I am sitting on a branch,
near the tree’s top, next to
a Capuchin monkey and
we are watching a man
wrestling an alligator. In
the distance an industrial
truck belches black smoke
as it nearly runs into a
very old man slowly crossing
the intersection. Then the
monkey says, Looks like the
dude’s got the alligator in
a choke hold. And I say,
The old guy barely made
it across the street. Then
the alligator gets free and
scurries away, but gets run
over by the truck. Shit, says
the monkey, then, I got a
job, working with a private
investigator. The monkey
peels a banana and hands
me a piece as I ask, Doing
what? The monkey looks me
in the eye and says, Help
solve crimes. I say, Sounds
like a TV show, and the
monkey replies, Yeah, very
much like a television show.
And we watch the old man
very slowly amble down the
street—until he is gone.