Jim Bob's Monkey

I saw this thing on TV this morning about goats climbing trees. I have seen that right here in Harper County. Somebody on that show talked about a fish that walked across the dry ground on his flippers to get from one pond to another. I have seen that too. But the strangest animal act I have come upon is Jim Bob Bumpp's lawn mowing monkey. You may remember a couple of days ago I talked about Jim Bob's new house. Well, a few years ago somebody gave Jim Bob a pet monkey. It was supposed to be a joke. Jim Bob can come up with all kinds of stuff and decided he could use that monkey to help with mowing his six acre yard. It was either that or plant trees and Jim Bob feels closed in with a lot of trees around. So he made a little attachment for his riding lawn mower that allowed the monkey to operate it and set about teaching little Harvey Lee Jr. (he named that cute little thing after me) how to run the machine. He made a pair of earphones to fit the monkey's head and before you know it Harvey Lee Jr. was cutting grass, listening to gospel music, and seemed to be happy as can be. One old lady asked Jim Bob if he wasn't making a slave of a poor defenseless animal. Jim Bob said, "Junior (that's what he calls him) ain't about to do nothing he don't want to do. Besides I split the work with him. He mows on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and I mow on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. And I reward him with an ice cold beer when he finishes, same reward as I get."

Tales of Harper, short stories and poems about the fictional town of Harper, Mississippi is available on Amazon Kindle