I could hear Woody inside the house.  He must have gotten over his quiet period and was warming up to Rhonda or, perhaps, Cromwell.  It sounded like he was doing his Dean Martin impression, which was fairly good, but I can’t imagine doing it in public. “I’m going over to the couch now.”
    I could hear Rhonda laughing, which was unfortunate because it would encourage him to continue.  Then I heard Woody talking baby talk, hopefully to Cromwell.  A couple of seconds later, they walked out onto the porch and Cromwell was sitting on Woody’s shoulder.
    “Looky here Coy, Jr., me and Lord Cromwell are buddies!  Yeah, we done kissed and made up.”  Woody was puckering his lips at Cromwell and scratching him with his good pointing finger.  It looked like the other hand had a bed sheet wrapped around it.  They must have used an entire roll of gauze.  If you didn’t know better, you’d think that his hand had been amputated at the wrist.  Cromwell appeared content sitting on Woody’s shoulder.  Like I said before, they must be able to communicate through some basic primal language.
    We sat around for awhile longer, Woody totally enamored with Cromwell.  He must have forgotten that he wanted to go out with Rhonda.  Not that it was ever going to happen, but it was strange that Woody wasn’t at the very least trying to make time with her.  The most amazing thing was that Rhonda acted like she was fond of Woody.  I was certain that she knew we were Povines.  That always mattered to most folks outside our “circle” of acquaintances. Really it was probably more like a bent up hula-hoop of acquaintances than a circle.  It appeared that Rhonda was as nice as Ilene.
    “Woody, we need to head on home I reckon.”  I stood up from the steps, and turned to see if he heard me.  Woody was sitting there with his eyes closed while Cromwell was inspecting his scalp.  Every so often, Cromwell would grab something with his fingers and poke it in his mouth.  It made my skin crawl to even want to think about what it could be.  Rhonda reached over and took the monkey from Woody’s shoulder.
    “Rhonda, if you ever need anybody to baby-sit Cromwell, all you got to do is let me know.  I think me and this fellow would have a blast.”  Although they got off to a shaky start, Woody was excited about his new friend.

          “You two sure did hit it off, I mean after he bit you.  He does seem to like you better than most folks,” Rhonda said.  “I hope your finger is okay.  Be sure to change the bandage often.”
    “Awright Coy, Jr., let’s hit the road.”  Woody stood up, stretched and got one more rub on Cromwell’s fur.
    “See you later Ilene.  Bye Rhonda.”  I squeezed Ilene’s hand a little before I let go and walked out onto the sidewalk.
    “See you Friday!” Ilene said just as I turned toward the street.  I cringed at the thought of what Woody was fixing to say.  But to my surprise, he just kept walking, not even giving me one of his grins.
    We had walked down to the corner and were about to cross the street when Woody finally asked, “What you and Ilene doing Friday?”
    “Oh, nothing.  We’re just going to the picture show.”
    “You gonna get your Daddy to drive you?”
    “I’ll get somebody to drop me off at Ilene’s and we’ll walk from there.”
    “Awright…you gonna get to meet her folks.  That’s important you know.”
    “Uh…yeah” I stammered.  I hadn’t even thought about that part.  I had never met her father.  Her mother had helped with some of our school class parties when I was a kid.  I remembered the valentine cookies she made were always hard as a rock and had that glittery sugar stuff on them.  I thought it was glass.  Ilene’s father worked at the hosiery mill, a mechanic or something.  I had seen him a time or two, but that was about it.  Never actually met the man.
    “Man, I sure do want a monkey like that Lord Cromwell.  You know Rhonda’s daddy named him that.  After the some history fellow what seized an island.  Lord protect us Oliver Cromwell, that’s his real name.  Did you know he was a squirrel monkey and she got him out of the back of an Archie & Jughead comic book?  Sixteen dollars and two dollars shipping.  And did you see how smart he was?”
    "Woody, he nearly bit your finger off.  What if he has rabies or something?”
    “Naw, he ain’t got no rabies.  I saw his tag from the doctor.  He was just getting used to me.  But it does hurt.  He bit it clear to the bone.”

    Woody held up his bandage and inspected it.  It was turning pink on the end from blood.
    “Woody, that thing is bleeding pretty bad.  What if you needed to go to the doctor with it?”
    “It is kinda throbbin’.  I’ll just take me some aspirin when I get to the house.”
    “Well hold it up higher than your heart and it will quit that throbbin’.  I slammed my hand in the car door once and I had to hold it over my head for two days.”  Woody raised his hand over his head and held it there as we walked.
    “It has quit throbbin’, but it still aches.  That bugger has got some teeth.  I learned one thing today.  Don’t never, ever point at no squirrel monkey."