The Monkey's Jaw

Once upon a time, there was a stuffed toy monkey. Everyone always said
there was something eerily real about it, but they couldn't say what. 
It wasn't the fur, because it was too carpet-like, and it wasn't the
insides, which were too soft to be muscle and bone. There was
something about its mouth that was creepy. The children knew what it
was, but they would never tell because nobody would believe them. They
were not afraid because although it had a violent history, the present
state of the monkey had a certain beauty, a charm that drew the
children to it. The children believed in magic, and where there was
magic, the blurred line between the sacred and the demonic overlapped,
left to the discretion of the user. The children were quite an odd
bunch. There were three of them, and they kept to themselves. The
other children in the neighborhood were told to stay away from them. 
"They are the devil's spawn. Watch their diabolical smiles, evil lurks
within them," it was often said about the children. But the children
did not mind. They had a secret. The monkey was always taken on all
their outings. One day, as the children were building a sand castle,
they heard a sound coming from the monkey's mouth. Immediately, their
faces brightened as they prepared for the moment. The children picked
up the monkey, one child holding the monkey head, one holding the feet,
and the other holding the back. From within the still inanimate
monkey, movements began. The jaw of the monkey began to move, as if
the monkey was chewing gum. Then, the fabric around the mouth of the
monkey tore open, and a real monkey's jaw flew out. Three monkeys with
wings appeared and chiseled the jaw into a crown. The monkeys would
fade in and out of visibility, and each monkey had a strong resemblance
to each child. The monkeys screamed as they held the chiseled jaw
crown and the children wept. The children and the monkeys held hands
and the smallest monkey placed the crown on the head of the smallest
child. The monkeys flapped their wings and flew away, and the smallest
child began to sing softly. The monkey's jaw brought tremedous joy to
the children, but the joy had a constant haunting reminder of the pain
of the monkeys. Eventually the children grew, and the jaw was covered
with stickers and paint. It was forgotten and was thrown into a box. 
The three winged monkeys came again. They appeared at the side of each
child's bed. They screamed, as that was all they could do, but this
time, the children were afraid. They had forgotten the secrets and had
lost the magic. The haunting memory of the monkeys remained, but the
joy brought by the magic of the jaw was gone.


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