Summer of the Monkeys

Jay Berry wakes the next morning even sicker. He is thirsty, dizzy, and ashamed. Papa laughs good-naturedly at the turn of events. Jay Berry tells Papa everything that happened. Papa offers to give Grandpa any messages from Jay Berry, but all Jay Berry wants Grandpa to know is that he will be back for more ideas on how to catch the monkeys soon. Daisy puts on her nurse’s uniform and insists on taking his temperature. Just the sight of the castor oil she wants him to swallow is enough to make Jay Berry vomit out the window. Daisy says that was the intended purpose; “I bet you’re feeling better, aren’t you?” (142). Next Daisy goes to nurse Rowdy, also hungover. Rowdy wants nothing to do with Daisy’s nursing, but she is very persuasive, eventually giving him a bath in the water trough.

On the morning of the second day, Jay Berry feels well enough to see Grandpa at his store. Rowdy comes along with the promise of a meat rind. Grandpa teases him about the drunken episode and lost britches, and Jay Berry laughs along good-naturedly. Grandpa’s new idea is to go to the one place that might have an idea good enough to finally catch the monkeys: the library.

Grandpa arrives at daybreak to pick up Jay Berry for the long trip to the town of Tahlequah. Rowdy wants to go along. Jay Berry tells him to stay home for the sake of his own safety. Rowdy insists; he plays dead in the wagon. Grandpa convinces Jay Berry that Rowdy will be all right in town. Mama reminds Jay Berry to be careful and good, and Daisy reminds him to bring her the ribbons she wants. On the way, Rowdy chases a coon into the woods and returns with a scratched nose. When they cross the river, Grandpa gives Jay Berry the reins, telling Jay Berry the situation reminds him of a painting he once saw called “The Big Moment” in which a boy steers the wagon over the river for the first time. Jay Berry is nervous, but he does it.

They arrive at noon and Jay Berry sees older students outside on the grass studying. Grandpa tells him it is the college of the Cherokee Nation. He says he hopes Jay Berry will attend college someday and that he is alive to see it. They leave the wagon at a wagon yard. Jay Berry ties a rope to Rowdy to keep him safe. The wagon yard master offers to keep Rowdy in a storage room. Grandpa and Jay Berry tour the town, seeing all the buildings and shops, and get supper in the hotel. They wake the next morning and go to the library. Grandpa is surprised when a librarian shushes his request for “a book that could tell us how to catch monkeys” (160). She smiles, however, when Grandpa says it is his first time in a library. She shows them to a table and fetches a book for them: Trapping Monkeys in the Jungles of Borneo. Jay Berry must go to the open library door when Rowdy starts baying due to loneliness. Grandpa finds the best monkey-trapping idea yet in the book.

Before leaving town, Grandpa stops at Wiley Mercantile for coconuts, which he says will be their new monkey bait. He purchases the entire half-bushel the store owner just ordered and asks him to order more. The counter girl laughs, and Jay Berry thinks she is pretty. Seeing her hair, he remembers Daisy’s ribbons. He also buys a thimble for Mama and a shaving mug for Papa. When he tries to determine what size thimble would suit Mama, the counter girl offers to hold his hand if it will help. Jay Berry balks at this: “I’m not going to hold your hand. What’s the matter with you?” (166). She laughs flirtatiously, and winks at him on his way out the door, which makes Jay Berry blush.

Grandpa tells Jay Berry the plan on the long wagon ride home. He plans to build a pen from chicken wire with a top, a door, and a latch like he saw in the library book, then bait the monkeys with coconuts. They will build the pen together with help from Papa. Grandpa is very confident and overjoyed that they will finally catch the monkeys; he indicates that thinking about it prevents his sleeping well at night. Close to home, Jay Berry offers to show Grandpa a cold, fresh spring in the river bottoms. They stop and walk to the spring to get a drink. Returning to the wagon, they can see that something spooked the mares; Rowdy sniffs everything in and around the wagon. Then they discover that the coconuts are gone. In their place are Jay Berry’s britches—filthy now—and his gunny sack with the steel traps. They find his beanshooter as well. Grandpa cannot believe the monkeys made a trade for the coconuts and thinks that Papa is playing a trick. Then Jay Berry sees, high in a sycamore, Daisy’s hair ribbons strung along the branches. Grandpa is amazed at the sight of Jimbo, who reveals himself on a branch with a coconut, squalling and laughing. Grandpa says Jimbo must be an ape, not a monkey, for how large in size he is.

The monkeys disappear and Grandpa vows to catch them: “I’m mad now […] We’re still going to catch those monkeys” (177). Papa laughs and laughs when they arrive home and Grandpa tells the story. Daisy is angry about her ribbons and wants Jay Berry to climb the tree to get them back. Jay Berry promises Daisy that she can have Sally Gooden’s next calf instead of the ribbons even though it is his turn to have one.