minot - chapter six
the search for Billy

at this point in the trip, it was time for me to move up to north hill and stay at my dad's house.


here they are sitting around chatting it up. that's my grandma in the middle.

she just moved to minot a few days before after living her entire life in Pittsburgh, PA. it's pretty great to have her around.

later that evening, my brother connor had a soccer game.

here's the two local news channels covering the game. KMOT and KX13 i believe....

there was halftime entertainment in the form of...

a drum line! it was actually pretty great.

minot high was playing bismarck century. the score ended up being 4-2, minot.

take that state capitol!

in case you were wondering, my little brother (who is now 6'2") played very well. it was a lot of fun to watch.



the next day, i decided that it was time to go look for Billy the monkey.

my first job after graduating from high school was being a zookeeper at the zoo in minot. i don't know how i lucked into it, but it was by FAR the greatest and most fun job that i ever had. (still to this day, actually)

anyways, there's this story that i tell (a lot) about when the spider monkeys, led by their prickish leader Billy, tricked me and attacked me through the fence.

it was a very embarrassing moment in my blossoming zookeeping carreer, and i never forgave that little sassy Billy.

i wanted to go and pay him a visit to see if he still remembered me. and maybe make him feel bad about being such a jerky little monkey.

i decided that i was going to go see all of the other animals first. you know, save Billy for last.

so...

here's me and one of the bears.

these guys have been here since i was a kid. they are awesome.


here are the gibbon apes posing all sexy for the camera.

when i worked there, there was only one little fellow in this cage. his name was Banger, and he was absolutely batshit insane.

there were rumors that the zoo had gotten him from a testing lab somewhere and somewhere along the way, he had eaten his own toes off. to make matters worse, his mate had died years before and he was incredibly depressed (they mate for life apparently).

he got his name because he would bang/punch himself super hard in the head whenever he got worked up.

even with all of this, i really liked him. he tried to kill me (and any other males) whenever he got the chance, but i still felt so bad for him that i would sneak him extra bananas.

but now he is gone, replaced by a much more subdued couple.

after the lions, tigers, deer, etc., i came upon the parrots.

we chatted for a long time. i forgot how hilarious and bizaare it is to hear birds say words. i just kept laughing and laughing at/with them.

luckily the zoo was pretty empty.

next to these guys are the camels.

i think that the one with her head up is Louise. that would mean that the other one is the male that chased me around the pen one day when he was cranky. i had to climb this chain link fence to get away from him, but in the process, he spit all over me.

it was really gross.

i can't remember his name, but i still think he's a jerk.

across from the camels are the giraffes.

i was the giraffe keeper when i worked there. this meant that i had to let them out (through that big red door) every morning, clean up their house, feed them, and then bring them back in at night. it was amazing. especially since i was only 18 years old at the time.

soon after the giraffes, i found myself over in the petting zoo area.


me and a sheep. i felt bad because i didn't have any money to buy him treats.

after seeing the new seals that they have now, i wandered back to find my primate nemesis.


i passed mr. bear again along the way.

and then, suddenly, there it was...

the infamous spider monkey cage.

i was now ready to sass the monkey.

except that now, instead of a cage full of 20 females and 1 irate male (Billy), there was only this:

two cute siamang gibbons getting all cuddly with each other.

what??

the zoo already has gibbons, so i have no idea why they replaced the infinitely more entertaining spider monkeys with these guys.

i couldn't believe it. it was the most anti-climactic moment ever.

i tried to find one of the current zookeepers to ask if they knew what happened to Billy, but no luck.

he's gone.

but his legacy lives on.
in the form of my fear of monkeys.