Summer of the Monkeys

by Wilson Rawls

A big grinning Ozark moon crawled up out of nowhere and seemed to say, “Hi, neighbor! I’ve been looking for you. It gets kind of lonesome out here. Welcome to the land of the Cherokee!”

“It’s the work of the Lord—that’s what it is. Just think—all of this is ours—sixty acres of it.”

Mama was a little woman, barely tipping the scales at a hundred pounds; but what she lacked in height and weight, she made up in strength and spirit.

I grew up on that Cherokee farm and was just about as wild as the gray squirrels in the sycamore trees, and as free as the red-tail hawks that wheeeeed their cries in those Ozark skies. I had a dandy pocketknife, and a darn good dog; that was about all a boy could hope for in those days.

Now if there ever was a place that needed looking into, it was the Cherokee bottoms. A jillion little game trails twisted their way through jungles of wild cane and matted masses of elder.

In the cool silence of those Cherokee bottoms, I could find all the wonders of a storybook world.

“the Old Man of the Mountains is very, very old. He’s as old as these hills. His hair is snow white and hangs way down over his shoulders.

He wears a long, white robe, and sandals on his feet. Every time I see him, he has

a crooked stick in his hand. He can just point that stick at something a...

when God made these hills he needed someone to take care of the animals and birds and flowers. So he gave the job to the Old Man of the Mountains. All he does now is walk around through the hills and take care of things.”

“If you’re good and believe in him, you’ll always be happy and you’ll never have bad luck; but if you’re mean and hurt the little animals, you had better look out. He’ll just point that stick at you and you’re sure to have bad luck.”

“You know, if a fellow can learn something through experience when he’s young, he doesn’t ever forget it.”

an old man like me can teach a young boy like you all the good things in life. But it takes a young boy like you to teach an old man like me to appreciate all the good things in life. I guess that’s what life’s all about.”

“I believe a boy can have anything in life that he wants once he starts working for it. The main thing is not to give up. It makes no difference how tough things get, just bow your back, keep working, and put your heart and soul into it. As you go along your way, live a good clean life, don’t hurt anyone or anything, and always be honest. It doesn’t hurt to pray a little, too.

I do believe that any wish you make can come true if you help the wish. I don’t think that the Lord meant for our lives to be so simple and easy that every time we wanted something, all we had to do was wish for it and we’d get it. I don’t believe that at all. If that were true, there would be a lot of lazy people in this old world. No one would be working. Everyone would be wishing for what they needed or wanted.”

“how can you help a wish?”

“Hard work, faith, patience, and determination. I think that prayer and really believing in your wish can...

All little children who are crippled can see things and hear things that you and I can never see or hear. I think the Lord has something to do with this. It could be his way of showing them mercy.”

“What Daisy is seeing could be the spirit of Christ. Lots of people have seen his spirit; especially, those who are in pain or deep trouble. It happens every day somewhere in the world.”

“If a fellow didn’t dream and have hope,” he said, “life would sure be miserable.”

My mind had a mind of its own and all I could do was go along with it.

“There go the monkeys,” I said. “I wonder if I’ll ever see them again. I hope so—but even if I don’t ever see them again, I know I’ll never forget them. I’ll always remember this as the summer of the monkeys.”