Once widowed, Regina Howler wished to return to her life prior to marriage. Life was unwieldy and unnatural without her prehensile tail, as any monkey would agree.
From birth, her parents, as ascending members of the Amazonian gentry, wished to make use of this fortuitous daughter. They conditioned her for a specific nubility. Marrying Regina into the Old World Monkeys could be arranged for the token dowry of a bushel of bananas and equated to at least a few rungs on the social ladder.
She underwent etiquette lessons at charm school; Regina was to become a lady of manners. She effortlessly managed the china-clattering tea trays with her dexterous paws and the capricious codes of conduct with her simian whimsy. The game amused her: Sir this, madam that, tuck this, fold that, curtsy, wipe, blush, fan, so on. She performed her role as a woman impeccably. The final niggling detail, her tail, was snipped and its absence sutured.
Her parents found her a real Man named Roy Human, a son of an affluent if eccentric family. He was as hairy as a bonbon dropped in a barbershop; And as laconic as one too, for a creature blessed with a tongue articulate enough for speech.
The wedding ceremony was typical. The honeymoon was typical. Their love was typical. Even their household was once typical.
Despite his heritage, Roy was no nincompoop. If the bride's family did not imply Regina's species, her idiosyncrasies left no question. He knew he'd married a monkey. In the private comfort between spouses, matrimonial trust allowed to her live without acting. She scratched readily at fleas, salvaged melon rinds from the rubbish, dangled from the balcony's balustrades, masturbated as nonchalantly as one picks a scab. Then she broke loose and claimed the neighbors' homes for Roy by deed of urine.
Roy retorted as an ape, with heavy brow and heavier fists. He embarked on a campaign of brutality his family was historically known to relish. When Regina took refuge at upon the chandelier, Roy fetched his ladder from his toolshed. When Regina threw fists, Roy wrapped his thumb around her wrists. Alas, she was no match for him and endured his savage discourse until Alzheimer's left him knowing not whom nor what nor why he was to abuse.
He died. It is known a widow remains after the death of Man. Her marriage to Man took her tail, but did not return it even in death; She relinquished the wedding ring, Roy's home, the neighbors' urine-claimed homes, the abitrary behavioral regimens, and his endearing battery.
She went on as a monkey without her tail.
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