“A monkey,” she cried. “My goodness, Jim Murray, are you a lawyer or a zoo-keeper? Supposing your next client owns an elephant?”
Daddy laughed and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry dear,” he said. “If you don’t want him we’ll take him down to the zoo in the morning.”
“The zoo?” wailed Davey. “Please don’t take him to the zoo.”
Mom was firm. “His place is in the zoo,” she said.
He would have been banished the very next day except that a quarantine had been placed on the zoo because of the illness of some of the larger animals, and no new animals were being admitted. One day led to the next and Butchie stayed on. Mom had to take care of him during the day when the children were at school, and she grew to love him so that by the time the quarantine was lifted the Murrays had a monkey, and that was that.
Jane sat him on the porch sewing table, and ran in to heat the boric solution. He waited patiently, and extended his little paw in perfect trust. “Oh, what a good monkey you can be,” murmured Janie as she fastened the fresh bandage. “You could save yourself a lot of trouble, Butch, by keeping your paws off the screen door when the Murrays come thundering home.”
“Eeek Eeek,” chattered Butch, and his little nurse replied gravely, “You’re welcome.”
Mom came down the stairway just as Janie finished.
“Where’s all the lemonade I’ve been hearing about?” she asked.
“In a minute, Mom. I’ve been fixing Butchie’s paw.”