Thailand rose over me like a sweet dream that Salvador Dali created. I could almost watch his brush stroke meld into the sunset like somebody’s dying wish caressing over the sweet, soft landscape. A jagged piece of the dream I woke up with this morning is still flailing briskly in my brain, another cog in the ghost of the machine that is my mind I suppose. Blatant peril approaches as I peruse this sandy beach where pirates once buried their treasure. A monkey scurries across the sand and I run, chasing after it forgetting that it will only run faster. A banana is gripped in my hand, and I am unaware that it is still there. The monkey stops and I stop as well, our eyes meet and we stare longingly into each others eyes, or, I stared into its eyes as it eyed my banana longingly. Monkeys are so silly sometimes.

Creep, crawl, on two legs the monkey approaches, monkey hands outstretched, as if to protect itself and just grab the banana and get away as fast as possible. I hold the banana at my side, forgetting, just watching. Another monkey jumps from a nearby palm tree carrying a baby around its belly. They are all so silly sometimes. A circle of monkeys is now surrounding me and I feel as if they are ready to attack. Some growl hysterically while others gaze longingly at the banana. The feeling of guilt is upon me and I wonder which monkey to give it to. The first monkey stands facing me directly, glancing at the nearby monkeys. A growl, a scattering of monkey hands and monkey feet and monkey faces disappearing from the scene.

I kneel, knees in the sand, one hand resting on the ground, the other in the lap still holding the banana. The monkey comes closer, his eyes fixed as his mind must be also. He is standing so close now that I can see every hair on his monkey body. Monkeys are much bigger in person, at least this one is. His hand stretches towards mine and I can see that there is almost no hair on his hand, and his face… His face is not covered in hair, and I finally understand how close we really are. He makes an expression as if to say, “Come on now, stop holding out on me. Are you going to give me the banana or am I going to have to get forceful?” I hold my hand out, the banana pointing to him. He takes it, and brushes my hand lightly with his as he does. He stands for a moment, now his hand is stretched towards mine only he is holding the banana. I watch him peel it, and take a bite. With that, he turned and walked with his head held high, eating the banana as he took giant monkey steps into the sunset.