A Tale of Two Chimps: Part 1

What a traumatic news-cycle this week has been for our nearest living relations within the animal kingdom. I keep thinking of all those baby chimps out there, in their wittle diapers and parked in front of some TV somewhere, maybe an ice cream cone in hand... and maybe at this very moment one of them is watching that endlessly looped clip of the gunned-down Crazed Chimp of Connecticut... the lifeless chimp body being dragged away by his police executioners... Heartrending, just heartrending.

But the backstory of the Crazed Chimp of Connecticut? Enough good material there to write a Greek tragedy. Or two. The "mother" stabbing her own "son." The imploring death-gaze that seems to ask, "Why Mom? Wwwhyy?" The weeping mother looking on as her son's lifeless body is carried away. It's an embarrassment of Greco-dramatic riches, really.

And I'm seeing made-for-TV movie potential here, people. Think: E! Television Original Movie. If you don't see how this story has the elements for the True Hollywood Stories genre yet, well then consider:

1) The once bright career in Show Business. Yup. Travis was a veteran of TV commercials--perhaps you saw him in ads for Coca-Cola and Old Navy. But then he got old and his cuteness waned and the work dried up. That's Show Biz.

2) The Codependent Relationship. If Mommy has a cup of tea, then Travis has a cup of tea. If Mommy needs a glass of red wine every night to chase away the emotional pain, then Travis needs a glass of red wine every night to chase away the pain. If Mommy likes to pop a Xanax from time to time, then Travis--well, you get the idea.

3) The Drugs, the Alcohol. 'Nuff said.

And the moral of this story? Stop anthropomorphizing. Someone could lose a face. Not to mention a life.
Part 2 of "A Tale of Two Chimps" to follow...