Ruth quickly took him in, straight to the bathroom, to scrub off all the dirt he wore as his “freedom coat.” Clean and smelling better, she took him to the kitchen and treated him to a nice ripe mango and some warm milk with a spoonful of sugar mixed in. This brought back sweet memories of how she loved him and took care of him. He had only plotted his freedom because of Colin’s harsh treatment at times.

However, there was one onlooker, Bertie, the squawking, talking grey parrot, who wasn’t fully convinced by this new development. Why would this monkey give up his freedom so willfully? What monkey business was afoot here? He was unable to find rhyme or reason in what he had witnessed. Funky Monkey (Jack) had to tread very carefully, as he now realized that he could fool the humans, but this bird would blow the whistle on him if he got wind of his true plans.

To gain an ally in the household, Jack befriended Felix the Persian Cat. Felix had been brought in from an animal shelter after Jack’s initial disappearance. It was difficult at first, as Felix felt his position as the number one pet was under threat. It’s said that fortune smiles on fools, yet in Jack’s case, it was fortune that favoured the brave. Felix was head over heels in love with a French Poodle named Marie-Claire, whom he often saw traipsing around the neighbourhood. Felix was also aware of Ginger the Alley Cat, who thought of himself and carried himself as the neighbourhood thug. He had come into their yard to warn Felix to stay away from Marie-Claire, as she was his. Jack, witnessing this incident, sprang into action and, without a moment’s hesitation, gave Ginger a good old monkey clout that sent him spinning like a top. As Ginger regained his senses (fully, I might add), he realized his predicament, and as valour is the better part of discretion, he scooted out of their property, all the boldness he had shown initially gone, replaced by fear for his life. Felix looked at Jack with newfound respect. This sealed their friendship. This friendship would be of great assistance to him when he planned his second escape.

Not long after that little incident, all went as planned; his mission began to get back on track. He gathered information he thought would be helpful to the jungle inmates, including his own troop, commonly called “A barrel of monkeys,” or as Leo sometimes said, “Not my circus, not my monkeys,” when the monkeys tended to be playful.

The day finally arrived for him to plan his second escape, which would go down in monkey lore as “The Great Escape.” Because this time, it wouldn’t be so easy. When Colin and Ruth left the house together, to ensure he stayed put, they kept him practically under lock and key. He was put into a cage that had been purchased for “protection,” they said, but in truth, it was for his captivity. He had watched carefully as they both had keys to his cage. Colin kept his key on his keyring, making it impossible to get hold of. Ruth, trusting Ruth, kept her key in a jar on the mantelpiece, where it could easily be “stolen” by him.

About four weeks after his return/recapture (depending on how you look at it), he finally saw his opportunity to acquire the Key to Freedom. Ruth was busy preparing Colin’s lunch in the kitchen and had left Funky Monkey to his own devices in the lounge. The “de-vice” he used was a stealing vice, taking the key out of the jar carefully (stealthily) so as not to make a sound and raise suspicion. He planned not to escape immediately but stuck around to enjoy his daily treats, and also to see their reaction when they discovered the key had gone missing. Clever monkey, with a brilliant strategy. When Ruth couldn’t find her key that evening to “lock him up for the night,” Colin lent her his key and said she had probably misplaced it and would find it on the morrow. It worked. They had in no way suspected any monkey business.

That night, it was as if the Animal Kingdom Gods were smiling on him. It was a dark, stormy night, ideal for covering his tracks. He stuck his hands through the jail bars, holding the lock with one hand and inserting and turning the key with the other. He had the natural long fingers of a pickpocket, or in this case, a lock picker. First, to the kitchen fridge to get some lovely red apples and a couple of rich yellow-skinned bananas for the journey.

Just as he was about to get to the door, Bertie the parrot woke up and quickly saw what had roused him. Assessing the situation, he started squawking, “He’s trying to escape again! Wake up! Jack is escaping again!” Before he could continue his outburst, Felix, who had also been awake and seeing Jack’s new predicament, sprang onto the table where the birdcage was and, in a silent whisper, told Bertie that if he didn’t stop immediately, he would make a meal out of him. Squawking stopped; danger was averted, and Jack could continue with his escape.

Turning the key in the back door lock, he snuck out and, within the blink of an eye, fearing discovery, was gone in a flash. As if to highlight his escape, a sudden flash of lightning streaked across the sky. The initial part of the escape was accomplished. He made his way down the road leading out of town that would eventually bring him to the Main Jungle Road, from where he could find a footpath that would take him off the beaten track to the true jungle edge. When the false dawn of morning lit up the skies and, by extension, the jungle, he finally felt safe. But without stopping to relax, he plunged even further and deeper into the jungle. It was late morning when he finally stopped to rest next to the Congo River, where he could slake his thirst and bite into one of the apples. One silly young crocodile, thinking of making a meal out of him, was attacked by some bigger Nile Crocodiles who knew that this monkey was to be protected at all times. Sadly, that young crocodile became the meal of the Nile crocodiles.

A few days later, weak and weary, Funky Monkey arrived at King Leo’s “throne room.” News had spread quickly about him pitching up on the Lion King’s “doorstep,” poetically speaking. It didn’t take long before a large group had gathered, all interested in the news he had to share about his “spying” expedition.