Part
1: Opice Loose in the Science Lab
Planetarium,
porcupine, plasma lamp, light prison. Many "P" things to play
with.
Part
2: "Houston, you have a problem!"
Space
suit, space helmet, spacecraft, space walk, space-case. Once again Opice
proves he's a Luna(r)tic.
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Monkey loves this toy, altho when Nikola Tesla invented it in 1894 it was no toy. He called it the Inert Gas Discharge Tube and used the scientific instrument to study high voltage. Decades later it's various forms became a common prop in Sci-Fi movies. Today it's called a Plasma Lamp or Sphere or Globe or Ball or Dome or Orb or oops. "I didn't do it," Monkey says running away. |
We stick Opice inside this light cage, except it doesn't take long before he turns his punishment into funishment. "I can make all the colors of the rainbow from the three lamps lighting this exhibit. That's because they are: RED, GREEN, and BLUE. Those are light's primary colors. "Wanna learn more? Me neither." |
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We pull Opice out of the light display because it's time for him to meet J.R. They have a mutual friend who invited Monkey to the museum today. Her name is Judy P. (another P plaything!). One of her jobs here is to work with the animals.
"That's me all over!" Monkey declares. "Me and J.R. are gonna be stickin' tight." He has a sudden thought. "If a person who works with cattle is a cowpoke, is a person who works with J.R. a porcupine-poke?"
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Judy told Monkey it was ok to bring J.R. a small snack to share as a friendship gift. Opice researched what J.R. likes and learned porcupine facts. That means we're in for some bad schooling from him. Opice starts lessoning us, "The porcupine is not a 'spiny pig' like the Romans named it in Latin [porcus + spina = hog + spine]. Nor is it a 'porpentine' like the Ghost told Hamlet in Shakespearian. You'd think a ghost would know it's a rat's cousin becuase rats and ghosts are spozed ta be buddies. Maybe just at Halloween. "Anyway, they don't throw their quills. They're not aggressive. They like corn on the cob and so do I." Cursor the pix to see him eat. |
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Monkey
continues, "The hedgehog is not a  |
porcupine. It's not a rodent, neether. Many people like them more than they do porcupines because they make better pets and you can pet them. That's cuz their quills don't come out. But that's no reason to like them better than J.R. "Besides, in fairytales hedgehogs steal apples by carrying them away on their backs. Well, I can tell you that's a myth and stealing is wrong. I should know, all the times I got caught with an apple." |
| After meeting J.R., Judy takes Monkey into the planetarium. She's giving a star show in the middle of the day! Already the room is getting dark like dusk, or would that be dusky like twilight? [Oh, I shouldn't have said that.] "Too late," Opice is twitching with laughter inside. "We're entering the Twilight Zone! DO-do-DO-do! DO-do-DO-do!..." |
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Judy is also the museum's planetariumer sometimes. "We go back years," he tells the people around him trying to listen to her presentation. "We have common ancestors."
Then some stupid guy took a flash photo of the show and nobody could see nothing for a long time. |
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