GO-AWAY MONKEY
“A monkey! A monkey!” a handful of broken children cried as they stumbled along the raised embankment, heading toward the town’s center.
A monkey?
Okappa, trapped beneath the weight of the vile man Fuhaku, puzzled at why they were so excited. The animals weren’t uncommon. They snuck into town all the time in search of food or to misbehave. What was so special about this particular monkey?
Fuhaku groaned and another group of townspeople, wheezing and dragging withered limbs, scuttled by. Not one of them—not the children or the adults—noticed Okappa and the noisy man struggling in the freshly cut, still-wet rice field below.
Why didn’t he finish already? Okappa squirmed and bucked under the man’s sweaty weight. But he only chuckled, got a better grip on her long hair, and
