Harper learns hope the way children learn language: by repetition, imitation, and the reassurance of return. Her father’s monkey business is a ritual of return. He is not a criminal; he is a conjurer of small disruptions. A rubber monkey that appears tucked in a book, a sock puppet that stages an impromptu protest at bedtime, a paper airplane inscribed with nonsense poetry—each device interrupts anxiety with laughter. These interruptions are portable because they require nothing more than imagination and two hands; they are tools to move the heart from fear to possibility.