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travelling because she was let go out of work and I think she’s still upset about yer man legging it. So Susan said she’s gone off on a trip to get her head together or something. That’s it.’
    â€˜She’s gone travelling.’
    â€˜Yeah.’
    â€˜Ah that’s nice. Great. So … eh … so, where’s she off to then?’
    â€˜You have no fucking idea who I’m talking about, do you?’
    â€˜I’m trying me best Jimmy for fuck sake. I remember the car.’
    â€˜You never even saw the car! If there was one. Christ. Forget about it. It doesn’t matter.’
    Aesop relaxed and took up his coffee. Thank fuck that was over. Jimmy got all excited sometimes and Aesop would have to weather the storm till he got it out of his system and calmed down. Anyway, how are you meant to remember every single girl in the world you ever met or talked to or rode?
    â€˜So what were Dónal’s new band like,’ he said. ‘What are they called? Feet?’
    â€˜Leet. Yeah, they’re pretty good actually. Y’know who they reminded me of? The Stranglers. Take something like The Killers, right? Add a big keyboard sound like The Doors and a bit of ska. They sound like that. Y’know what I mean?’
    Aesop had his face scrunched up.
    â€˜The Killers, Stranglers and the Doors. And ska.’
    â€˜Yeah.’
    â€˜I’ll have to take your word for it Jimmy, at this hour of the morning. The Stranglers were fucking deadly, but.’
    â€˜Add more Killers.’
    â€˜Not Coldplay though?’
    â€˜No. I don’t know where Dónal got that from. They’re not whingy like that.’
    â€˜Thank fuck.’
    â€˜Anyway, they’re good. Catchy. Man, they’ve got some tunes.’
    â€˜Do they know a bass player?’
    â€˜Ah shite. Forgot to ask them. I’ll ask them the next time. So c’mere, did you find anything when you were out shopping for your new den of iniquity yesterday?’
    â€˜Nah. Actually, I went to the zoo instead.’
    â€˜Dublin Zoo?’
    â€˜No, Jimmy. One of our many other zoos.’
    â€˜But what was in the zoo?’
    â€˜Monkeys. Well, buff-cheeked gibbons.’
    Jimmy just looked at him and said nothing.
    â€˜Y’see, I read in the paper last week that one of them had a baby about two months ago and that this week would be the first week it’d be on display.’
    â€˜So … what, you brought Phil’s kids?’
    â€˜No. They have football on Saturdays, sure. I just went on me own.’
    â€˜What? Why for fuck sake?’
    â€˜Man, monkeys are brilliant. Them fuckers make me laugh. The buff-cheeked gibbons don’t use their legs. They just swing out of trees, the cages, ropes. Like Tarzan, y’know? It’s amazing. They lash around the place, just swinging from arm to arm, and they never fall. The speed of them. And the baby, his name’s Jai, was hanging onto his mammy for dear life and her pissing around the cage being chased by the daddy. I think he was after some sweet monkey love, but she was probably still sore from Jai and she wasn’t having any of it. He ended up giving Jai a smack on the head and then went off into a corner to sulk. It was brilliant. You should see them.’
    Jimmy shook his head.
    â€˜I don’t believe you.’
    â€˜Which part?’
    â€˜All of it. You reading the newspaper for starters.’
    â€˜Sure, I go to the zoo every few weeks to look at the monkeys and chill.’
    â€˜On your own?’
    â€˜Yeah!’
    â€˜Since when?’
    â€˜I’ve been doing it for months now!’
    Jimmy just sighed. He probably shouldn’t have been surprised. Aesop had a thing for funny animals. He went to see ‘March of the Penguins’ about five times when it came out and was probably the first person in Dublin to buy it on DVD. He’d come home from the pub, roll a big spliff and then