Blame it on the monkey!

As a part of the assignment for one of the English subjects, my students had to attend a mock job interview and had to have me as their interviewer. My students, all smartly dressed for the interview, entered the room according to the slots which I have allocated earlier. As I entertained one student after another, in comes a student who, I would consider, is normally quite shy in the class. He calmly placed his clear folder on my table and waited for my permission to sit. I noticed that he was very nervous so I flashed him my smile. I instructed him to sit and asked him to fill in some forms. While he was busy writing down his particulars, I took the opportunity to go through his clear folder. I smiled contently as I flipped through the pages to see his certificates all arranged in chronological order. "Good!", I said, breaking the silence. I continued to check his file when all of a sudden, I noticed that some of his primary school and secondary school certificates were all torn and damaged. I was shocked to see that some looked like they have been glued together. I quickly looked up to only catch my student gazing at me. The student gave me a blank look, expecting me to say something. Instantly, out of curiosity, I asked him to explain the cause behind what had happened? Without any expression on his face, he blurted the word, monkey! "A monkey?", I asked...what do you mean?" I looked at him and expected him to elaborate. He continued, "a monkey went into my room and did that". Indeed I was astonished. A feeling of sympathy quickly filled my heart as I quickly asked, "do you have wild monkeys near where you stay?" The student kept quiet. I thought he did not hear my question so i repeated it to him. He looked at me and while still maintaining his composure...he finally said..."No, Madam...the monkey is my pet!" Upon hearing his explanation, I did not know how to react nor what to say. A part of me felt sorry for him while another part of me felt like laughing. Only God knows how deep inside me...I gave out my loudest laugh. I am, in a way, thankful for having this as a part of my teaching experience.