I was walking with Max today around lunchtime in the fenced-off area behind the lab. It’s starting to get too chilly for Max to stay outdoors for long, even at noontime; chimpanzees can be very susceptible to colds and lung infections.
“So I’ll be away for six months or so,” I was saying to Max.
Max knuckle-walked alongside me, then swung up onto his favorite tree. I smiled at him. He needs the exercise. The kids that take care of the animals never give Max enough exercise time.
“I’ve got to go away for a while,” I said out loud as I signed, Cassie go away.
Max waggled one hand from up in the tree branch: No. No.
“You will miss me, won’t you?” I said to him. “I’ll miss you, too.”
You stay, Max signed. You good.
My eyes filled with tears. I wanted to clamber up there next to him and give Max a good hug. But one of the caretakers might see; they made enough crude jokes about the two of us already. And sometimes Max forgot how much stronger he was than me; he had bruised my ribs more than once.
They just don’t understand. None of them do. I know that Max isn’t human. I’m not crazy or weird or anything like that. But Max is trusting and loving in his own way. He’s loyal. He doesn’t run out on you because you’ve got cancer. He doesn’t go off with some other woman the day you enter the hospital for radiation and chemotherapy.
“There you are!”
I turned and saw Darrell Walters striding busily up the concrete walk that meandered along the grassy enclosed yard; old “Uncle Darrell,” lean, lanky arms and legs pumping away, a stern expression on his long-jawed face.
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” Darrell said.
I felt a surge of annoyance. I have a right to spend my lunch hour wherever I want to, I grumbled to myself.
“I need your help on this analysis that O’Neill and his technicians are trying to do. They’re getting bogged down. They need somebody with your fine touch for these things.”
I looked up at Darrell. He wasn’t teasing, not being sarcastic. He meant exactly what he said.
“What’s their problem?” I asked.
Darrell glanced up at Max, who was watching us from his tree with sad brown eyes. “It’s this nerve-regeneration experiment they’re running for Arthur. They’re trying to do an analysis of the chemical pathways between neurons and they’re swamped with all kinds of spurious signals.”
With a resigned sigh, I signed good-bye to Max. He shook his head, a very human gesture.
Darrell was so much taller than I that I had to crane my neck to look up at him as we started back toward the lab. I asked him, “What equipment are they using?”
“Come on back to Zack’s lab. He can show you the whole setup.”
As we came up to the building’s rear door I stopped and said, “Darrell, I want you to look out for Max while I’m gone.”
“Me?” He looked startled.
“Please.”
“But the caretakers—”
“They don’t exercise him enough. They don’t give him any special attention. Max needs companionship. He’s not a lab rat or a minihog. He’s practically human!”
Darrell just stood there, looking upset.
“And it’s starting to get colder. It’s going to be winter soon. Max catches cold easily, you know. You’ve got to look out for him.”
Finally Uncle Darrell broke into a gentle smile. “I’ll look out for him. Don’t worry about it, Cassie. I’ll see that Max gets all the attention he needs.”
“I’ll make out a list of what he needs. And the foods he likes best. Treats, you know, like gumdrops; he’s crazy about gumdrops.”
“Any special flavor?”
“Spearmint’s his favorite. But he likes lemon, too. And raspberry. But don’t let him have too many.”
Darrell shook his head, and I could tell exactly what he was thinking. Maybe she’ll find some nice guy down there in Mexico and start to feel just as much for a man as she does for the damned dumb chimp. I knew that’s what he thought. Just like Arthur and all the rest of them. That shows how much they know about anything.
As we stepped through the door and into the laboratory building, I told Darrell what was really important to me. “Max is not to be used for any experiments while I’m away.”
“Now, wait a minute, Cass. We can’t—”
“That’s the deal I made with Arthur. Nobody touches Max until I get back. Arthur promised.”
“He did?”
“Yes, he did.” It wasn’t a lie, exactly. Arthur had said he had no plans to use Max for anything while I was away.
Darrell shrugged. He knew Arthur even better than I did, so I was certain he never believed for a moment that Arthur would flatly promise to put Max on the retired list while I was away. I was sure Darrell figured that maybe Arthur said he’d try to leave Max alone, or waved his hand and smiled when I asked him not to let anybody use Max until I came back.
“Well,” Darrell said, “you know that we’re going to mate him with the female chimps.”
“Yes,” I said. “That’s all right.”
A slow smile broke out across his horsey face. “Not such a bad life, at that.”
I didn’t dignify his smirk with an answer. But I hoped that Darrell realized I would cause a bundle of trouble if anybody tried to use Max for any experiments while my back was turned. And maybe that was as good as a promise from the boss.