It was just a usual day for Willie, nothing to exciting was going on. He was hanging out at his apartment in Chicago singing some songs and thinking about life. Suddenly and kind of out of nowhere he realised what his life was missing, Willie needed a pet! What kind of pet though? He grabbed a pen and a pad of paper and started to brainstorm. 

He could get a dog he thought... but no that was too common, same with a cat. Maybe a bird? No too loud and annoying. He ruled out any type of reptile pretty quick, they were boring and a little creepy. Definitely not a spider. This was harder than he thought it would be. He needed something that would make a good buddy, not be boring... but also not too hard to take care of with his busy life. Suddenly he realised exactly what he needed! A monkey!

A monkey could pretty well take care of itself if he trained it a little, they were insanely smart! It certainly wouldn't be a boring pet. He wasn't sure exactly what kind of monkey though... or where he would get a monkey. Probably from the zoo. He was definitely going to need some help, who the hell would be crazy enough to help him steal a monkey? 

"Marta would!"

Willie shouted to himself as he headed over to the phone. When he got there though he realised he had no idea what Marta's phone number was... she had just recently moved to Detroit and he didn't even know where exactly she was living these days. Somewhere in Detroit.... and was she really crazy enough to help him steal a monkey? 

He put the phone back down and sat back down to do a little more thinking. 

After a few minutes he came to a conclusion. Marta would help him for sure if he headed to Detroit and asked her in person! Of course he would actually have to get to Detroit, find her, and then convince her he wasn't completely out of his mind. One step at a time though! Detroit was only about five hours away anyways.. he would leave immediately!

Willie grabbed the keys to his car, and ran down to the street where it was parked. It was an older car, one that Marta had actually let him keep during their crazy day in Wisconsin coincidentally... but it would get him there no problem. 

After a few hours of singing some of his favourite songs to himself and daydreaming about his future monkey friend Willie was in Downtown Detroit. He found a place to park on one of the main streets where all the shops and store were and hopped out. 

"Step one complete!" He said to himself, a little louder than he meant to as several people walking past gave him weird looks. 

Now he just needed to find Marta... she had come to see him before she left Chicago but Willie couldn't for the life of him remember where she said it was she was moving. He decided he would just browse all these stores and maybe he would get lucky. She did seemed like the shopping type. He wandered in and out of all the clothing stores, a few bakery's, and a couple cafe's, but was having no luck. Detroit was a pretty big place and Willie was starting to get discouraged and hungry. He decided to head back to the car and go find somewhere to eat. 

Willie drove around for a bit trying to find somewhere to grab some supper when he saw a sign up ahead.

'Willie's - Voted best burger in Detroit four years running!'

Well damn, the place was called Willie's AND had the best burger in Detroit? He had to try out this place... he swung the car into the parking lot and headed inside, almost running he was so excited. He got to counter and ordered the biggest burger on the menu, a large fries and just water to drink. They brought him his food a few minutes later and he headed over to the dining area to find a seat. 

The place was surprisingly empty, there was just one lady there trying to eat a burger that looked to be almost the size of her. Willie laughed at the sight of it actually as he sat down on the other side of the room... she must have heard him because her head swung around and starred right at him.

"Willie?! What the hell are you doing at... um well.. Willie's?" 

Willie looked over and squinted a little, his eyes were getting pretty bad lately. 

"Marta! I found you!" He yelled as he finally recognised her.

Willie grabbed his tray of food and headed over to Marta's table to eat. 

"I have been looking all over the city for you Marta! I need help! I need a monkey!" Willie said as he sat down.

As expected, she starred at him like he was a crazy person; so Willie decided to go ahead and eat his food while Marta decided how to respond to the strange request. 

It hasn’t been long since her move to Detroit, in fact she still had yet to unpack that’s how fresh the move still was. Marta sat quietly in her new room at the Luciano estate, sorting through one of her many boxes. She pulled out a couple of items and set them on the desk, just a couple keepsakes from Chicago. Memories of the good times and memories of the people lost.

As she pulled out the last item in the box, her personalized mug from her coffee shop in Chicago. She set it upon the shelf her stomach began to growl, the last time she had eaten was... well she couldn’t actually remember the last time she had eaten which probably meant she needed to make that happen. 

She was hoping that someone was around the estate to grab a bite with but the place was a bit quiet today, must have been a busy day for the residents. She was pretty sure that in no time she herself would be placed right into the mix of things but at this moment she was just to get her bearing. No better way of getting her bearings then strolling through the streets to find a bite to eat. 

Marta grabbed her bag, walked out of her room and down the stairs. Took her a few moment to actually find the front door, the place was huge and definitely wasn’t the easiest to navigate. Opening the door the fresh air rushed in, it was a beautiful day in Detroit. That’s when the smell found her, an enticing smell. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was but the smell made her even hungrier, she decided to let her nose lead the way.

It led her to a burger joint, Willies burger joint. The name made her chuckle as it reminded her of the little adventure her and her unlikely friend Willie had had. The burgers on the ride home made that entire day worth it, well that and the pocket full of cash. She knew this was the place, so she walked in and ordered her food then took a seat at one of the tables. A few moments later one of the employees brought out her food on a tray. A ginormous burger, small fry and a lemonade. 

Oicking the burger up which was so big she needed two hands, she was about to take a bite when she heard an oddly familiar voice. Looking over her shoulder there he was.

”Willie?! What the hell are you doing at.. uh well.. Willies?”

She was in utter shock, not in the slightest who she thought she’d see in Detroit of all but it made her smile as she put her burger down. She watched as he made his way over to her table and expressed he needed her help. He needed a monkey. “A monkey?” Marta thought to herself, why the hell would he want a monkey of all things. 

“Did you say you wanted a monkey?”

Willie tried to speak but he had so much packed in his mouth that he couldn’t but he surely was able to spit some of it unknowingly in Marta’s direction, just falling short of her. 

“Come on Willie, chew with your closed for fuck sake.”

He placed his hand up pausing the conversation for a moment, giving him time to finish the bite in his mouth. 

“Yeah a monkey, you heard me right. I want a pet monkey and I need your help getting one.” 

“How or why do you need my help?”

Willie smiled towards tell, with his burger still in hand. 

“Well I seen your style on our Wisconsin adventure and well I know you’re crazy enough to help me.”

Marta wasn’t sure if what he said about her was a good thing or a bad thing but figured just to go with it. She picked up her burger and before taking her first bite looked towards him.

”Well, ok. This sounds like it could be interesting. What are you thinking?”

She finally took a bite of her burger, enjoying it as she waited for Willie to speak up.

Willie finished his food before explaining any further. It was good, not as good as the place in Wisconsin but still pretty good. When he was done eating he sat back and sighed.

"Well, I just kinda of came to the conclusion earlier that I wanted a pet, and a monkey would make the perfect pet. Can't really just go buy a monkey though.. so we are gonna need to find a Zoo. There is a zoo with monkeys here in Detroit, but I don't know if we want to go get one there... it would make for a long drive back to Chicago with a monkey... might be easier if we go to a zoo closer to my place. That's really as much thought as I have put into it so far. Oh and the fact that you could probably help, you seem like you would make a good monkey thief!"

Willie was talking really fast and Marta looked to be no less confused than she was by the original proposal. She finally finished her food but didn't speak, she just sat there starring at Willie. She seemed to be trying to figure out if this was some kind of joke or if he was just insane.. so Willie decided he should explain a little more. 

"Think about it Marta! Everyone has a dog or cat, that's boring... besides with all the travelling I do for work I wouldn't be home enough to feed a dog and let it out and walk it and all that stuff. A monkey can feed itself, I am sure with a little training he can even figure out the toilet! It definitely wont be boring!" 

Marta seemed to be counting something on her fingers as Willie finished speaking.

"Five! I have been here in Detroit for five hours Willie! I haven't even finished unpacking my suitcase,  and you want me to just drop everything and drive back to Chicago with you so we can steal you a pet monkey!?"

Willie put on his happiest looking smile and pressed his hands together while looking across the table to Marta.

"Please?"

There was a long silence while Marta tried to decide what do say. She starred down at the table and seemed to be in deep thought. 

"Well Willie, I can't believe I am even saying this but fine. I'll help you steal a damn monkey. Your going to owe me though.. and this better not turn into another police chase. I have things to do!" Marta replied as she got up from the table.

"Yes! I knew you'd help me! I am parked out back let's go!" Willie replied as he literally ran out the door.

By the time Marta got out to the car Willie was already sitting there with the engine running waiting for her. He was extremely excited to get his new friend. Marta jumped in and they stopped by her new place so she could grab a few things before hitting the road back to Chicago. As they got onto the highway Willie looked over at Marta to say something...

"So, ah, the radio doesn't work... we should play a car game! Oh, or maybe come up with some sort of plan for getting this monkey. What do you think?"

Marta made her way out back to Willie's awaiting car, the sight of the car made her smile. It instantly brought back memories for a couple weeks back. 

"I'm a bit surprised you decided to keep this thing, kind of figured you would have sold it rather quickly."

Willie patted the dashboard of the car, like a used car salesman would have done while trying to get you to buy it. 

"Nah, I love this car. Runs like a champ and has some good, well recent history to it. As you know of course."

Marta got into the car and they drove off, making sure to stop at the Luciano estate on the way out. She needed to grab just a couple of things before they got into the real journey. The car was silent for a bit as Marta reached over to turn the radio on but it didn't work. She glanced over at Willie who was looking at her with a smile on his face. 

"So, ah, the radio doesn't work.... we should play a car game! Oh, or maybe come up with some sort of plan for getting this monkey. What do you think?" Willie stated. 

Marta tried to play back in her head the trip from Wisconsin but between the figuring out where they were and then her sleeping most of the way back to Chicago, she couldn't remember at any point the radio actually being on.

"Has this radio never worked?"

"Nope, not even a hum from it. It's ok though, I make my own music when I'm driving. Oh... we could have a sing along if you don't want to play a game or talk about this monkey business."

Without letting her answer Willie began signing. 

"100 bottles of beer on the wall, 100 bottles of beer. Take one down pass it around, 99 bottles of beer on the wall. 99..."

Marta knew she had to put a stop to this and immediately, otherwise she may have had to bail from the car. On the highway, tuck and roll method. Wouldn't have been pretty but it would have been better then listening to that for the next hour or so. 

"Willie! Please god, stop. Singing sounds like a terrible idea. I'd rather play a car game."

Willie's face lit up as he wasn't expecting to hear the car game option win her over. 

"Oh! A car game!"

"Yeah, a car game... A game where we figure out this whole monkey thing."

Willie let out a sigh. 

"Awe, I thought we were gonna play a real game. You're mean getting my hopes up like that, you know this?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know but get over it. In all seriousness though, you really think a monkey is the best pet to have? From what I've heard having a monkey is worse then having a child. I have friends with children and that just seems like a terrible idea."

She could see Willie shrugging, she already knew his mind was set and her trying to convince him otherwise was just a waste of a breath. 

"Alright, never mind... So... what kind of monkey are you thinking?"

Willie's face got serious suddenly as he paused to think before answering the question.

"What kind of monkey? I don't know... there are different types of monkeys?"

Marta bent over in her seat and began to wack her forehead repeatedly on the dash of the car.

"Seriously Willie? Did you think this through at all? What the hell did I get myself into..."

Willie reached over and grabbed Marta by the shoulder as he drove.

"Stop doing that would ya? I told you I only came up with this idea today... I kinda figure if we break into the zoo after hours and find the monkeys I can just pick one? Right?"

Marta gave up on the whole forehead wacking thing and looked up at Willie again. 

"Alright alright let go." She said as she smacked his hand off of her shoulder.

"So, we break in... find the monkeys, and then your just gonna pick one? What type of monkey will you be looking to 'pick' Willie?"

Willie pondered the question without replying for a few miles. He was trying to imagine the perfect monkey pet in his head. He really didn't know much about the different kinds of moneys or anything like that, but he had seen them at the zoo before. They were smart, kinda like little fuzzy human's who didn't speak. He knew what kind of monkey he wanted, he had seen them at the zoo before plenty of times, but he didn't know what it was called or anything like that. He decided he would just try his best to describe it. 

"Well, I would like a smaller monkey... nothing that is gonna grow to be big and dangerous. It also needs to be a monkey that seems smart, not sure how we will test that in a dark zoo at night though, he needs to be friendly, and he MUST have a tail!" He finally responded.

Marta just starred at Willie, she seemed to be in disbelief that this was even happening. 

"Willie, I am pretty sure all monkey's have tails. I don't even want to know why that seems so important to you though. Anyways, small monkey, needs to pass your IQ test.. that should be easy... friendly, and needs to have a tail. Alright then. Well I figure we should we should go to Lincoln Park Zoo, it's right in Chicago and by the time we get there it will be the middle of the night so there shouldn't be anyone around. Maybe a few security guards." 

That seemed to be all the planning that was going to happen. They continued to drive for hours, occasionally Willie would start to sing again only to get a quick jab in the shoulder. Finally they reached the exit to Chicago and Willie pulled off before looking over at Marta.

"Hey, so where is this zoo you were talking about?"

​​​​​​​Marta was fast asleep and didn't respond so he tried again a little louder.

"Hey Marta! Wake up! Where is the zoo you suggested!?"

Marta shot up in her seat as Willie called out her name. 

"Huh? What?"

She had to gain her bearings, didn't really know where she was at first. That was until she looked over to seeing Willie's face looking back at her, it was then that she realized or actually remembered where she was at. "The monkey.." She looked at him and just shook her head. Kind of funny that this was the second time in this car with him and both times she wound up passing out. 

She wiped the crust off the corner of her mouth then adjusted her seat. 

"The zoo?" Marta shrugged, all the time she spent in Chicago she didn't venture much at all to the North Side of the city. Hell the Loop was a bit out of the way for her. She took a moment to look around the streets. 

"The zoo... ok, go straight and then the third right you can take. Take it! Then the zoo should be just a couple miles down on the left side."

Willie didn't say anything only nodded, that's when it hit him. She shrugged at the word zoo that came out of his mouth then a mere couple minutes later she was giving him detailed directions. 

"Wait a second... Marta... you said you didn't know where it was. Why you telling me to go this way."

Marta put her hand on her forehead, looked down and shook her head. 

"Did you not just see that sign we passed? You know the sign that was bigger then this car."

Willie turned back to look over his shoulder but could only see the back side of the metal sign. 

"Uhm, I think I missed it."

"How did you miss it, you're driving?"

Willie smiled "Well... my attentions were directed onto that fire hydrant back there. It was painted with white polka dots on it. WHITE POLKA DOTS I tell you."

Marta didn't even know how to respond to that one, she knew her friend was special but how special she wasn't fully aware of just yet. 

"Just turn right at that light up there and follow it down. We should run right into the zoo, if that sign was proper."

Willie followed her instructions and in just a few minutes they were at the zoo. He pulled the car into the empty parking lot and checked the time before turning off the car. It was 1am now.. shouldn't be too many people around if any. There was a short walkway leading from the parking area to the zoo gates. Willie grabbed two flashlights from the back seat and handed one to Marla. 

"Alright lets do this!" He said as he opened the door and got out.

Marta reluctantly took and flashlight and got out to follow Willie. She caught up to him justas they got to the entrance.

"Ah crap, Marta we might have a problem."

There was an eight foot high metal gate blocking the path into the zoo. There was a fence as far as they could see to the right, and the same to the left. Willie stood there scratching his chin for several minutes trying to think his way out of this problem. Marta seemed perfectly fine waiting for him to come up with an idea.

"Well, this is your brilliant idea... what do you wanna do?" She reminded him after standing there for several minutes.

Willie looked at Marta, then the fence, then back to Marta.

"You're really short. You know that? I was thinking maybe we could find a way over.. but I don't think that's going to work. Maybe we could go under, but that would be a lot of digging... hmm" Willie thought out loud.

"Yeah.. or maybe we could go through the door!" Said Marta with a chuckle.

Willie looked over in the direction Marta was pointing. Right in line with and kind of part of the fence just beside the gate there was a little security hut, and sure enough there was a door into the hut right there.

"I mean yeah its obviously locked, and someone could be inside. It's better than trying to climb over this huge fence though... besides, if you can't even pick the lock to that door you don't deserve a monkey!" Marta said crossing her arms and starring at Willie.

Willie reached over and grabbed a bobby pin out of Marta's hair and headed straight for the door. He fiddled with it for a few moments and then there was a click and the door swung open. Luckily there was nobody inside it was just darkness inside the door. 

"Hey I did it!" He said over his shoulder to Marta. 

Marta walked over and grabbed her now bent up bobby pin back from Willie and paused to fix her hair. She gave him a look that Willie figured meant something along the lines of "Don't you ever mess up my hair again!". She didn't actually say anything though, just turned on her flash light and headed into the dark hut, so Willie followed suit and did the same.

Marta clicked on her flashlight, the beam of light shone directly at the ground. Willie on the other hand turned on his flashlight while it was facing his face. The stream of light shone directly into his face, actually right into his eyes. He immediately dropped the flashlight on the floor and let out a gasp. 

"Damn, that thing is bright! Now I'm seeing dots, in the dark. How is that even possible."

Marta directed her flashlight back at Willie. 

"Shhh, quite being so fucking loud. The guard is obviously somewhere around here."

Willie picked up his flashlight and made his way over to Marta. He tiptoed like a ninja, a clumsy blind ninja as he ran into anything and everything on the way over to her. 

"Willie! Seriously, be quiet."

"How do you know a guard has been here recently?"

She pointed her flashlight at the desk adjacent to them. There was a plate with a half eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich on it and a half drank glass of water. 

"Ohhhhhh." Willie said in a whispering voice. 

"He must be making his round or something, we have to make sure he doesn't see us otherwise we aren't getting that monkey tonight."

Marta peaked out the second set of doors, the one that gained access to the actual zoo. She didn't see anyone, just a dim lite path both the left and to the right. Straight ahead was a building, she could barley make the name out on it but she could see the word birds. Obviously that was not where the monkeys were, so that building was quickly checked off her mental list. 

She turned back to Willie to ask him which direction he though they should go but as she turned back around to ask she noticed him munching on the other half of the sandwich. 

"Willie? Really?"

He said nothing, only smiled. Marta didn't say anything else, she just turned back around to look back out the door. She stood there for a moment until Willie crept up from behind her. 

"Here, this should help."

She turned around to Willie holding a map. 

"Found this on the desk next to the sandwich, figured it would help. Oh and don't you worry, I don't have the munchies anymore. So we go that covered."

Marta opened the map up and directed Willie to shine the light on it. The both of them found the monkey house at the same time and go figure it was all the way in the back of the zoo. Just their luck, couldn't be up front. It had to be in the back, which was going to make the task even harder. They looked at both of the paths, each of them equal distances away. Though the path to the right went by the otter enclosure, which was her favorite animal in the world. 

"Ok, so there's no easy way there. I say we go this way and on the way stop and see the otters. That work?" 

"You want to stop and see the otters? That's fine by me! Lets go!"

Willie poked his head out the door and looked over to the bird house, to the left towards the front gate, and then to the right to the two paths further into the zoo. He didn't see the security guard anywhere so he nodded to Marta to let her know the coast was clear. She rolled up the map and followed Willie out the door and and to the path of the right side. They walked slowly and as quietly as they could, with the flashlights off so they wouldn't be spotted.

"Ouch!" Marta suddenly blurt out breaking the silence.

Willie turned around to see Marta standing next to a large metal garbage can holding her knee in pain.

"Marta, I think you walked into a garbage can." Willie whispered.

"Yeah thanks Willie... I didn't notice." Marta replied waving her free hand to tell Willie to keep moving.

They continued down the right path for a few more minutes until suddenly there was a bright light coming down the path in the distance. Worried about getting caught they both hopped over a short fence to their left to hide. It was extremely dark and neither of them really knew where they were... but they lay there in silence for at least five minutes until the guard had walked past and was long gone back towards the hut they had come from.

"Oh great... now he's probably gonna notice half his sandwich is missing!" Marta blurted out suddenly breaking the silence again.

"Hey look you have a friend!" Willie responded as he turned his light on and pointed it at Marta.

Marta looked behind here right as the peacock made a horrible squawking noise and started to run at her. She squawked back at it before running and leaping back over the fence into the walkway like an olympic hurdler. willie thought this was all pretty hilarious and remained in the pen laughing hysterically. Apparently all of the laughing and commotion had drawn the attention of the peacock however because before he knew what was happening it was pecking Willie repeatedly in the side of his leg.

"Ouch shit, ouch stop!" Willie said to the peacock.

"Well get the hell out of there already!" Suggested Marta from the path.

"Right, okay...ouch, good idea, ouch." Said Willie as he limped over and crawled over the fence not so gracefully. 

Worried that someone had seen on camera or heard them they hurried down the path with the lights turned off once again. After a few more minutes Marta pulled Willie over to the side and whispered.

"I think the otters should be near here"

She turned on her light and pulled the map back out. They searched the map and found the place where they had encountered the peacock, then followed the path up from there. 

"Otters should be along the right side of the path here somewhere" Whispered Marta as they both turned their lights back on.

They walked along the path for another minute with their lights directed over to the right when suddenly Marta let out an excited squeak and began to run.

"Otters!" 

"Do you want to get one as a pet!?" Willie asked as he hurried to try and keep up with her.

Marta pressed her face up against the glass as close as possible to have a look. It was an underwater type exhibit, one for looking at the animals as they were swimming. She couldn't see anything though as the exhibit was dark. She pulled out her flashlight and shone it onto the glass the beam of light reflected off the glass, the angle she was holding it made the light shine backwards.

Unknown to Willie who was looking in the other direction, that was until Marta called his name. Willie turned his head towards her and caught a stream of light into his eyes. 

"Marta! What the fuck, the light... the light."

Marta glanced back, indeed the light was directed in his face. Quickly she angled it down to the ground. 

"Who walks into a beam of light? Willie come here, I can't see anything."

She watched as Willie rubbed his eyes, trying to get the spots out of his vision as he made his way over to the exhibit. 

"Alright, let's see if we can see these otters." Willie stated will still rubbing his eyes. 

Marta angled the flashlight back up to the glass at the same time the both of them leaned inward. The moment the light hit the spot they were looking they were greeted by a face. It wasn't an otter but a seal. The only thing that separated them and the seal was the piece of glass and needless to say it was not what Marta nor Willie were expecting.

Marta screamed and jumped backwards, Willie was a bit more subdued though. He took a couple steps back and gasped then looked back towards Marta who was covering her heart and breathing deeply. 

"Marta, we are supposed to be quiet. There's no way that security guard didn't hear you and if he didn't there is something wrong with him. We need to keep moving and like now."

Marta held up her hand with one finger in the air, her pointer finger. As in to give her a moment, that seal nearly gave her a heart attack. So she needed a moment to regroup. That was when they both heard the security guard in the distance. 

"Who's out there? I know you're here, come on out."

An immediate panic went through Marta's body but she momentarily hesitated. Willie grabbed her by the arm and gave her a tug towards him. 

"Marta, snap the fuck out of it. We need to move and now."

With a simple nod, Marta followed Willie. They hooked a quick right down the path, then a left down another path and ducked into some bushes that were just off the path. Well they weren't in the bushes but just behind them. 

"Shhhh." Willie whispered to Marta who was still recovering from the seal incident. 

"You shhhh, Willie." Marta whispered back to him. 

They both sat there silently, it was an eerie silence for a good 5 minutes. Until they heard to footsteps of the security guard. Marta looked over to to Willie, the same time Willie looked over at Marta. They both held their pointer fingers to their mouths and stayed as silent as possible. 

Suddenly Marta felt something crawling on her arm, she brushed it off in a panic but stayed quiet. Then she felt something crawling up her leg, subtly she turned her flashlight on and shinned it on her leg. It was a spider, one of the biggest spiders she had ever seen. Quickly she swatted it off and without thinking stood up due to the chills she had gotten from it. 

The moment she stood up a light got shone into her eyes. 

"Ha! I knew someone was in here. Now you just stay there young lady."

The security guard had her in his sights but Willie was still crouched on the ground beside her.

"You here alone missy?" The guard asked. 

She nodded but stayed where she was, hoping that Willie had an idea what to do at this point. 

Willie stayed crouched down behind the bushes trying to figure out what to do while the security guard continued to question Marta about how she got in and why. Marta didn't really answer though, she just kept nodding every time he asked a question which seemed to be frustrating him. He started walking over to get Marta, Willie could hear his footsteps but couldn't see anything from his spot behind the bushes. 

"Let's go..." Willie heard as he looked up and saw the security guard leading Marta away by her arm.

She seemed to be just going along with it, waiting for Willie to do something. Willie waited until they were both turned around and had begun walking back the other way before he got up. He snuck up behind the two of them and raised his flashlight up above his head before bringing it down as hard as he could on the top of the guards head. 

"Bam!" Yelled Willie as his metal flashlight made contact with the man's skull.

The security guard let out a groan before he fell face down on the walking path.

"Really, with the sound effects?" Said Marta as they both starred down the the guard.

"I don't know how long a flashlight will keep him out for, and we got monkeys to see! Lets go!" Said Willie, ignoring her disapproval of his cool sound effects. 

They moved a lot faster this time, up the path... knowing the security guard was behind them. One of them at least. If there were more guards and they found ol' flashlight skull back there there would be real trouble. Willie kept trying to turn on his flashlight and check where they were.

"Stop. It's broken... stop clicking the damn button on and off!" Said Marta as she took the flashlight out of Willie's hand and tossed it into the bushes.

"Well, that was rude." Said Willie starring down at his empty hand and he kept walking.

They pulled over to the side of the path for a moment and Marta took the zoo map back out and shone her still working flashlight on it. 

"Alright so we are beside the elephants, should just be some tigers, one lion, a zebra.... and then the monkey building!" She said l;ooking up at Willie.

"Let me see that would ya.." Said Willie as he grabbed her flashlight and started pointing it around them searching for these elephants Marta had claimed they were near...

"Yeah I don't see these elephants." He said handing her flashlight back.

Marta pointed the light at the sign Willie was leaning on and just shook her head. It said Elephants, and had a little write up about them.

"Oh... well then. Let's keep going and forget that happened okay?" Said Willie as he began walking away. 

Marta caught up and they continued down the path in silence and darkness for a few moments before Willie realised something and came to a sudden stop.

"What? What's wrong?" Marta asked

"You never got to really see the otters did you!? Did you want a pet otter Marta?" Willie asked, looking very concerned.​​​​​​​

Marta stopped on her tracks, she had forgotten all about the otter. The encounter with the security guard must have frazzled her a bit, making her mind go completely off of the whole otter thing. Which in itself was a bit funny cause the reason she got caught was cause of the otters. Well not exactly the otters, it was the spider. The big hairy creepy spider, the thought of it gave her chills that went up her spine which instantly gave her goose bumps. 

Willie noticed Marta shiver a bit, initially he thought it was cause he brought up the otters. Which truly confused him a bit. 

"I thought you liked otters?" Willie stood there scratching his head for a moment. 

Marta smiled. 

"Oh I love otters, they are the cutest little things ever."

"Then why did you shiver like that when I mentioned them?"

Marta laughed as she knew the reason for the mix up. 

"Well you see, the otters reminded me of that big ass spider that I found crawling on me." Mentioning the spider again gave her another chill up her body. 

"I mean did you see that bitch? That fucking thing was huge, could have swore it was going to attack me and suck out all my blood. It's like it was a zoo guard tarantula. Do they have those here in Chicago?"

Marta paused for a moment to give it some thought, Willie on the other hand was so dumbfounded by the question that all he did was let out a long profound "Uhhhhh" sound. Marta shook her head, with the idea of it just sounded more silly in her head as she repeated it to herself.

"Never mind, there's no way that's a thing. Especially here in Chicago, I mean how could they possibly survive the winters here? Marta shrugged. "Anyways, not sure we can go back to see the otters at this point. They were back where you knocked that guard out, which I never thanked you for."

Marta then pulled out her flashlight and shone it around them, at this point she didn't really know where they were. They had ran and which direction she didn't know, the only thing that she was trying to accomplish in that moment was to get away from the now unconscious guard. Who at this point may be up and calling for back or has an inter cranial bled and is slowly dying. There was not much of an in between scenario in her head. 

She stopped her beam of light on the reptile house, then pulled out her map to find out where they actually were. Somehow they had back tracked, went completely the opposite direction. 

"Shit, this zoo is confusing!" She exclaimed. 

That's when Willie made his way over to her to see what she was talking about. She placed the beam of light on the reptile house on the map then made a path with it to the monkey house. They had made their way back, even passed the flamingo's which they saw when they first entered the zoo.

"Ok! Well I don't think it is the best idea to go back, with that guard down there. So I'd say we have to continue this way, go up the path over there towards the big cats and then past the elephants. I believe we can get to the monkeys from that way, at least from the map it looks like it."

She took her flashlight and gave it a shine down the path they needed to head down, to show Willie what she was talking about before turning it off and tucking it back away. 

"Let's go! I have a feeling our time is becoming limited in this place."

"Our time is limited? How limited? I might look old but i can be fast! Wanna run Marta!?" Asked Willie, looked all excited...

"Um, no..." Said Marta shaking her head.

"Vroom vroom!" Willie yelled as he ran ahead down the path to show Marta how fast he could be. 

Willie was running along vrooming happy as can be until he felt a sudden thud on the back of his head. He turned around and saw a shoe on the ground behind him and Marta standing there on one leg glaring at him like he had just insulted her mother or something....

"Ouch, what the hell Marta! Whats with you and throwing shoes...." Said Willie rubbing the back of his head.

Marta casually hopped up to him, careful not to touch her bare foot to the dirty ground. She picked up her show, and put it back on her foot before speaking. 

"First of all, your not that fast. Second of all... shut the hell up?" Said Marta as she continued past Willie up the path.

Willie hurried to catch up, and offered Marta a bag of pot he had been saving for later with his monkey. he figured it might help her be less stressed and cranky. She took it from him without saying a word and just put it in her pocket. He was curious if she was actually going to smoke it... he had never seen Marta get high... but that didn't mean she didn't. 

"I have some papers if you want them?" Willie finally asked, curiosity had got the better of him and he really wanted to know what Marta was like high...

"No thanks! Should be some big cats up here soon... keep your eyes open so we can tell where we are okay?" She replied with a smile.

"Oh hey.. at least you don't seem cranky anymore! Sorry about the vrooming...." Willie replied hanging his head in shame as they walked. 

Before long they were up by the cat cages, Marta pointed them out with the flashlight but they didn't stop to see if anything was in the cages. Willie was really curious, he really didn't want to make Marta upset again though and he remembered she had been concerned about the guard from earlier coming back. Besides his head was still a little sore from the last time her shoe was thrown. He did continue to try and squint through the bars as they walked past to see if he could spot any cats...

Suddenly though there was two bright lights behind them coming quickly up the path behind them. Willie grabbed Marta by the arm when he noticed the lights and pulled her back behind some bushes once again.

"Something is coming, not this again..." He whispered as they crouched down and waited for the lights to get closer. 

They sat there behind the bush for probably five minutes before Willie stood up slowly and looked back down the path. Oddly enough he didn't see anything now. It was just dark in every direction. Willie shrugged as he turned back down to Marta who was crouched behind the bush shivering and repeatedly checking herself for spiders. 

"Ah, I swear there was something... but I only see darkness now. Sorry, false alarm I guess Marta..." 

"Dammit Willie, less drugs next time you wanna break in somewhere okay?"  Said Marta as she stood back up and brushed herself off. 

"But.. I am not even high!" Willie replied as they continued back down the path towards where they figured there should be some elephants. 

Marta took the bag of pot back out of her pocket and handed it back to Willie. He was actually a bit more relaxed and rational when he was high and there were no clouds in the sky. Well maybe there were but it was so dark out that they couldn't be seen, which was good. He wouldn't be starring at those cotton balls in the sky, would be one less distraction. Plus a high Willie was a bit more fun then a sober one and at this point they could use a bit more fun on this adventure. 

"Come on Willie, roll one and take a hit but make it quick we have things to do."

Willie took a sit on the bench that was just up ahead from them and worked his magic. In a matter of a couple of minutes he had two perfectly rolled blunts. He lit one of them up and took a huge hit, which sucked up about half of it. He exhaled and blew it towards Marta who waved it from her face, which made Willie smile.

He offered her a puff on his blunt but Marta refused to take it. She hadn't smoked in a while now and knew that if she did that she or they wouldn't accomplish anything. Hell they would have probably just stayed on that bench all night until the zoo opened. Well either that or broke into one of those snack shacks when the munchies kicked in full force. Then the whole monkey mission would have been null and void.

Would have been fun but she knew if that were to happen that she would have to come back to zoo at some point and do this whole mission once again and the thought of that was agonizing. 

"Oh come on Marta, just one hit. That's all I ask." He smiled. 

"No, not now. If I take a hit of that then we will never get that monkey, trust me."

Willie quickly pulled the joint back, he didn't like the sound of that. That monkey was his reason for living right now, well his flavor of the day at least. 

"Ok, ok. Then how about after we get that monkey and get out of here we celebrate with some of this fruity pebble stuff I have. It's amazing!"

Marta shook her head and smiled. 

"We will see what happens when we are out of here, ok?"

It wasn't a yes but it also wasn't a no which piqued Willie's interest, as he shot up from his seated position, grabbed Marta by the arm and pulled her in the direction towards the elephants. After a couple seconds when Marta began walking with him, he let go of his grip. That's just about when they heard the trumpet of the elephants. They were singing to each other and with each step the sound got louder and louder. That's when she got an idea, it was quite the mischievous idea but thought it would be super comical. 

She nudged Willie on the side and stopped in her tracks. 

"Ouch! What the hell was that for?"

Marta chuckled to herself for a second before speaking up. 

"Hey Willie!"

"Yeah? That's me, what do you want now?"

"Don't you think it would be funny if somehow the elephants got out? Like completely out and were walking around the streets of Chicago.  Imagine that? We should make that happen...."

Willie just stood there for a few moments and thought about Marta's suggestion. 'Free the elephants'... hmm. That could be dangerous, and it might interfere with the monkey mission... but then again, security already knew someone had broken in to the zoo, they might as well make it worth it. Besides, it also sounded extremely fun. Willie made up his mind and let out a shout as he raised his arms above his head in celebration.

"Free the elephants!" 

He began to speed walk towards the elephant cage and found the gate, as Marta arrived behind him he was just standing there starring at the cage thinking.

"So, uh, Marta?" He asked

"Yes Willie?" She responded still laughing to herself about the elephant idea...

"How are we gonna get the gate open?" 

It was a huge gate, easily big enough for the elephants to stroll out through, but it was locked and Willie just stood there starring at the lock. Marta shook her head and motioned of Willie to back away from the door. She took her bobby pin back out of her hair and began to pick the lock on the gate. 

"Oh riiiiight, forgot about that..." Said Willie as he watched her fumble around with the lock for a few minutes.

Suddenly there was a click and the handle on the gate turned, Willie rushed over and helped Marta swing both of the heavy gate doors wide open. However none of the elephants moved.

"Too much fruity pebbles for you apparently, your the one who picked the lock to get us in here Willie! Anyways... now we gotta make them leave the cage... any ideas?" Marta asked as she fixed her hair again.

Willie motioned for Marta to move out of the way and ran into the cage giving Marta a thumbs up as he headed in with the elephants. It was Willie's time to shine! He'd get the elephants out of the cage, one way or another! He circled around the the far opposite side of the cage so that he was behind all of the elephants, there was five of them in there. He began searching around hoping an idea came to him. That was when he saw a shovel, one of the workers must have left it in the cage earlier. Willie scooped it up with a huge smile and began to run around smacking each elephant in the ass with the back side of the shovel. 

There was a pretty good chance Willie was going to get trampled doing this but he couldn't help but laugh as he ran around smacking the elephants. Its not everyday you get to run around smacking elephants with a shovel! After a few smacks on each elephant the began to run, they ran faster than Willie knew an elephant could move.. right out the gate where Marta had been standing.

"Oh no!" Willie was worried as he saw the elephants run out the gate.

He sure hoped Marta had gotten out of the way before they had come running. He ran out to the entrance to the cage where he had last seen Marta standing but he couldn't see her anywhere. At least she wasn't laying there flattened...  he decided he had made enough of a racket by now that yelling wasn't really a concern anymore... so he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled a few times.

"Marta! Where'd you go!? Are you alright!?"

By the time Marta had finished putting her hair back where it belonged, Willie was already inside the elephant pen. She thought he was a bit crazy for venturing in there with those gigantic things, one false move and you'd be trampled, flattened like a pancake. "Pancakes..." She thought to herself. It had been forever since she had pancakes and was suddenly in the mood for some of the blueberry variety. She was going to yell out to Willie about her new want but that silly old man was in his own little world. 

He was chasing around the elephants, giving them a random smack on the ass with a shovel. It was no ordinary shovel either, was one of those huge ones they use for snow shoveling. It was quite the comical thing to watch, made her chuckle a few times. Especially when he hit the one elephant, the elephant quickly swung it's trunk backwards as if it were swatting away a bug. It nearly caught Willie, would have sent him flying. Probably would have been a bad thing but the fact that it missed made it quite the joke. 

Marta stood there and watched the antics the entire time as he tried to get them out of the gate to roam around the zoo. She took her eyes off of the elephants and Willie for one moment as she glared up at the sky looking at the stars shining down. That's wen she heard Willie shout "Oh No" she directed her gaze back into the pen. Her eyes lit up as the elephants were charging in her direction. 

"Oh shit!" Was the only thought that went through her head and without giving it much thought she took two steps to the left and dove away from the gate. She went head first right into a bush. She could hear the elephants stomping past her then shortly after heard Willie shouting. 

"Marta! Where'd you go!? Are you alright!?"

She wanted to yell at him to be quiet but that would have defeated the whole purpose of actually being quiet. He shouted it once more as Marta tried to back herself out of the bush but with the way she had jumped in she had gotten herself stuck between the branches and couldn't get the leverage to get herself out. She struggled for a bit before letting out a fit of laughter. She was laughing so hard that she didn't even hear Willie sneak up on her. 

"Marta! Marta! Where you....."

That's when he saw her legs hanging out the bush, she could tell he was a bit confused how this all came about but the confusion quickly turned into laughter. 

"What in the... I mean how..."

Marta stopped herself from laughing just enough to speak. 

"Help me out of this damn bush Willie, I can't seem to do it myself."

She reached her hand backwards hoping he would grab on it and give her a pull but instead her grabbed her by the ankles and gave her a tug. A tug she wasn't quite ready for but a tug that did the job. Though he fell backwards and Marta landed on her stomach on the ground. The both of them began laughing at the same time and both stood up in unison. 

Marta, quick adjusted her clothes and pulled a twig out of her hair, dropping it to the ground. 

"What the hell is with these damn bushes here at this zoo. They either have really big spiders or they trap you like one of those Chinese finger traps thingies."

Willie shrugged he really didn't know how to answer that question or if it even was an actual question. So he blurted out the next best thing off the top of his head. 

"Operation release the elephants was a success!"

Marta smiled then looked to her right as she could see the ass end of one of the elephants walking off into the distance. 

"The zoo is gonna have their handful with those things would be interesting to see how they will all react in the morning when they realize they aren't in their pen." It was a thought that made her smile, it was the little things in life. Though now that the side mission was completed it was time to go get that monkey. 

"Come on Willie, let's go get that monkey. The primate house should be the next building up of the right."

She turned to start walking, Willie quickly caught up to her and in a matter of a couple minutes they pair stood outside the primate building.

Willie was still laughing about the image of Marta's legs sticking out of the bush as they arrived at the primate building. To his surprise the door wasn't even locked. Willie swung the door open and excitedly hurried into the building. 

"Small monkey's small monkeys...." He repeated to himself as he hurried around the building peaking into each cage.

After a few minutes of running around talking to himself peaking into all the cages he finally found the one he wanted! There was a sign on the door to the cage that read 'white-headed capuchin monkeys'. They were small enough that it could easily just sit on to his shoulder, it was perfect!

"Marta we gotta get into this one! This is the monkey I need! I figure I'll just stand in there and let one of them pick me... you know so I can be sure he likes me?" Willie said as he fumbled with the door handle.

"Well damn, its locked." Said Willie turning around to see Marta already holding out her bobby pin again.

"Oh thanks Marta!" Said Willie as he excitedly grabbed the bobby pin and began to pick the lock. 

After a few minutes of fiddling and cursing Willie managed to pop the door open and he headed into the cage, to his surprise Marta followed him right in... he didn't think she would go into the monkey cage! Willie and Marta stood in the middle and all of the monkeys backed away to the back of the cage to hide.

"Oh no! I don't think they like us Marta!" Said Willie as he squinted into the dark back half of the cage. 

"I dunno this little fella seems to like me!" Marta blurted out.

Willie spun around only to see that one of the monkeys was sitting right on the top of Marta's head playing with her hair. 

"Oh I like him! Can we keep him Marta?! I think he's gonna be my monkey!" Said Willie as he clapped his hands and walked over to pet the monkey.

"Well, we did come here for a monkey so I sure hope you keep him! Besides he seems quite friendly." Marta replied as she cranked her neck to the side to try and get a look at the monkey on her head.

"It's decided then! Lets go Marta! You can pick out his name on the way out of here... since he seems to be so fond of you!" Willie shouted as he turned and began to walk out of the cage.

Marta gave him a look that kind of said without using words 'You really expect me to just head back out of here with the monkey on my head?'. Willie took the hint and headed back over and plucked the monkey off of Marta's head and carried him like a baby as they headed back out to the zoo. 

They headed back down the path towards the front of the zoo where they had originally entered. As he walked and starred down at his monkey Willie got an idea.

"Hey Marta... this zoo seems a little small for an elephant doesn't it? I think we should go out the main gate! That way we can leave it open and the elephants can head out and have some more space!"

Marta looked towards Willie and gave him a smirk, it was something that she already thought about doing on their way out. Figured it would be a nice little surprise for the city to wake up to. Imagine the smiles it would put on people’s faces seeing an elephant or five walking down Michigan Avenue. Well would be either that or screams of terror, both of which could be equally as amusing. 

“You know Willie, I think that’s one of the best ideas you’ve had today and I truly mean that this time.” 

She could tell he wasn’t so sure if that was another sarcastic remark that had just came out of her mouth or not, so he questioned it.

”Uhm, seriously??” 

“Uhm, yeah absolutely serious. Now we just have to figure out how to get this gate opened.”

The pair stood there was a moment, as the monkey made a little squeaky noise. Marta looked over at Willie was was giving the monkey a bit of a scratch on the side of his head, which apparently hit just the right spot. It had only been a few minutes but with that squeak she knew them two had just bonded. 

Marta chuckled to the sight. “Willie one and Willie two, you guys make such a great pair.” 

Willie looked over at Marta and stuck his tongue out at her. “Don’t be jealous cause I’m not scratching your head Marta and Willie two is a dumb name. I told you that you have to name him but it has to be something good. Otherwise I’m just gonna do it myself.”

“Willie two wasn’t the name I was gonna call him, never mind... I’ll think of something good before we get back to your place. Though now we have to figure out how to get this gate opened.”

Marta took out her flashlight and turned it on, making sure the initial turn on was facing down. She didn’t want to be responsible for blinding Willie again or even worse scaring the monkey. She slowly brought the light onto the gate, there was one big lock but it wasn’t your normal lock it was a special one. One unlike any other she had seen before. 

“You know Willie, I don’t think my bobby pin will work on this lock. I wonder how they open this thing.” 

Willie stood there still scratching the monkey, he wasn’t really paying much attention but rather still engulfed with his monkey bonding time. With a shake of her head Marta took the beam of light and shone it back onto the lock. After a closer look it seemed there was some kind of cable attached to it that led right back into the security shack they first came in through. 

“Ah Ha, I bet you there’s a switch in that office. Willie, go check it.” 

He stood there oblivious to what she had just said.

”WILLIE!!!” 

“Huh, What?”

”You security shack, there should be a button in there some where.”

”Oh ok, I’ll go look.”

He took two steps towards the shack before Marta stopped him.

”It’s my turn to hold the monkey.”

Willie paused for a moments so Marta could walk over and get the monkey. As she got close the monkey let out an excited squeak and let out of Willie's arms into Marta's and curled up in a happy little ball.

"Whoa... he really like you! I'll be back, gonna find this gate button!" Said Willie as he turned around and headed into the security shack.

Willie wandered around the shack in the dark searching for a few minutes, realizing as he squinted in the dark that he really should have grabbed that damn flashlight from Marta. Then he saw the desk he had eaten the sandwich at earlier... that seemed to him like a place that might have a gate button. It was after clearly where Mr.Security Man hung out at night... when he was conscious. 

Willie took a seat in the chair at the desk and began to feel around and search for a button, then he saw it. There was a large red button on the wall right beside a window that looked out towards the gate. It was either an alarm, or a gate button, there was no label and Willie was worried he was gonna set off an alarm right when they had almost escaped. He decided he had better get Marta and see what she thought...

He headed over to the door and leaned out.

"Pssssst, Marta" He said, getting her attention and waving for her to follow him.

Willie headed back to the desk with Marta and the monkey close behind him. When they all got back to the desk he pointed to the button...

"Umm, you think that's for the front gate?" He asked scratching his chin as he spoke.

"Ah, probably?.. I say we press it. If its an alarm or something we can always high-tail it to the car anyways... its not that far from here!" She responded as she waited for Willie to make a decision. 

Willie hmm'd to himself for a few seconds before reaching across the desk and smacking the red button. Nothing seemed to happen right away and they both just starred out the window waiting to find out what they had just done. After about ten seconds of silence a steady beep began to come from out by the gate. Willie was convinced it was an alarm at first but then the gate began to slowly slide open.

"Oh thank god! I thought we were gonna have to run! Lets go Marta!" Willie yelled in excitement with a huge smile.

Willie, Marta, and the monkey headed out the shack and out the now open gate. They ran down the path back to where the car was parked and hopped in. Willie started the car as Marta and the monkey jumped in. The monkey oddly enough got in the back seat and sat down like a little human, Marta stayed in the passengers seat this time.

"Hmm... interesting..." Willie said to Marta while they both looked back at the monkey. 

Willie then sped out of the parking lot and back out onto the streets of Chicago as if he had just robbed a back or was being chased... blowing past several stop signs on the way out...

Marta rolled down the window, the wind rushed into the car as Willie sped through the streets. The monkey could be heard in the back seat squeaking at every sharp turn he was making. Though he still sat there in the back like a little person, it was almost as if he was previously owned. A household pet and was either donated to or confiscated to the zoo. 

She glanced back in the back seat and gave him a bit of a look before turning her attentions back to Willie.

”You know I’ve been giving this name thing some thought and I think I got it.”

Willie glanced over at Marta out of the corner of his eye making sure to keep enough of an eye on the road. 

“Oh? Do tell, do tell!”

He quick swerved to the right then to the left before slowing up into a parking spot on the street. They were back in front of his place, the zoo now a distant memory. 

“Roscoe!”

They both looked to the back seat as the monkey looked up towards them with a smile. 

“See, he already likes it. Roscoe, come here buddy.” Marta called for him. 

He quickly jumped up front and right onto Marta’s lap, at this point Willie couldn’t even argue the name of he wanted to. Willie nodded in agreement as he took out the remaining joint he didn’t smoke from earlier and gave it a light. He took a big puff and let out a sigh of contentment and offered it to Marta. 

“Come on celebrate with me Marta! Just one hit.”

She was a bit hesitant at first but Willies persistence paid off, as Marta took it from him. She hadn’t smoked one of these in forever and knew it would probably effect her to the max but it was all in celebration, right. She took the joint to her mouth and took a puff, tried to hold it in but began coughing and coughing hard. She passed it back to Willie who now was in a fit of laughter. 

“Shut it Willie, I’m not a professional like you.”

He took another puff and blew the smoke in her direction.

”You can say that again, care for another hit.”

Marta took it from him in a hurry and took a small puff, this time refraining from coughing. Though the contents hit her like a ton of bricks.

”What the hell is in that stuff?”

”Good stuff that’s all you need to know!” 

She looked at him and stuck her tongue out and kept it out as she began looking past him. She raised her finger up and pointed past him and began hysterically laughing. Willie gave her a strange look but had to look over his shoulder. He turned just as an elephant walked by the car, trumpeting from its trunk calling for its family members. 

The pair laughed and laughed for the next bunch of minutes until is slowly subsided. 

“Well either the elephant idea worked or this stuff is just that good. Anyways what’s next Marta, you gonna head back to Detroit?”

Without giving it any thought Marta blurred out the first thing on the top of her head. 

“I’m going to Vegas, I hear that place is a hell of a time. You wanna go with?”

”Vegas! Hell yeah, I’m so coming with you. Just remember, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas Marta.”

She looked at him with a confused look, she had no idea what he was taking about but one thing she did know was Vegas was in the future, the very near future.