Frommy’s World

T’was a time when all was right, the sun would shine, and stars sparkled in the night. It was a time when Sophie toted around “Monkey”. Summer at Frommy’s house began in turmoil. Monkey was nowhere to be found. We looked everywhere: daycare, work, Nana’s, playgrounds, and all over the house.

Monkey is my four-year-old daughter Sophie’s security blanket. Monkey is a stuffed animal look-a-like of Curious George. Monkey entered our lives when my wife Tara came out of surgery two summers ago. Kelso High School’s principal Mrs. Spears gave my wife Monkey as a get-well present. When my kids came to visit their mother at the hospital, Sophie saw Monkey lying on Tara’s stomach. When the kids and I had to leave, Sophie became upset and didn’t want to leave her mommy. Tara had Sophie come over to her and asked her if she could take care of Monkey for her until she got home. Monkey has never left her side since.

Everywhere Sophie goes, so goes Monkey. Daycare allows only one toy item per child, and Sophie always brings Monkey (Although she sneaks in a few new toys every now and again within her backpack).

When school let out last year Sophie was without Monkey. We tried to provide other stuffed animals and toys in Monkey’s absence, but Sophie wouldn’t have any of them. As time continued on, Sophie became less aware of Monkey’s disappearance. However, the absence left a deep fissure in everyday Frommy life.

A few weeks into summer break my family took a trip to Idaho’s Lake Coer d’ Alane. While there we visited Silverwood theme park. As we entered the park there were many shops as you progressed towards the rides. A couple of my older kids browsed the shops for stuff to waste their money on, when low and behold on the store shelves sat a Monkey just like the one Sophie lost. You can grasp what happened next.

Yes, my family and I came up with an ingenious scheme to bring Monkey back into our lives. For less than $20, and a not so tidy story, Monkey was reintroduced to Sophie. “Sophie, what is that sitting over there in the bushes,” my wife and children asked. “Look Sophie…who’s that?” The story given to my poor daughter was that Monkey had gone on vacation earlier and had decided to just meet us here. The lies we tell when all is not well.

As we began to laugh and sing about Monkey’s return, Sophie just sat in her rented stroller and stared. She began to hug Monkey and then scold him for leaving her. Post traumatic stress now rearing its ugly head. Sophie than began to investigate this so called “Monkey” further. She perceptively looked for her name that should have been written on Monkey’s paw. It wasn’t there. She began to notice the soft, unmated, and unsoiled texture of Monkey’s fur.

We all began to see that our evil lies were not working. Therefore, we did what any good parents would do…lie some more. “Monkey took a bath so he would be clean when he saw you again,” we said. My kids then began to reaffirm our new lie…monkey see, monkey do. Sophie wasn’t buying it, but to have Monkey back in her arms was too much for her to resist.

The summer days passed, and all was well again. Monkey was once again soiled and matted. My wife has even sprayed some of her perfume on Monkey as she had done in the past. She used to do this so Sophie could smell her when she took her nap at daycare. Then someone threw a monkey wrench into the Frommy machine…Monkey is found!

It turned out that Monkey was left in a classroom at the High School. The last week of school I held a short meeting with my boy’s soccer team at the High School. My wife came by at the conclusion of the meeting with my daughter Sophie who was holding Monkey in hand. When the meeting was adjourned, my wife and I locked up the room for the summer, and Monkey was left inside.

Today my daughter Sydney, who is a senior this year, came home from meetings at the High School this morning with Monkey in hand. Sydney was in a meeting in Ms. Kolberg’s room (the same room I had my soccer meeting before summer break). Sydney noticed a Monkey sitting in the room and asked Ms. Kolberg, “Where did you get this?” Ms. Kolberg said, “Some kid left it in the room.” Holding it up in the air, Sydney looked for Sophie’s name on the foot of Monkey…it was there! Sydney started screaming and jumping up and down. All the other students looked up at her as if she was mental. It is definitely our Monkey. Sophie’s name was written on the paw and you could still smell my wife’s perfume.

So now we have two Monkeys. What do we do now? We can’t let Sophie know, because she would then know our dirty little lie. Would she understand? Could she understand? How in the world could we find ourselves out of this one…lie some more of course. We decided to keep the real Monkey out of harms way…out of sight, out of mind. We will keep Monkey #1 as insurance for if Monkey #2 comes up missing.

Some day we will get this monkey off our backs and come clean about Monkey…when Sophie is 30! Until that venture out of the closet, life in the Frommy household will continue as normal, and Sophie will have Monkey to lug around…well, Monkeys.