Okay, I give up on the novel. Jeff McNeil called with more information about the castaway chimp of Henderson Island. It began to seem much more fun to "blog" about the castaway chimp of Henderson Island than to rewrite some stupid novel. You should hear Jeff speculate on the chimp and his human buddy! It reaffirms my dream of publishing an oral history of Jeff talking about things he finds on the "internet." Here are some highlights, as I recall them: the time the chimp was refused the right to march in a Bastille Day parade; the time the man had to be restrained by several fire hoses in order to keep him away from his chimp; the man's exaggerated claims about the specialness of his chimp; rumors of the chimp's variety act in 1960s San Francisco... and according to Jeff, these details merely scratch the surface. He's been "Googling" the man and the chimp all day long. By "clicking" on this highlighted "link" you can start your own journey of discovery re: the chimp. Not since the talking mongoose from the Isle of Man has the "blog" been so excited about a strange animal on an island. By the way, Jeff and I hereby claim the rights to film the chimp story, preferably starring the ghost of Bob Hope as the chimp's resourceful human friend. (Pictured, some other chimp feeding a baby.)
