Flash Fiction · Historical · Humour
Jack
"A buffoon?"
"No sir, a baboon."
"A monkey?"
"Yes sir."
"You hired a monkey to be the signalman?"
"9 years without incident sir."
"A train just derailed."
"Annual leave sir."
"A buffoon?"
"No sir, a baboon."
"A monkey?"
"Yes sir."
"You hired a monkey to be the signalman?"
"9 years without incident sir."
"A train just derailed."
"Annual leave sir."
Umar Shahid is a writer and artist based in Doha.
Jack was a real baboon who worked as a signalman's assistant on the Cape Government Railways in South Africa in the 1880s. He never made an error in nine years of service.