Ape House by Sara Gruen

Author:Sara Gruen [Gruen, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Literary, Large type books, Human-animal relationships, Animals, Nature, Animal rights activists, Reality television programs, Bonobo
ISBN: 9780385523219
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2010-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

18

Five days before, Isabel had spent the night of Ape House’s debut glued to the television. It didn’t take long for her to figure out the premise. In fact, it took Isabel about as long as it took Bonzi.

After Bonzi had poked lexigrams representing various objects and clearly decided her actions were having no effect, she left the computer. Shortly thereafter, a doorbell rang. Although what Isabel could hear through the TV was a sound effect (like the rest of the soundtrack), something actual had happened within the house because the bonobos gathered in the main room, their heads swiveling suspiciously.

Ding dong!

Sam and Mbongo rushed the front door several times, pounding it with hands and feet before leaping back. Then they kept guard from a dozen feet back. Their hair bristled, making them look larger.

Ding dong!

Sam approached the door and lined an eye up at the peephole. After a moment’s scrutiny, he flung the door open and jumped back. Immediately beyond it sat several crates, brimming with the goodies Bonzi had ordered.

A celebratory orgy ensued, set against a canned laugh track. The sex was followed by feasting and mutual grooming.

Isabel watched from her place on the floor until the bonobos formed nests out of their new blankets, surrounded by discarded fruit boxes, milk and juice jugs, candy wrappers, and other detritus. An unbearable ache seized her heart when she realized that Bonzi had gathered exactly six blankets and was folding their edges as she always had. Then she called to Lola, who was investigating the hinges of a kitchen cabinet with a wrench. When Lola looked, Bonzi signed, BABY COME! and Lola bounded over and into the nest to let Bonzi groom her into slumber. Isabel wondered if any of the viewing audience had any idea what they had just witnessed: one of the most exciting discoveries to come from the language lab was that once bonobos acquired human language they passed it on to their babies, communicating with a combination of ASL and their own vocalizations.

Isabel didn’t move until all the bonobos were asleep. The frenzied soundtrack had been replaced by a synthesized version of the Brahms lullaby with an occasional human snore or whistle tossed in. The cameras zoomed in on the rise and fall of chests, the pucker of a whiskered chin caught on the exhale. Only then did Isabel go to bed herself, leaving the television on. Several times during the night she awoke and sat bolt upright, checking the screen to make sure she hadn’t made the whole thing up. But there they were, snoozing in their nests.

The next day, after a CNN broadcast confirmed that the show was airing from Lizard, New Mexico, Isabel was on a plane to El Paso. She rented a car, drove to Lizard, and settled into the Mohegan Moon, a hotel next to the largest casino. With Ape House playing on the flat-screen TV, she gave her sheets a couple of spritzes of Spirit of Ylang Ylang—the hotel had

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.