On his third day of traveling Yinney started curving his way around, making a rather slow but large turn back towards his 7th Day Tree. He did not want his return trip to be a repeat of territory he already traveled. The large turn would set him on a new course.
He was very happy about meeting Capy the capybara. A connection had been made and he was sure Capy would show up at his tree to learn more about The Great Way of Christ. But what would today bring? He would spend this day making the arching curve, and then the next three days would be directed towards his tree. Hopefully he would find another to connect with on the way, but he had to be back to his tree by the seventh day, because he would need to poo!
It was growing late in the day when it happened. He was settling in for the night after finding a very cozy fork in a tree. It had been a long day of travel and he was weary from it all when the long-armed, long legged, long-tailed spider monkey just happened to swing into him!
“Yikes!” the dark monkey screamed, instantly leaping away. “I did not see you there!” he shouted from a nearby branch.
“Yes, that happens a lot,” Yinney said.
The monkey had nothing to fear from a sloth and so decided not to flee, curiosity getting the better of him. “Are you new to the area?” he asked.
“Yes, my tree is located at this end of the lagoon, and I have only begun to seek community in the neighborhood. I am a spiritual teacher of the Hebrew writings. Are you familiar with them?”
“No,” the monkey said and added, “I never had much use for religious stuff. This is all one big freak accident we’re living. I’m an accident. You’re an accident. And when I die it’s over. I’ll never even know the accident happened. That’s my philosophy.”
“I see,” said Yinney. “I’m sorry your life is one big accident that will not even be remembered, and everything you do means nothing.”
“Yes, it is very sad,” the monkey agreed. “Life is very sad without meaning. I fully expect to wake up from sleep one night to find myself wrapped in a huge anaconda, who will slowly proceed to swallow and slowly digest me.”
Yinney did not know what to say. Such a bleak outlook on such an amazing creation that almost certainly could not happen by accident, but he could tell the spider monkey was of a made-up-mind, and now was not the right time to press.
“My name is Yinney. You should visit me at my tree. We could share a meal together.”
“That sounds nice, my name is Kujo,” the monkey shared, but then seemed to have an idea. “You should talk to Bubba.”
“Who?” Yinney asked.
“Bubba,” Kujo repeated. “Bubba the Buddhist, I call him. He’s a Howler monkey that lives in a group of rubber trees very close to the path your taking back to the lagoon. He likes to talk religious stuff, but not the same as yours.”
Yinney lit up when Kujo said Buddhist, “Buddhism! I’ve studied that belief system! It is remarkable what the Buddha taught considering he lived long before Christ, and there was no New Covenant. Even the Hebrews were lost in living a bunch of laws at that time. Considering all things, I always found the Buddha way very interesting. I would love to talk to Bubba! You say a grove of rubber trees?”
“Yes,” the monkey confirmed, and further explained how to find it. Then he looked about rather worried how late it was getting. “I got to go now. I need to get back to my safe place before dark. Sleeping in strange places always gives me nightmares of being swallowed by a giant snake. Good to meet you, Yinney. I’ll see you around.” And away he went leaping and swinging through the trees as if they were solid ground to him.
“A Buddhist?” Yinney repeated. “Oh, this is very interesting!” he thought, just before closing his eyes and falling into a very tired sleep.
Waking the next morning he started his day with his morning worship song and prayer. He asked the All-Creator to order his steps and arrange a meeting with Bubba. After his sacred prayers were finished, he slowly ate a leaf and began on his way. It was in God’s hands what would happen this day.
The continuing story of “Yinney the Sloth who needed to Poo” is the property of Don Allen and Fellowship of the White Path.
Path Without End 