MONKEY TRAP
by Terry Weide © 2006
The monkey howled, arm trapped in the narrow-mouthed basket. If it let go of the citron in its hand, it could easily be free. Monkeys, however, don't think like this. It kept the fruit.
“Kill it,” said the king. “It's been long since I've dined on monkey. I crave the taste.”
The prince didn't hesitate. He had no desire to displease his father.
Years later, the prince, now king, thought of that day. He had wives, palaces, servants, and responsibilities, none of which he could release. He wondered how often, behind smiling faces, someone whispered, “Kill him. It's been long since we've dined on a king...”
The End
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Terry Weide is the author of a fantasy novel, Dream of Power, Dream of Glory, which won the 2004 Preditors and Editors poll for best sci-fi/fantasy book. His writing has also appeared in Flash Me, Flashshot, The Verb, The Sword Review, Whispering Spirits, Alien Skin, and Dragons, Knights, and Angels e-zines, on the Dreamquestone.com, OnceWritten.com, and Wilde Times sites, on Whim's Place, in the anthologies Nancy's Christmas Eve Visitor, Short Attention Span Mysteries , and Distant Passages: The Best from Double-Edged Publishing 2005 , and in the print magazines Moon Reader, Midday Moon, and The Writers Post Journal . He is the author of a chapbook of poetry, Suburbs of the Mind , and a digest book of poetry, stories, and essays, Skipping Across Creation , both from Snark Publishing. He thanks all those who take the time to read his work.