‘I’m sorry,’ Kevin said. He’d not meant to hurt her feelings.
‘Well, I’m going closer,’ Melanie announced. ‘Jane Goodall was able to
get right up next to her chimps.’
‘True,’ Kevin said. ‘But that was after months of acclimatization.’
‘I’m still going to try,’ Melanie said.
Kevin and Candace let Melanie get ten feet in front of them before they
looked at each other, shrugged, and joined her.
‘You don’t have to do this for me,’ Melanie whispered.
‘Actually, I want to get close enough to see if my double has any facial
expression,’ Kevin whispered. ‘And I want to look into his eyes.’
With no more talk and by moving slowly and deliberately, the three were
able to come within twenty feet of the bonobo. Then they stopped again.
‘This is incredible,’ Melanie whispered without taking her eyes from the
animal’s face. The only way it was apparent the bonobo was alive was an
occasional blink, movements of his eyes, and a flaring of his nostrils
with each respiration.
‘Look at those pectorals,’ Candace said. ‘It looks like he’s spent most
of his life in a gym.’
‘How do you think he got that scar?’ Melanie asked.
The bonobo had a thick scar that ran down the left side of his face
almost to his mouth.
Kevin leaned forward and stared into the animal’s eyes. They were brown
just like his own. Since the sun was in the bonobo’s face, his pupils
were pinpoint. Kevin strained to detect intelligence, but it was
difficult to tell.
Without the slightest warning the bonobo suddenly clapped his hands with
such force that an echo reverberated between the leafy walls of the cul
de sac. At the same time he yelled: ‘Atah!’
Kevin, Melanie, and Candace leaped from fright. Having worried from the
start that the bonobo was about to flee at any moment, they’d not
considered the possibility of him acting aggressively. The violent clap
and yell panicked them, and made them fear the animal was about to
attack. But he didn’t. He reverted back to his stonelike state.
After a moment’s confusion they recovered a semblance of their previous
poise. They eyed the bonobo nervously.
‘What was that all about?’ Melanie asked.
‘I don’t think he’s as scared of us as we’d thought,’ Candace said.
‘Maybe we should just back away.’
‘I agree,’ Kevin said uneasily. ‘But let’s go slowly. Don’t panic.’
Following his own advice, he took a few careful steps backward and
motioned for the women to do likewise.
The bonobo responded by reaching around behind his back and grabbing a
tool he had suspended by the vine around his waist. He held the tool
aloft over his head and cried ‘Atah’ again.
The three froze, wide-eyed with terror.
‘What can `Atah’ mean?’ Melanie whined after a few moments when nothing
happened. ‘Can it be a word? Could he be talking?’
‘I don’t have any idea,’ Kevin sputtered. ‘But at least he hasn’t come
toward us.’
‘What is he holding?’ Candace asked apprehensively. ‘It looks like a
hammer.’
‘It is,’ Kevin managed. ‘It’s a regular carpenter’s clawhammer. It must
be one of the tools the bonobos stole when the bridge was being built.’
‘Look at the way he is grasping it. Just the way you or I would,’
Melanie said. ‘There’s no question he has an opposable thumb.’
‘We got to get away from here!’ Candace half cried. ‘You two promised me
these creatures were timid. This guy is anything but!’
‘Don’t run!’ Kevin said, keeping his eyes glued to the bonobo’s.
‘You can stay if you want, but I’m going back to the boat,’ Candace said
desperately.
‘We’ll all go, but slowly,’ Kevin said.
Despite warnings not to do so, Candace turned on her heels and started
to run. But she only went a few steps before she froze and let out a
scream.
Kevin and Melanie turned in her direction. Both of them caught their
breaths when they saw what had shocked her: Twenty more bonobos had
silently emerged from the surrounding forest and had arrayed themselves
in an arc, effectively blocking the exit from the cul de sac.
Candace slowly backed up until she bumped against Melanie.