“Speak to the monkey nicely," Nico says. "With love and tenderness."
Max looks like he wants to strangle Nico. But Chloe tugs on his hand.
"It might work, Max,” she says. "Be nice to the monkey."
Max approaches the monkey again and holds out his hand. "Can I have my phone back?"
"Say please," Nico suggests.
"Please, you little rascal," Max says.
The monkey swings its long tail.
Nicotskshis disapproval. "They're smarter than you think. They can feel that you're being disingenuous."
The monkey watches all of this unfold with Max's sunglasses perched on his nose. I can't say for sure, but it looks like he's smirking down at us.
"Please, sweet monkey," Max says. "I have a very important business call to attend to later. I need my phone back.”
"Monkeys don't care about business calls, Max," Nico says.
"Please refrain from speaking if you don't have anything helpful to say," Max replies.
"Try saying more nice things to the monkey," Nico suggests.
"It took my phone and my sunglasses," Max says. "I don't have anything nice to say right now."
"Open your heart chakra," Nico says. "Feel the love that's pulsing through you."
Max inhales sharply. Chloe squeezes her husband’s shoulder and mouths, “Please stop,” to Nico.
"You're such a pretty monkey," Max says. "Your hair is the color of golden sand dunes. Your eyes glitter like they're made of stars. Please be a good monkey and return my phone to me.”
The monkey tilts his head to the side.
"I think you offended it by calling it pretty," Nico says. "It's clearly a boy monkey."
"Does it fucking matter?" Max asks.
"With that attitude, you can forget about your phone,” Nico says. "You haven't learned your life lesson yet."
I can’t help but giggle. "Why are you so mean to him?"
Nico smirks as he watches Max. “This is fun. We should all hang out more often.”
Chloe joins the negotiation, crooning about what a handsome monkey he is.
Nico snaps his fingers together. “I just remembered something. These monkeys take bribes."
He opens the zipper of his crossbody bag and pulls out a ripe mango from inside. He walks to the ledge and holds it out. The monkey instantly climbs down and gingerly takes the mango from his hand. He plucks the sunglasses from his eyes and throws them near Max's feet.
Max mutters something under his breath as he picks it up.
"And the phone?" Max asks.
"Patience, my friend," Nico says.
"I'm not your friend," Max says.
