Flying monkeys figure in science, fantasy and bar room predictions. History has much to reveal about or on behalf of flying monkeys. When monkeys fly, a story unfolds.
This week writers explored why and how monkeys fly and entertain us with stories for when they do. Flying monkeys offer an interesting backdrop or streak of color to flash fiction.
The following are based on the November 2, 2016 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story using flying monkeys as a device or phrase.
***
Possible Outcome by Sherri Matthews
Once upon a time, there lived a rich man who believed that one day he would be the President of America.
“No way!” laughed his parents.
“You’re an idiot!” mocked his friends.
Scandal followed the man in his bid for the Presidency, but that didn’t stop him gaining popularity everywhere he campaigned. Those who had once made fun of him started to think he might just do it.
Others, horrified that such a thing could happen, said flying monkeys would fill the skies before he won, but since evil clowns now ruled the streets, some believed anything was possible.
###
Little Miss Baker by Irene Waters
“Crate all the monkeys. ‘Cept her” Carrying her, cuddling her.
At home Miss Baker learnt arithmetic and alphabet. At work, anything, even in a tube wearing a rubber and chamois jacket and helmet, providing she got cuddles.
Hugging her,tears filled his eyes. John loved her yet capsulised her, attaching oxygen.
Countdown. “Please come back,” he whispered knowing none had survived reentry. 38 gs contorting the face he loved, her body weightless.
“16 minutes, altitude 48o kms.”
” Distance 2,400 kms. Touch-down in Atlantic.” John couldn’t watch. Excited screams. “She’s alive!”
On marrying Big George 2 years later she wished she was still a flying monkey.
###
Wicked Witches and Flying Monkeys by Kerry E.B. Black
When her husband branded her “wicked witch” before company, Amanda filed for divorce. Name calling in public was the newest humiliation and abuses.
The court awarded child support and alimony, and Amanda invested in a business, a bar. The hours allowed her to care for her children during the day, and the building’s upstairs apartment kept them in proximity through last call.
She devised bewitching drinks and hired a cook. With care, she hung stained glass and fine stemware.
A mutual friend asked, “What will you call the place?”
A fan of irony, Amanda smiled. “Flying Monkeys, of course.”
###
The Flying Monkey Twins by Ann Edall-Robson
In the shade of the old wagon little ones sat in awe, listening to aging woman speak of her childhood. Her favourite story was not her imagination playing tricks with her mind. She had been there the day the monkeys flew . . .
“We gathered from behind our mother’s skits. Unafraid of the menagerie chained to the wagon bed. They filled the field at the edge of town. An odd lot of wagons filled with laughter and gayety. Bright colours streaming from tops of the circus tents. The lady with a beard, prancing horses, gum drops and the trapeze monkey twins” . . .
###
Flying Monkeys, A Tale of Discovery by Gordon Le Pard
The monkeys flew across the room, trying to catch the fruit that bobbed like balloons in the air.
“Rest Sahib,” the servant mopped the forehead of the delirious man.
He saw how the stronger monkeys always caught the fruit, how they grew bigger until he was screaming in terror. As the fever abated and he awoke to a tropical dawn he knew what it meant.
He knew the secret, knew how species changed, he had to tell someone, there would be a mail ship soon. He sat down and wrote – To Charles Darwin, Downe, Kent.
The letter changed everything.
***
Author’s Note: Charles Darwin had delayed publication of his theory of evolution for nearly twenty years, he was finally forced to publish when he received a letter from Alfred Russell Wallace, who had come to the same idea when he was suffering from fever.
###
Danni’s Circus (from Miracle of Ducks) by Charli MIlls
Danni’s yard had become the local circus. Instead of flying monkeys she had ten canine clowns.
By nine weeks, the puppies were the biggest attraction in town. Tourists gathered and Deputy Erikson cruised by daily. He informed Danni she could keep the litter up until twenty weeks unless she was training any, and at that required a special license.
Twenty weeks. Danni would let the circus run away before she lived with this chaos that long. It was time to sell the clowns. Yet, she looked at the male, Bubbie, and wondered if she should apply for a license.
###
Corrupt Compassion? by Jules Paige
Oz. It wasn’t all that wonderful of a world, that dark side
that showed the green face of a scary witch and her flying
monkeys. Yet, when you read the book “Son of a Witch”…
by Gregory Maguire, you get a different view. Not all is what
it seems. The monkeys are loyal friends and companions
doing more than just what they are told. So they have wings
and can fly, so do fairies.
Needless to say in the end…or continuance of Baum’s
Magical world – one gets to feel some sympathy for Elphaba,
Liir and his green child.
###
Temple Monkeys by Anne Goodwin
Swinging from trees, scampering over stupas, stealing snacks from tourists, offerings from pilgrims. Scrambling up stone steps to assemble on the tiled roofs to pick the lice from each other’s fur and mock us, their cousins, our movements so ungainly, so slow.
I came here seeking solitude, the peace to heal a life gone astray. I’d leave perhaps with answers, a tidier mind. I had as much chance of that at the zoo.
I sit and watch and, little by little, their mischief makes me smile. They’ll teach me if I let them. To laugh. To fly.
###
Monkey Mischief by Norah Colvin
A no-show nanny, insistent emails, and bills to pay: the verandah seems the best solution. He can ride his trike or play with toys; with the iPad backup if necessary.
It’ll be fine, won’t take long.
Then
Incident #1: Laptop flat
Easy: Power cord
#2: Cord short, stretched high
Solution: Be watchful – won’t take long
#3: Trike stuck, wails
Extricate it
#4: Again!
Ignore attention-seeking, almost done
#5: Demands iPad monkeys
“Soon!”
#6: Snatches credit card, laughs, runs, daring
“You little monkey!”
#7 Monkey trips. Card flies, disappears between boards.
Wails.
“It’s okay, Mummy.”
Grimaces: It’ll be fine
###
A Day at the Zoo by Diana Nagai
Erin guided her daughter Chloe to the monkey cage. The adoption was still fresh and mother and daughter held hands tentatively.
Chloe spied a juvenile monkey pacing high in a tree, its mother gracefully swinging below him. Unexpectedly, the small monkey launched himself from the high branch and fell several feet through the air before catching the branch where his mother waited. The two began a game of chase, delighting their audience.
Chloe whispered, “Mama, they’re flying!”
It was the first time Chloe had called her mama. Erin gently squeezed Chloe’s hand and scarcely whispered back, “Yes, they are.”
###
Flash Fiction by Marigold Blooms
They sat at the edge of the pier, toes wiggling in water. “Daddy, I don’t want you to go.” Sophie’s sadness added to his overwhelming dread. “I know, but I’ll be home soon.” He wondered, as he started his eighth year, when she might stop believing him. Tears ran down her cheeks. “C’mon, let’s play,” hoping to distract her. Wiping her nose, she rested her head on his shoulder and inched in to snuggle. “Look, I see a duck.” “Too easy,” Sophie laughed at the clouds. “I win! See? Two flying monkeys!” God help me get home, he thought.
###
Reading Between the Lines by Geoff Le Pard
Penny read from the paper. ‘Local man, Sam Dobbs was found guilty of threatening Chin Lo. Dobbs claimed Lo was cooking monkeys but Magistrates found Lo had said ‘Try a flying monkey’, a new cocktail and not, as alleged ‘Try a frying monkey.’ She looked at her father. ‘That’s so funny.’
‘I’m not sure Mr Lo would find it funny being threatened.’
Penny looked upset. ‘No. I didn’t think.’
Paul kissed his daughter. ‘It’s written for laughs. Not your fault. Do you know what such misunderstandings are called?’
‘No.’
‘Chinese whispers.’
Penny frowned. ‘Isn’t that racist?’
Paul laughed. ‘Touché.’
###
Flash Fiction by Pensitivity
Her Daddy had promised a special pet for her 16th birthday, but this was what she got, a boring field trip to some out of town shack store called ‘The Flying Monkey’.
No cute marmoset, no Justin Bieber capuchin, not even a stuffed chimp.
Some birthday this was. Her friends had all been given cars for their 16th, but her Daddy couldn’t afford one. A pet monkey had seemed a cool alternative.
Passing her a pair of overalls, the burbling of an engine made her turn.
The Flying Monkey was a plane and her present was a flying lesson!
###
Flying Monkeys (Jane Doe Flash Fiction) by Deborah Lee
Jane’s eyes are glued to the computer screen. The library is oddly quiet tonight.
She’s ostensibly working on her research paper. Type one sentence, check one fact, return to election live updates. Add a citation, couple more sentences, tab back to the updates. She’ll have to use all the battery her phone has, back at her abandoned house, to track this all night.
So far, so good, for the address she used for voter registration. Now what she needs is a President who will address her issues.
Back to the tracking screen. Don’t make me call my flying monkeys!
###
The Charge by Bill Engelson
They came, as would a plague of locust, this horde of Brace Caldwell’s hired sycophants, evil-winged simians, neither men nor beasts, but, rather, some horrific malfunctions of a careless God, galloping in a sinister storm of grit and terror, shrieking guttural sounds meant to raise the dead and frighten infants not yet conceived.
Dobbs issued one final command to Henry and Aggie. “To the death for them, comrades, for surely their cankered hearts have no room for mercy.”
And then, the appalling heat met the riders dust.
Rifles cracked.
Gunsmoke spiraled.
Blood poured through the streets of Union City.
###
Beyond the Zone! by Lisa Ciarfella
Hector cursed them; damn financial aid forms!
Jumping through hoops, that’s what this is. How the hell do they expect me to get all this filled out by Friday, with three papers, two exams and a final to suffer this week? Like monkeys flying bat-shit all over campus, it just aint gonna happen!
What he needed was cash. Lots of it, and now.
The line grew longer by the second, and sensing his out, he took it! The grey gun metal felt cold to his touch in his pack as he raised it, passing the point of no return…
###
Flash Fiction by Florida Borne
There are flying monkeys that soar from one tree to another, and flying squirrels that glide through the air. A species has to aim toward flight long before it actually gets there, but it only took dinosaurs around 10 million years to turn into birds.
Before you start to laugh, remember that the galaxy is over thirteen billion years old. As a comparison, if you lived to be 1300, it would’ve taken 1 year of your life for dinosaurs to turn into birds.
I, for one, am not looking forward to running from flying giraffes, cheetahs, badgers or platypuses.
###
Monkeys Can Fly by Joe Owens
The Yankee fan sat at the bar waxing philosophic about his championship rich franchise.
“My Yankees could win every year if Steinbrenner was still there!”
“That’s bull,” The Red Sox fan replied. “Even Epstein ran out of magic! He was so bad he had to go to stinking Chicago! The Cubs will be World Series Champions the same day a monkey starts flying!
The bartender turned up the sound on the television as he listened to the men and grinned as he realized his bet of the Cubbies winning Game 7 in extra innings was about to pay off.
###
Tales from Kansas (from Rock Creek) by Charli Mills
“Then the witch sends out winged monkeys to stop the farm girl from Kansas.” Jesse Williams read Sarah her favorite chapter from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Sarah sipped her tea, not wanting to leave the warmth of Jesse’s family parlor. “I knew of a real fantastical man from Kansas.”
“Tell me, Sarah!” Jesse seemed more of a child than a near-grown woman of 16. Maybe it was because Sarah felt so old. She was ancient.
“He came to Rock Creek after wresting a grizzly bear.”
Jesse’s Dad coughed, and laid down his newspaper. “You knew Wild Bill Hickok?”
###
Hi, Charli I visited most of them, and thoroughly enjoyed my morning read. I hope to join in the next one and look forward to it. 😇
Obviously im not forward at going backward today… 😯😕😆
Some great monkeys flying around the ranch this morning, Charli. Sadly, it seems as if the skies above America are full of them. Did you know something the rest of us didn’t when you set this challenge?
A great compilation as usual, though I am saddened by the election stories and the results that have just come in. Maybe those monkey will fly and surprise us all. Pleasantly. She lives in hope.
From the Circus to Oz and everywhere in between, those Flying Monkeys came to life. Enjoyed reading them all.
Another wonderful compilation Charli. Thanks for once again urging us think outside the box…or should I say, the jump seat 😉
Enjoyed reading all the entries very much. A great prompt to let your imagination roam. 🙂
I always thought it was when pigs fly, but I do remember Margaret Hamilton and the flying monkeys. There were much fun to read and a great topic!