Playing in the garden to give the illusion of independence while Mom casually reads on the porch gives the child a feeling of overwhelming joy. Especially when, after a mischievous glance, they slip around the corner to sneak into the kitchen and beg for a cookie without their grandmother knowing. That day, they come across a very sad sight: a monkey lying on the ground, its chest crushed and covered in sticky blood.
The swarm of buzzing flies and the animal's immobility intrigue the child, who approaches to observe it. They hear their grandmother shout, “Don't touch it, my big baby!”
She came out with the cook, red-faced and displeased. Clearly, they had just had an argument, but since she always had the last word, even with her terrible husband, the man reluctantly bent down and picked up the stiff game to prepare it. The flies scatter with a buzzing thunder. The grandfather, in his habit of shooting all kinds of animals to feed the household or enrich his trophy collection, has just made a mistake. But he is not there at the moment, and mending fences is not his wife's style.
Throughout Africa, there are animals that are naturally protected by certain ethnic groups, either for their usefulness or for the real or imagined powers attributed to them. Who would believe that the ugly marabou stork, with its ridiculous big beak and long, wrinkled, hideous neck, scavenger of the savannah, represents wisdom? There is a remarkable constant among many of the peoples living on the edge of the forests of Central Africa: monkeys are little brothers—or cousins—of humans.
The disgruntled cook belongs to a tribe that respects primates. He feels the death of the little creature is a crime, and having to prepare it as the main course drives him crazy. Now his mistress, a good Antwerp woman ignorant of these customs, threatens him with reprisals if he does not comply! Furious, holding the animal at arm's length, he walks past the little boy and spits through his teeth: “And you, are they going to eat you too?” He disappears behind the house to skin it, and the mistress of the house returns to the kitchen. Surprised by this hostile attitude, he returns on his stomach to take refuge between his mother's legs. As often happens, he slips under her skirt and leans on her suddenly bare thighs while the young woman pushes him away: “Be careful!”
The situation is less embarrassing than at the bridge club, when he was frightened by a big, intrusive, drooling dog. Similarly, he had robbed his mother under the delighted gaze of the gentlemen sipping their whiskey. The most mocking, a bit of a flirt, very eager, had come to lift up the frightened child to reassure him. In doing so, he had pulled up the ruffles of the long dress, allowing everyone to immortalize the sight of the Major's daughter in her panties, blushing like a schoolgirl.
When evening came, the assembly sat down at the table as usual, the little one already in bed. Grandmother waved a brass bell that made a tinkling sound, and the kitchen door opened quietly. The impassive Black man carried the silver platter on which he had placed the monkey surrounded by an ellipse of small onions. He had left the head on and arranged it in a fetal position, resting on its forearms and shins. He had kept the hands and feet too. The flesh remained quite red despite being cooked. The rear end pointed upwards. The resemblance to a newborn baby is terrifying. Total silence reigns in the room as the ceremonious and icy cook places the fruit of his labor in the center of the table.
It is said that the Major blushed, not with anger, as was often the case, but with embarrassment.
At that moment, he understood the mistake he had made with one of his devoted servants. He had been in his service for years and knew the customs of his ethnic group. He forgot one of them when he slaughtered the animal. No one dared touch the victim, either out of disgust or respect, and it was buried discreetly at the bottom of the garden, decorated with small polished pebbles. The grandson learned that under no circumstances should he touch these smooth, tempting spheres! The soldier regained his cook's favor shortly thereafter by planting a rose bush on the mound himself.