The Monkey Affair

Elisha had never been fascinated by anything as much as she took interest in this red fruit. Its chunky flesh, along with the enigmatic red was a necessary addiction she had to indulge herself into every season. The golden seeds on its body, so fragile yet firm under her teeth sent a jarring charged wave across her bloodstream each time she took a bite. Elisha had fixated all of her life's cravings and addiction to strawberries, and this was since childhood.

So today, even at 43 with two kids, a husband and an anonymous to all lover, her unorthodox pull towards this orthodox fruit hadn't died, in fact, it had consistently increased with each grey hair and wrinkle over the years.

Elisha had just received a freshly packed box of her favorite and she was walking down the path with an animated bob to each step she took. Although she had all she wanted from life in those cheaply manicured hands of hers, neatly packed and wrapped, her imagination betrayed her. The mole on face was getting larger with each passing day, and fading straight from black to brown, then brown to an uncanny grey.

She, like most of human species, did not enjoy thinking about her receding vision, yet could not stop debating over it once it had crossed the peripheries of her human mind. She had to get that laser thing done and bid goodbye to this ghastly mole, which was menacing her already menaced guise.Elisha was so engrossed in cogitating about her mole, that she did not even notice. Yes, she did not even notice that a golden colored, hazy eyed ape had been following her.

Still debating over laser or natural, it was a serene job for the monkey to bring down the whole package with one swift, effortless hand. This was the first time Elisha had discerned the presence of another being beside her in thirty minutes, and yet when she finally had, it was ruefully late, for the ground had already become a carpet of red colored velvet, with green emeralds in between. Elisha just stared, her stare freezing even more with each strawberry the monkey bulged in his throat. She wasn't even thinking, she couldn't. It seemed like the world had come to a halt, the clocks had stopped ticking and the people had stopped worrying.

The monkey picked two berries at a time, pushed them inside his bag of a throat. He continued this frenzied movement till every piece was taken care of, and the gravel once again looked clean and cement. Without a farewell or any acknowledgement he retreated back, from wherever he had come, for Elisha did not bother to look after him, she had other worries. Blood rushed to Elisha's face, she had been disregarded in the past, but this was terrible, it was painfully terrible.

The only thing she truly invested endearment in, had been snatched from her, practically by a wild uncivilized mutt. This wave of vexation was continued by an exasperated whimper all the way back home.
"Ellie honey you're late", shouted her husband from the kitchen. The whole house smelt of grilled meat, which meat she couldn't decipher. "Did you get the strawberry package I sent you honey?", continued her husband. "No, I didn't.", said Elisha ironically.

Even here, surrounded by her agile children, loving husband and a table full of soul food, Elisha couldn't digest the fact that something so extreme, so perilous had happened to her and she couldn't do anything except freeze. She wasn't liking this, oh no, she wasn't liking this at all. The world had become a voice proof bore, and her solitary mission was to kill it, yes, just to kill it and taste strawberries dipped in his blood.

"Ma you alright?", said Vee, the teenage daughter, shaking Elisha by her hunching shoulders. "Oh yes, of course darling, isn't the food wonderful?", mustered Elisha. She dreamed about the monkey at night. The monkey was smiling at her. She was frozen once again in the dream. The monkey stuck his hand inside his mouth and produced some fruit. He offered it to Elisha, but she didn't respond, so he put it back with the same vigor he had taken them out with.

The next day Elisha took a different road to office, the one with more people and civilization. She was thankful that she hadn't spotted it till now. The office seemed to be full of people, so she didn't worry much now. "Good morning Elisha!", beamed the new receptionist with her head down. "Morning Kellie, wow busy huh", replied Elisha cheerfully, happy to be back to normal. "Not really", said Kellie swaying her head up, as if in a rhythm, and there it was, what she had dreaded. There was no Kellie, it was the monkey, smiling wickedly at her, flashing white teeth with strawberry seeds stuck on them.

The whole day passed in the same frenzy. The moment Elisha thought it was over, he came again, it could be anywhere, under her desk, behind a colleague, in the urinary cubicle, anywhere. Till yesterday she was rebellious, but now, now she was scared. She couldn't tell Sean, he was already finding ways for an unceremonious divorce. The house would be his, so would be her beautiful children, and she would end up in the institution. Elisha couldn't think, she couldn't find a way out.

She went back to an empty house that day. Why did it have to be empty just today, when she frantically needed otherwise, but she had no where else to go either. Vee had one of her parties and Jake, well she didn't know where Jake was and didn't have the tenacity to find out. The question was, where was Sean. Then she remembered, it was poker night.She switched on the lights of every room and turned the television on.

She was already avoiding to look in the dark corners, or in the shadowy parts of her house, for she didn't know where he might be hiding. But she knew for certainty that he was there, she could even smell the mutt reek. She glued her eyes to the television, not once looking elsewhere, although she was dying of thirst. Here she was, in need of something to drink, yet she couldn't risk getting up, let alone opening the fridge.

Suddenly, she was taken back to Dora, her grandmother. She could feel Dora's wrinkly fingers caressing her hair, she could hear her wispy voice,"So here's a story about a monkey, you know whats a monkey Ellie hon, don't you?", and the lights went off.

xxxxxx

The whole house was going fraught, it was noon, all family and friends had been called, tears had been shed, but Elisha was no where to be found. To everyone's surprise, Jake, the supposed man of the house was crying. Vee was calling up all the possible relatives their family had ever possessed. Sean was equally distraught, mailing people and checking every room at an interval of four minutes.

"Okay dad, you check the bedroom one last time and then we all head up to the police, that's that", announced Vee. Sean gloomily headed towards the room and sat on the bed. Even to his own incredulity, with head in his hands, he started crying. He had loved Elisha since that day in college, when he first saw her frizzy hair and jute bag. Bizarre to confess, but he had still loved her when he found out about Mick, and never told her that he knew.

He noticed the wall opposite, adorned with pictures of their married life, their wedding day, the vacation to Italy, Vee's birth and a prodigious checklist of memories, all pinned to bricks. He noticed her pile of clothes in the laundry basket, touched by her, owned by her. He kissed their picture at the bedside table and then kissed his wedding ring. With tears in his eyes and the picture in his hand, he left the room.

What Sean failed to notice though, was a monkey sitting right in front of the window of their bedroom, with fat tears in her eyes and a consistently sizable, grey mole on her cheek.
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