The Monkey on the Side of the Road

I should tell you that these stories aren't going to be in chronological order. They will appear as I think of them. And some of them, such as this one, won't be first person accounts. This is a story I heard Mother tell many times.

Mother and Daddy and children (unknown number) were traveling back to Louisiana from Tennessee. It was very late at night because they wanted get home so Daddy could go to work the next day. All of us kids were asleep.

This particular stretch of highway they were on went through a swampy area bordered by trees with hanging moss. According to Mother, there was almost no traffic. As they were driving along, a monkey sitting on the side of the road appeared in the headlights. Neither Mother nor Daddy said anything for a couple of minutes.

Mother finally had to ask, "Did you see that?" Daddy asked, "What did you see?" and laughed. She told him she had seen a monkey and he laughed even harder, but admitted he had also seen it. They talked a lot about this monkey the rest of the way home - trying to figure out why it would be out in the middle of the swamps sitting by the side of the road. They agreed not to tell anyone about seeing it because everyone would think they were crazy.

However, the next day, Daddy heard on the news that a circus train had derailed in the swamp and some of the animals had escaped. Apparently, this stray monkey was one of them.

I wonder if it was ever captured?