MONKEY
By GG



Only two of us made the trip to Chang from the orphanage - my friend 
Rosy and me. I'm Alice. We were six years old when we left and I did not 
realise at the time that we had been as good as kidnapped. Just after 
that some officials came to take all the other children back home, to 
Europe or America. They tried to find us, so I'm told, but gave up after 
a few months. When I heard of this I longed to go to my birthplace in 
England, a place I had hardly seen. I had nothing; except the monastery 
and the way of life there. 

At first we were prisoners, and then after a few years of the 'way', we 
were free to go if we wanted to. I think they must have known we 
wouldn't. We were the only girls there, but dressed and did like the 
other young monks. My head was shaven for four years. I wasn't even sure 
which country I was in; China or Tibet, but a long way from the coast 
and the orphanage. 

The last three years were very physical, like what I would suppose 
military training would be, only much worse. We could use our trained 
inner spirit to help us in the tests. I have spent a night naked on a 
freezing mountain and gone without food and water for days. Once we had 
to walk barefoot for what must have been a hundred miles, day and night 
without stopping. One day Rosy did not return from a trip to the hills. 
I do not know what happened to her. 

Before I left at the age of nineteen, I had the 'time of the special 
way', which was spent in meditation and eating only the golden bread. 
This made me feel sick at first, but then I longed for it. It changes 
the body and the spirit. 

I reached the coast and waited for the ship that would take me on the 
first part of the journey to England. My only possession was a small 
gold bar and the clothes I stood up in. I am very slim and quite pretty, 
I think, and I longed to try on some of the western clothes I could see 
around. I remember the instructions - to change the gold for money and 
ticket. I found the office of the European Line. 

There I saw a Mr Gruber. He seemed very friendly to me and arranged to 
change the gold. He bought me a dress and some sandals so that I looked 
like a western lady. He lived alone and said I should stay at his house 
while he arranged things. The first night he had to visit somewhere and 
I walked around the port in the evening even though he warned me not to. 
He said it was full of bad people and I would be terrified. 

I could not explain to him that I did not know what fear was. I was 
curious. If I found something dangerous, I might feel it. What could it 
be like? I was walking near the quay where there were many sailors. Most 
of them were drunk. Two of them began to follow me and I wondered if 
this would be the start of the fear. They were European, but I don't 
know where from; they did not speak English anyway. The rougher looking 
one began to shout to me. Still I was not feeling anything that could be 
fear. I turned into an alleyway and they ran after me. 

When they caught me up, one of them grabbed me and held me against the 
wall. The other pulled out a knife. I waited for any feelings but none 
came. I should defend myself now, but then I would ruin the fear. I 
waited. The one who held me was undoing his trousers while the other 
lifted up my dress, holding the knife at my throat. I liked the dress 
and I would not let them soil it, so I summoned my spirit. They sensed 
that I was not afraid and probably thought that I was praying. 

With my left hand I made the leopard bite on the wrist that waved the 
knife. The bones snapped and the knife fell to the cobble stones. The 
man let out a terrible scream which I silenced with the tiger claw, 
ripping his throat out. He fell to the ground in a pool of blood. I had 
stained the dress by my clumsiness. 

The second man hesitated, staring down at his friend. I moved forward 
and made the dragon snake around his chest with my arms. As his ribs 
collapsed he vomited onto me. Again, I had been clumsy. I walked back to 
the house but on the way, I found a fountain where I washed the dress as 
well as I could. I thought it would be ruined though. 

I hung the dress up to dry and was naked when Mr Gruber arrived home. It 
was late evening. He had made the journey on horseback and I saw he was 
dressed in breeches and boots. A servant took his horse at the back 
door. I had not learned about nakedness and he gasped when he saw me. He 
was drunk like the sailors. I asked about the gold. He told me he had 
spent it. It was all gone, but I could stay as his maid and have food 
and shelter. I puzzled for a while about it, then remembered that people 
can tell lies. 

He had a present for me - a new short red dress and some high-heeled 
sandals, also bright red. He tossed them to me and I put them on. I 
would have to ask him for the money, but maybe the next day. He seemed 
to be kind again and perhaps his theft was a weakness and not all his 
fault. I walked up and down in front of the mirror in the large living 
room and he poured himself some whiskey. I seemed to be pleasing him. 

Then suddenly he threw the glass down and grabbed me by the arms. He 
went to kiss me on the lips and I let him, curious about the experience. 
He was rubbing my breasts and seemed to be working himself up into a 
frenzy. I did not want to be clumsy again, so when I summoned the spirit 
I called on horse and monkey. 

Gently, I took his arms and pushed him away from me. He struggled weakly 
in my grip but when I let him go, he came at me again. I caught the 
ankle of his boot with my sandal and swept his legs from under him; he 
landed on his back and I put my right foot on his chest to hold him 
down. He struggled violently and I could feel a strange sensation coming 
over me. I had not summoned the tigress but she was with me from before. 

His fists were pounding at my legs as I stood there. I should wait and 
he would tire of this. He was fairly young and athletic and he fought 
and punched for quite some time, but my foot in the delicate sandal held 
him down easily. Eventually, he gave up and lay there, staring wildly at 
me. He swore some curses - in German, I think. I wondered what to do 
with him. Would he be calm now? I decided to tie him up and leave him 
there till morning while I got some sleep. 

I bent down and tore his shirt off. With this I made a gag and a tie for 
his arms. With the toe of my sandal, I rolled him over and then sat down 
on him. I pulled his wrists together behind his back and marvelled at 
how strong I was. His arms were so muscular but I could hold them and 
tie him as if he was a small child. I stood up and put my beautiful 
sandal on his buttocks. The tigress was making me feel strange. My 
victim was at my feet but I did not understand what she was telling me. 

He seemed to regain some energy and lashed at my left leg with his right 
boot, catching my ankle with the spur and nearly toppling me, but I kept 
my balance and drove the heel of my sandal into his calf. It pierced the 
leather of the boot and must have stabbed into his leg. He yelled out in 
pain.  I could feel blood tricking down my left foot. These sandals 
would be ruined too- but so would his new looking riding boots! I tore a 
gash in his right one with my heel, and then bent down and pulled both 
boots of him. 

He watched as the finger-nails of my right hand angled into the tiger 
claw. I crushed the feet end of the boots in my left hand and ripped up 
the length of the shafts repeatedly until they were nothing but a mess 
of spaghetti-like leather strands. Then I tossed them aside and ripped 
his breeches off. His manhood flopped out and I understood what my 
spirit wanted. 

The tigress looked on while the female monkey played with him all night. 


The End