Shhhh. Don’t let anyone know I am typing on Grandma’s computer. Monkeys aren’t supposed to write blogs — especially not toy monkeys. Grandma was supposed to write my story, but I gave up on her! She SAID she was going to tell you all about me, but she kept on doing boring stuff like packing and cleaning. Then she went on a long trip — and I don’t think she is EVER going to write my story. I will have to do it myself!
I sneaked in while she dozing on the couch and if we are very quiet and don’t wake her up, I will tell you my adventures. They are pretty exciting already!
My life started in a factory in China. I’m a stuffed Gibbon monkey with l-o-n-g arms and legs. They shipped me to Oklahoma where I found myself in the gift shop of the zoo. B-o-r-i-n-g! It would be interesting to see the real animals in the zoo, but all I did was hang around the store with dozens of other stuffed toys.
One day a lady came into the shop with four kids. They were very busy looking at all the interesting things in the store, but a little girl with long brown hair and big brown eyes came over and looked right at me.
“I like this one, Grandma” said.
She pointed at me — or was she pointing at the silly-looking wolf behind me? I did hope she would pick me!
The lady she called “Grandma” reached over and (yes!) she picked me up.
“Your cousin Izzi likes this one. What do you think Henry?” Grandma asked. A blond-haired boy with bright blue eyes looked me over.
“Yes,” he said. “I like him.”
“Justin?” Grandma asked.
A bigger blond-haired boy smiled and said, “Yes, he will be a good one.”
“Jeremiah?”
The biggest boy, who had brown hair and blue eyes, shrugged. “Okay, I guess,” he said.
Grandma looked at my price tag and nodded. "He can go with us."
I was s-o-o-o glad! I wondered where I would live and who would be my new owner. Izzi? Henry? Justin? Jeremiah? I was in for a big surprise!
“Grandpa, look what Grandma bought!” Henry yelled as he ran up to a kind-looking man waiting on a bench outside.
Grandma took me out of the sack (whew! it was hot in there!) and showed me off.
“We will take this monkey with us while we travel,” she said. “I will write stories about him for the grandchildren to read so they will know where we are and what we are doing.”
Grandpa nodded. “Good idea!” he said. “What’s its name?”
“Let’s call him Donkey Kong,” said Henry.
“Justine is a nice name,” said Justin. “If it is a girl.”
“I think it is a boy,” Jeremiah said. “We could call him Linkee.”
“Why Linkee?” Grandma asked.
Jeremiah shrugged again. “I don’t know. It just seems like a good monkey name.”
Grandma looked at me thoughtfully. “I want him to keep us ‘linked’ with you kids while we are far away, so that sounds like a very good name.”
“Besides,” Grandpa said. “We bought him a Lincoln Park Zoo. Linkee is a great name!”
So I became Linkee. And let me tell you, my adventures have been… oh, oh. Grandma is waking up. I’ll have to tell you about how I fell off a mountain next time I can get on the computer.
Your friend,
Linkee