Science Study

“I wouldn’t say he was a stupid animal.” Dr. Aneel spoke quietly, looking in the gorilla’s eyes.

“I didn’t mean anything by it, you know, I was just saying. They’re so big and strong and all but they just sit around in the jungle eating bananas and all. You’d think they would be more, you know, dominant.”

The kid spoke louder than the doctor while he looked around the lab.

“So, about your duties Mr. Eckles. You’re basically only required to...” Dr. Aneel went on. Jasper’s mind wandered as he looked around the room. Not much worth taking. It’d be an easy job though, especially if this stupid doctor wasn’t around much.

“... and if there are any problems all you have to do is page me on the intercom. It’s on the phone, you know how to use it?” Dr. Aneel asked Jasper.

“Oh yeah, sure, you just push the buttons, right?” Jasper cracked a smile at the doctor.

“Ahem… yes, the extension is 140. That’s my office. Make sure he has enough water, especially. The process he is under sometimes causes extreme thirst.”

“You mean the drugs?”

“That, yes. No food, none at all. That would throw off all of our calculations. I’m due in a meeting. Again, any problems, call the extension, my secretary will get me.”

“Yeah, the secretary, right. We’ll take care of, say, what’s its name?” Jasper pointed towards the gorilla.

“Oh, G-134. The gorilla is G-134.”

“Catchy, hunh?” mild sarcasm.

“What? Oh, well, we believe that with names come unnecessary attachments. Best to avoid that. I must be going. Call if you need anything.” Dr. Aneel left the room through the only door. Jasper turned to look at the gorilla.

“G-134, eh?” He grabbed onto the bars of the huge cage and pressed his face between the cold steel.

G-134 was crouched, sitting near the back of the enclosure. His huge shoulders were hunched against his neck. He faced half away from Jasper.

“Sooo... What do they do to you? Hunh? You know, you ain’t very big.” Jasper looked around the bottom of the cage. “I always thought gorillas were really big”, more to himself than the ape. Jasper hawked up and rolled the sputum in his mouth for a moment then spit at the gorilla. The wad landed behind the gorilla’s right ear and stuck. Jasper watched the silent gorilla, the only movement coming when he breathed. Jasper turned and looked around the room. He grabbed a broom from behind the door and walked back to the cage. He reached through the bars with the broom and brushed at the gorillas back. There was no response. Jasper pulled the broom back and grabbed it by the bristles. He extended the handle and poked the gorilla in the shoulder.

“Hey!” he called out. The gorilla remained motionless.

Jasper pulled the broom back and jabbed it solidly into the gorilla’s side.

“Hey!!” he yelled.

G-134 began to move, very slowly. He turned to Jasper, eyes closed. His eyes slowly opened to reveal deep brown orbs. Jasper felt a twinge of fear. He slowly raised the broom handle up to the gorillas face. Shoving as hard as he could, he jammed the wooden handle into the gorilla’s nose.

“Yah!!”

G-134 let out a muffled grunt and flinched backed against the rear bars, grabbing his face. Blood dripped over his lower lip and onto his black chest. He turned and hunched back down.

“Just want you to know who’s in charge, you stupid animal” Jasper smiled. He leaned the broom against the wall next to the cage. Jasper walked across the room and grabbed a chair. He slid it next to the wall. He began to go through the drawers in the room, one by one looking for something worth stealing. He only found an old pair of joint clips. He stuffed them into his backpack and grabbed a magazine out. He moved over to the chair and sat down. He began looking at the pictures and flipping pages. He heard a strange sound, then immediately felt something smack into the side of his head. He reached up pulled a gob of bloody mucus out of his hair. He looked at the cage. G-134 was looking directly at him, expressionless. Jasper stood and hurried to the sink and washed his hands. He wet some paper towels and wiped at his head until he was sure his hair was clean. He looked back at the cage. G-134 had moved to the front bars and half-stood, looking at Jasper.

“You’re gonna be sorry you did that you son of...”

“Don’t.” G-134 spoke softly showing almost movement from his mouth.

“You dumb...” Jasper trailed off, realizing what he just heard. He stared at the gorilla unable to move.

G-134’s eyes shifted across Jasper face, penetrating brown globes.

“What did you say?” Jasper hissed.

G-134 sat down, his eyes never leaving Jasper’s face. He released his grip with his right hand and extended it through the bars. He opened his palm up, nothing in it.

“Say something else.” Jasper whispered.

G-134 just stared. Jasper went to the phone and grabbed the receiver. He jabbed at the numbers like he was smashing bugs.

“Dr. Aneel? Hello? This is Jasper. I need to talk to Dr. Aneel. No, he said to call you and you’d get him. No. I need to talk to him now about the gorilla. Yep, yep. He talked. He talked. Hell yes. Get Dr. Aneel down here quick. Alright.” Jasper hung up and walked back to the cage.

“So what’s up?” Jasper wanted to get the G-134 to talk again. Try some plain old conversation.

It didn’t work. By the time Dr. Aneel arrived G-134 had only moved once to scoot back away from the front bars. He sat still, breathing deeply, continuing to stare at Jasper’s face.

“My secretary said something about talking, what’s this about talking?” he asked Jasper.

“He talked. I swear he talked.”

“What did he say?”

“He said ‘Don’t’ ”

“ ‘Don’t?’ He said ‘Don’t’?”

“Yep, he said it about ten minutes ago, maybe fifteen. He was kind of standing right here and he said it.”

“Are you sure he said something?” Dr. Aneel was staring at Jasper.

“A course I’m sure. He said it right here. I was getting ready...I was getting up...” Jasper realized he couldn’t tell the doctor what had happened. “I was going to walk over to the cage and he said ‘Don’t’ ”.

“He said don’t walk over to the cage?”

“No, just ‘don’t’ is all he said.” Jasper felt he was starting to look stupid. Dr. Aneel stared at him until Jasper began to feel his face redden. Dr. Aneel looked at G-134.

“Mr. Eckles, do you like animals?” he asked Jasper

“What? Yeah. I guess, sure. Why?” Jasper became defensive.

“Just curious. Let me know if anything else happens.” Dr. Aneel left the room through the door, letting it slam behind him.

Jasper looked at the gorilla. G-134 stared back and rose to all fours. He slowly lumbered towards the front bars. Jasper backed away, staring. G-134 raised his arm and pointed.

“You” he said to Jasper.

Jasper jumped for the door and yanked it open. His yell died in his throat. He turned back around and let the door push closed. He stared back at the gorilla.

“Why didn’t you talk to him?” He yelled at G-134.

G-134 pointed across the room.

“Crackers.” Jasper looked at the counter. A box of Nabisco graham crackers sat next to the sink. Jasper walked over to the counter and looked in the box. Behind him he heard a noise. Turning around he began to say, “You’re not allowed to have any fo...”

The gorilla stepped through the open cage door and moved towards Jasper extremely quickly. Jasper’s scream never made it past his lips.

“Give me crackers, now.” G-134 said as he grabbed Jasper by the throat with his right hand. The gorilla’s arm moved less than half an inch as Jasper flailed. With his left hand, G-134 deftly opened the box and pulled out the pack of crackers. He gently tore the edge of the package with his teeth as he watched Jasper turn blue. Setting the package down on the counter, he fingered one cracker from the top of the stack.

Dr. Aneel reached up and turned down the sound on the monitor, pausing to watch as Jasper crashed headlong into the wall. The gorilla picked up the now-limp body and raised it over his head. He turned and threw it against the cage bars.

“Why do they always think the cage is locked?” he said to no one in particular, as he again watched G-134 settle down at the counter with his graham crackers. Dr. Aneel checked off his sheet.