Sam & Irene

Irene the Ibex was hanging around the Himalayas back when Vandalia was still the capitol of Illinois. She skipped from rock to rock occasionally slipping on the ice there. The drops below were sometimes several thousand feet but Irene was non-plussed. She never slipped far.
Irene used to enjoy dancing in the supper clubs them crafty old Ibexes set up for the purpose of getting the younger ones together for mating. There was a time when everybody including Ibexes was thinking they were getting entirely too rare.
Irene met a goofy Ibex named Sam. He wasn’t so good looking but he danced all right, and could carry on a half-ways decent conversation.
They went for a long walk and Irene was surprised when Sam pulled out a bottle of rice wine he got off a couple traveling Mongolian monks.
“Where the heck did you get that?”
“I traded it for some belly hair.”
“What?”
“You heard me: those naked apes are as weird as they come.”
They laughed and drank the whole thing. It wasn’t long before they were laying down together side by side. Irene smiled at Sam. Sam smiled back.
“Shall we become lovers?”
Sam turned red under his fur, but managed to stammer, “if you want to...”
It was obvious she wanted to, but like I said Sam was goofy. This added to his charm in Irene’s eyes.
Irene sang him a little song to put him at ease.
About half way through it Sam realized he was in love and lucky. Irene was quite the looker.
“What do you see when you see me?” He asked suddenly about three months after that.
Irene looked up from her meal of grass and sweet flowers. “I see my Ibex.”
Sam nodded, turning a nice shade of crimson.
There aren’t too many Ibexes to this day, but fortunately there are still plenty like Irene who go for more than just good looks.
Lucky for them male naked apes, too.