I pulled my truck into Tod Henry’s driveway. Tod was sitting on his front porch. “Wyatt,” he called out, “How you doin’?”

“I’m doing good, Tod…” I said, staring around at all the animals running loose in his yard. “What are you doing, starting your own zoo?”
“Guess so,” he muttered.
“Damn, you must love animals.” There were ducks, dogs, cats, and I learned later birds, and fish.
“I hate ‘em
“Then why?,” I waved my arm at the animals. “Are these your wife’s pets?”
“Hell no!” he said, looking over his very thick glasses. “I bought ‘em.”
“Well…?”
“It’s a long story. A few weeks ago, the wife and I were thinking of buying a puppy. We went to that big pet store in the mall.”
“Galogies” I said.
“Yeah, the assholes. Anyway they had a large cage with a monkey in it. Poor little bastard was huddled against the back of the cage. I tried talking to him but he just sat there looking forlorn.” Tod removed his glasses and polished the thick glass with a hankie. “I suppose it was a little my fault.”