WHO DUN IT?

A few weeks ago, as my mum was cooking in the kitchen, she put the potatoes on one side of the counter,next to the window as she went off towards the fridge, gathering the other ingredients for a potato curry. When she came back, two were gone. Who took them?
The next thing that disappeared was a little brush for a litle girl, taken from the first floor room of my little niece. With a silver handle, and a lovely little mirror on one side, it's loss was a mystery. Who took it?
In the rack outside the kitchen, where abound onions and potatoes, and bananas just off the market, things started running off by themselves. Or did someone take them?
Then, as my grand-aunt sat in the living room performing her prayers, there appeared an answer. She's hard of hearing, my grand-aunt, in a slightly comical way. Sometimes, she hears fine, and goes, 'Don't shout in my ears!' Other times, no matter how much one tries to tell her something, she doesn't quite get it, but pretends that she has.
On this day, a very agile monkey appeared, first peeping in through the dining window, and when it deemed that the coast was clear, it joined my grand-aunt in her daily prayer. Sitting by her side, the monkey looked around, settled in comfortably, and watched her pray.
Pandemonium broke out as the monkey was discovered. Unfortunately for it, lots of relatives and house-hold servants turned up, and proceeded to chase it out of the room, a merry chase; with no give from the humans and no take from the monkey. Around and around, and then it was gone.
A few days later, the little niece, Atiya, was bitten by a monkey. Was it the same one, exacting revenge for the sheepishness of its departure? Or was it another, with the more sinister intention of grabbing her purse? We won't know. Atiya was taken for some Rabies Shots, and deemed to be healed in a few days.
The African manner for dealing with monkeys is to flourish a black umbrella at them, as they rightly flee when they see one. I would too, if someone five times my size flourishes an umbrella at me. So a black umbrella was duly installed in the house, and the vegetables restocked.
However, fruit in the gardens is now a dream for fools; the ripening papayas and coconuts are given one bite, then thrown to the ground; where they provide extra fertilizer for the next batch that the monkeys attack.
Sometimes when the umbrella disappears, potatoes, and sometimes an onion or two, are thrown to get them out of range of the house, and over the walls. In this case, they sit on the wall, devour the said potato or onion slowly, with great relish, and slowly leave to disturb the other neighbors.
This is what living in Africa means. Try it.