The Monkeys in Nebraska

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My Nebraska adventure of last week included many lovely and fascinating things:

• Snow
• Cold weather
• Beef
• A wedding of people I didn't know, but they seemed nice enough
• Open bar(s) at said wedding
• More beef
• A sweet and cozy small town among the plains
• Various drafty spots in Omaha
• Even more beef
• A visit to the fabulous Omaha zoo
• Delightful home cooking and baking
• New friends
• Still more beef
  

When we arrived at the Omaha Zoo and were waiting in line to buy tickets, a woman behind the desk was taking a call. "You said an orange hat? In the blue monkeys?"

Now, how can you not listen when you hear a call like that?

She switched to her walky-talky. "We have a boy who lost his orange hat in the blue monkeys. Please send a zookeeper," she said. A static-clogged response followed, which I made out to be, "If he can't do a better job with color-coordinating, then don't make it our problem. 10-4."

Tickets in hand, my fellah and I made our way first to the Largest Indoor Rainforest in the World. It was fascinating and beautiful and strange and drippy. There were turtles (TURTLE!), huge fish, monkeys, parrots, and slithery things everywhere, jumping and swimming and slinking and lying innert. We were so close to some of these animals, we even became a bit nervous, given recent events.

Then we came across some more monkeys, dark-colored with white fur around their faces. They were playing with a scrap of bright cloth. One in particular seemed to take ownership, munching on bits of orangey-red yarn, sticking his head inside the droopy hole, pulling the thing down over the tops of some bamboo shafts, then bouncing up and down as he held onto the edge.
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Need a better look?

That is, or was, a knit beanie made from variegated orange and brown yarn, stretched beyond all recognition by a cluster of blue monkeys.

I hope that hat wasn't hand-knit, or that boy's hide is already hanging on the wall beside a warm, Nebraskan fireside.