned she was holding a blanket to her chest. Whatever she was going to do had to work the first time around because Francis caught on too fast. If they missed, there wouldn't be a second chance.

Mother didn't look at Francis crouched on the floor in the corner. She acted like she didn't see him when he raised up to scoot past her. It was while he was running, that Mother made her move. She turned quickly and threw the blanket over Francis' back and head while Lewis pounced on him. In one swift move they caught him.

When Francis recovered and worked his way from under the blanket, he was in his cage, in the garage, and livid .The padlock was on the gate, and Mother was in the car backing out of the garage. She had gotten the idea watching trappers drop nets over animals in jungle movies, and it worked for them.

Francis had a fit. He screamed, hissed, jumped, rolled, and howled. He shook his cage so vigorously, it danced all over the garage floor spilling his water, ruining his food, but worse than that, he had been out-smarted. His dominant attitude had been insulted and he was outraged.