Nearby, a hunting party was camped out at the edge of a large clearing. The expedition was out exploring and hunting for exotic animals. Francis wandered out to the edge of the forest to a place where he could see the camp where the hunters were gathered around their fire, eating their evening meal. When Francis realized they were eating something he had never seen before he was tempted to swoop through and grab it. He made up a plan to grab the persons plate who was closet to the woods. As soon as he stepped a foot out of the trees, the hunters noticed him."Good grief, it's a marmoset!" yelled the leader of the hunting group. "Someone throw a net over him!"
Francis scampered away as quickly as he could, but unfortunately for him, one hunter was especially quick and accurate with a net; Thomas Key was known the world over for his deadly skills. In a flash he had poor Francis in his net, and plopped him into a cage. As he got into the back of a truck he noticed the hunters had captured many other animals. He scanned the truck and saw his friend Desdemona Scott. Francis has always had a crush on Desdemona, but Mr. Scott scared him. Now was his chance to be close to Desdemona, but the situation was still far from ideal. Francis thought of how he always longed to be close to Desdemona, and how ironic it was that he would only realize this closeness in captivity.
It wasn't awkward for Francis to talk to Desdemona because they always talked, so Francis jumped right in and started up a conversation."Desdemona," Francis shouted, "how did you get trapped?"
"Francis," said Desdemona completely ignoring the question. She was just happy to see someone she knew.
"Desdemona, don't worry. Don't be sad. I'll get you out of here if it's the last thing I do."
Desdemona was comforted by Francis' promise, but none the less, shrank to the bottom of her cage where she wept, longing for her home back in the forest.
Francis sat and thought. He knew there would be an opportunity sometime, an opportunity to escape and rescue Desdemona, his one true love. While he waited, the hunters brought him some fresh fruit. Unfortunately, as Francis tried to think up a plan, he suddenly found himself growing sleepy. Before he knew it, Francis was sound asleep. The hunters had drugged his food to prepare him for the long journey home.
When Francis awoke, he found himself in the Milwaukee County Zoo. On the middle of Monkey Island, to be exact. Still tired Francis jumped up and started looking for Desdemona. She was nowhere to be seen! The island was full of small monkeys, like himself, but there was no Desdemona. Francis was heart-broken.
He set out to discover more about his new surroundings. In the middle of the island was a large bell. He hoped to himself that no one would ever ring it as it was terribly large! The rest of the island was basically a sad, naked jungle. There was a sort of tree in the middle that had no leaves! On the other side of the water was the most disturbing thing about Francis' new home. There were people everywhere, and they were staring all the time, watching his every move. Sometimes, even if he scratched himself, some person gawking would find it funny, and call out to him. Francis hated his new home :(
Francis wanted to find a way off of Monkey Island so he started thinking. He noticed that Monkey Island was lined with a moat. There were people on every side of the moat, except for during the night when he felt quite alone. Francis figured out that he would have to escape during the night but he still didn't know how to get past the moat. Day in and day out he tried to get past the moat. On Monday he tried swimming past but almost drowned. Tuesday he built a small boat but it sank. Wednesday he tried jumping it and attaching his tail to the fence but he fell. By Thursday Francis grew tired of trying to figure out how to escape so decided to take a couple of days off.
About a week passed and as always the zoo keeper came on to the island with some food for Francis and the other monkeys. As she was feeding him Francis thought up a wonderful idea. The next day when the Zoo Keeper came he hid until she was just about to leave and just then he jumped into her back pack. The pack was plenty big for Francis, and he was actually comfortable, tucked away where no one could see.
The zoo keeper finished her shift, and went out to her little red Mini Cooper, and drove home. On the way home, the zoo keeper stopped at Starbucks to get her favorite morning drink, a caramel cappuccino lite. While she was inside, sipping her delicious drink, Francis realized this may be his chance for freedom. He popped his head out of the top of the backpack, and saw that zoo keeper left the sunroof open on her Mini Cooper! Francis crawled out of the pack, onto the dashboard, and over to the steering wheel. Carefully keeping his balance, Francis leaped as high as he could, the way he did from tree to tree in the jungle throughout his childhood. With one good jump, Francis was free!
Losing no time, Francis scrambled across the parking lot, jumping from car to car, when someone approached. Francis panicked. He decided to slip into the first open window he could find. A middle aged bald man happened to be driving away, and Francis knew his fate was now in this man's hands. There was a messenger bag in the back seat, and Francis once again hid inside, hoping the end of this ride would bring him somewhere safer, somewhere he could call home.
The car came to a halt at Asa Clark Middle School. As it turns out, the driver was a teacher at the school. He carried his bag into the school, and saying hello to the students he saw, never noticed his passenger. Francis stayed still as could be, until he felt the messenger bag being placed somewhere still. As soon as it grew quiet, Francis peered out of the bag, and tried his best to figure out where he was this time. Making sure that no one could see Francis leaped out of the bag and ran underneath a desk. Just then the school bell rang. Out of total fear Francis jumped!
A girl looked down and gasped, "Mr. Johnson,"she screamed, "there's a monkey under your desk!"
"Hahaha," Mr. Johnson chuckled as he peered around his desk to sit down, "Holy Buckets, it's a marmoset!"
Francis looked into Mr. Johnson's eyes, imploringly, asking for mercy. "Why, what would a little monkey like you being doing in a place like this?" asked Mr. Johnson. With that, he picked Francis up, and gave him a good going over. "Well, it seems to me like you could use a home." And with that said, Mr. Johnson adopted little Francis, and to this very day, he calls room 214 home.
