From studying the comments, I discover that lots of people really like my Monkey Love Hot Sauce theme song. A few people think I shouldn’t be using a capuchin in my videos in case he gets hurt. (Frank getting stuck inside Mom’s bangle drew several negative comments from people who were worried about his safety.) But on the whole, most people seem to really like my channel.
In class the other day, Mr. Ennis talked about the pressure to always come up with something new, having to best yourself and make every video better than the last. “At first, I was just pulling things out of pictures and books,” he said. “Next thing you know, I’m climbing out of a mailman’s pocket to surprise my mom on Mother’s Day and jumping through subway cars without opening the doors.” First and foremost he talked about making sure what you do is safe. I always try to be safe with Frank—no matter what people might suggest in the comments.
All this thinking about Frank makes me miss him, so I head to the kitchen to take him out of his crate. Mom’s cleaning up after dinner then sits down at the table with us.
She reaches over to pat Frank’s head. “I thought Frank looked like he’s been putting on weight, so I took him to the office to weigh him. He’s gained three pounds in the past month—that’s a lot for a capuchin this size.”
I suddenly wonder about the caloric content of ketchup.
Frank leaves my arms and jumps into Mom’s.
“You’re not feeding Frank extra snacks, are you?” she asks me. “The woman at the foundation wants him to stay on a pretty specific diet.”
I tell her I feed him the chopped-up veggies and fruits we’re supposed to, along with his monkey pellets.
She holds Frank in front of her and talks to him in her baby voice. As a vet, she’s professional 99 percent of the time, but once in a while the kid inside her pops out and she lets herself be amazed by how cute all these animals are.
“Who’s putting on a little weight? Who is?” she coos to Frank.
Between Frank’s unpredicted weight gain and Mr. Ennis’s class coming to an end next week, it looks like I’ll only be able to film one more Frank video.
It’s got to be a showstopper.
RACE AGAINST TIME
My parents are next door at the Blakes’, which should hopefully give me enough time to film.
After my conversation with Mom about Frank’s weight yesterday, I decide to use something else besides ketchup and monkey biscuits to get him to go nutty over the bottle of hot sauce.
I take out the jar of mealworms from the cupboard where we keep Frank’s and Bodi’s food. But what should I put them in? Eureka! I place the dead worms in the mesh bag Mom uses for delicate clothes. Thankfully, the holes in the mesh are small enough to keep the worms inside. I hang the bag of worms and hot sauce from the dashboard of Mom’s treadmill like a piñata that Frank will try to grab. Frank is really going to have to work for his hot sauce today.
“Okay, buddy,” I tell him. “This is going to be fun.”
Frank’s as excited as I am and leaps onto the base of the treadmill. He immediately starts jumping to reach the bag. I lean over him to the dashboard and put the treadmill on its lowest setting. Frank doesn’t miss a beat, just takes tiny steps and begins to run.
This time I don’t use the tripod so I am able to move around and get some action shots that I’ll edit into a fast-paced scene. Frank is doing great! He continues to hop up during his jog, striving to get those worms. Would it be bad to let a few of them loose on the treadmill?
I open the bag and take out some mealworms, filming myself as I do it. I dangle them in front of Frank who starts running even faster, trying to grab the snack. As he’s about to, the worms fall out of my hand and roll into the guts of the treadmill.
A few dead worms can’t break a big piece of machinery, can they?
I scrunch up my face, waiting for the treadmill to come to a grinding halt, but it continues to move. To make sure it doesn’t get stuck, I raise the speed a little. Frank runs even faster so I increase the speed a little more.
The next noise I hear is the outside door, telling me my parents are home. I shut off the treadmill, grab Frank, and duck into my room.
I forgot the bag of mealworms and hot sauce!
From the sound of their voices, my parents are at the bottom of the stairs so I race back to the treadmill and untie the bag.
Come on, come on!
I don’t have time to snatch the several mealworms that fall on the rug as I race out of there.
Seconds later, Dad opens the door to my room. “You get all your work done tonight?”
I tell him I did.
“Why are you so out of breath? Exercising?”
He gives me a thumbs-up when I tell him yes.
Mom sticks her head in and tells me the Blakes say hello. When she sees Frank, she tells me to put him back in his crate. I tuck the bag of hot sauce and mealworms underneath my shirt and take Frank to the kitchen.
Frank seems exhausted
