Ugly Monkey

He may not look like much now, but when I was four, he was my main squeeze. He was never far from my side, slept with me, went on family vacations with me. I don't know why but at one point I remember biting off his ear! His hair is gone, his insides keep trying to escape, his original clothes are threadbare. I have to keep baby socks on his feet to keep the stuffing in. Once when I was a young teen, my grandma thought she was helping by "rejuvenating" my Zippy. Only problem was that the only fur she had was gray. I took one look at my grey-haired, old monkey and tore off his head of new fur right in front of my gram!! I couldn't help it, he looked old!! Of course, now he is old, but I can remember sitting on the sofa arm with one of those old plastic guitars, playing beautiful music to him.
My daughter got her love of chimps from me. She's collected two from Build-a-Bear, a gazillion from Ty and other brands, she's been a fan of Jane Goodall for years and has all her books, and for her science fair project she made a presentation on the differences between chimps and monkeys.
Anybody else ever dream of owning a chimp when she was little???