The two organ-grinders and their monkeys operated at the opposite ends of the town.
As it happens, these men were twins. As far back as their schooldays, they always had two things in common. The first was their delight in fooling their teachers, and occasionally their parents, by swapping places; one pretending to be the other. Secondly, they both shared the unusual desire to become organ-grinders. Now, as men, both following their boyhood dreams, they give their street-side performances, one in the south, the other in the north. This they did in order to avoid poaching each other’s customers. It was not a lucrative business, but they were both happy with the arrangement and would regularly catch up at a café in the centre of town.
When this happened, they would secure their organs and bring their monkeys with them. The café owner was happy to have their animals sit quietly under their table so that other patrons were not inconvenienced. There, they would discuss their businesses and find out how they were doing.
The monkeys themselves were, in fact, twins. When the men had chosen them for their businesses, they were delighted to find that this was the case. For that reason, they had given each animal a short, yet similar name. As twins, the animals, like their owners, were hard to tell apart. It was only their coloured collars that indicated which was which. However, monkeys being monkeys, were themselves quite mischievous and would often swap their collars beneath the table!
It was while they were at one of these meetings that they began discussing the possibility of forming a partnership. They talked about having a legal contract drawn up, basically for tax purposes. They agreed that they would be better off if they were to form a business with them being equal partners. Each man would be his own business manager, with their monkeys listed as their assistants.
That being the plan, a highly respected and extremely professional business lawyer was chosen and contacted. Explaining their situation, it was confirmed that the two men, along with their animals, would attend the lawyer’s office on an agreed date and time to have the business contract drawn up.
It was there, in his office, at the point where the legal expert was identifying each manager and each assistant to be listed in the contract he was preparing, that something really awkward came up…