‘‘The Monkey Paw Orchard’ is kind of like a reserve in that it contains the only significant population of monkeys known for their wish-granting appendages and it’s kind of like a slaughterhouse in that the animals are being raised for product. Paw Monkeys are rare for the same reason their posthumous powers should be used with caution- they often fall prey to tragic ironies before they’ve reached an age at which their paws have matured for harvest. Those that survive the early onset of irony will sometimes kill wizened older monkeys and attempt to make wishes on their paws before employees of the reserve can stop them. Those monkeys that don’t die in the attempt and who subsequently survive their own near-assassinations and who pass the prime age for breeding are killed and their hands are sold to billionaires, celebrities, and to a non-profit that places monkeys’ paws in derelict houses, buried chests, and shifty pawnshops all across the country.
Rumor has it that ‘The Monkey Paw Orchard’ is what happens when someone tries to wish for more wishes but, if that were the case, there would probably be a lot more of these monkeys around.’
I happen to be on site when one of the younger paw monkeys kills an elder nearing harvest. It’s quick and brutal- a heavy stone to the back of the head. Again. Again. Hard to make sure it’s done. Fast to get to the wishes before someone comes to stop it. The paws don’t need to be removed for the magic to work. That’s more a matter of convenience than anything.
Obviously without understanding the language of the monkeys, I can’t say for sure what its wish was, but I was surprised to see that nobody came to retrieve the dead specimen or quiet the murderer as it did excited victory laps around the massive enclosure that constitutes ‘The Orchard.’
Weeks later I notice the same two monkeys in the background of an image posted to ‘The Orchard’s’ social media feed. The dead monkey still rots in the reserve. The living monkey is all skin and bones, on the verge of death itself. I figured the monkey had asked for more time to make more wishes.
Now, I wonder if the monkey didn’t just want to be left alone.
-traveler
