“Hmm,” Mack murmurs, sounding unconvinced. He looks at George. “How’s the wife doing, anyway?”
“About the same,” George says. “She has good days and bad days.”
“Yeah, don’t we all,” Mack says.
Mack starts to leave, then pauses. He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a crumpled green bill, and presses it into George’s hand.
“Here,” Mack says with a shrug. “Buy the kid some more crayons.”
Mack is already out the door before George can yell “Thanks!”
not sleepy
“Stella,” I say after Julia and her father go home, “I can’t sleep.”
“Of course you can,” she says. “You are the king of sleepers.”
“Shh,” Bob says from his perch on my belly. “I’m dreaming about chili fries.”
“I’m tired,” I say, “but I’m not sleepy.”
“What are you tired of?” Stella asks.
I think for a while. It’s hard to put into words. Gorillas are not complainers. We’re dreamers, poets, philosophers, nap takers.
“I don’t know exactly.” I kick at my tire swing. “I think I may be a little tired of my domain.”
“That’s because it’s a cage,” Bob tells me.
Bob is not always tactful.
“I know,” Stella says. “It’s a very small domain.”
“And you’re a very big gorilla,” Bob adds.
“Stella?” I ask.
“Yes?”
“I noticed you were limping more than usual today. Is your leg bothering you?”
“Just a little,” Stella answers.
I sigh. Bob resettles. His ears flick. He drools a bit, but I don’t mind. I’m used to it.
“Try eating something,” Stella says. “That always makes you happy.”
I eat an old, brown carrot. It doesn’t help, but I don’t tell Stella. She needs to sleep.
“You could try remembering a good day,” Stella suggests. “That’s what I do when I can’t sleep.”
Stella remembers every moment since she was born: every scent, every sunset, every slight, every victory.
“You know I can’t remember much,” I say.
“There’s a difference,” Stella says gently, “between ‘can’t remember’ and ‘won’t remember.’”
“That’s true,” I admit. Not remembering can be difficult, but I’ve had a lot of time to work on it.
“Memories are precious,” Stella adds. “They help tell us who we are. Try remembering all your keepers. You always liked Karl, the one with the harmonica.”
Karl. Yes. I remember how he gave me a coconut when I was still a juvenile. It took me all day to open it.
I try to recall other keepers I have known—the humans who cleaned my domain and prepared my food and sometimes kept me company. There was Juan, who poured Pepsis into my waiting mouth, and Katrina, who used to poke me with a broom when I was sleeping, and Ellen, who sang “How Much Is That Monkey in the Window?” with a sad smile while she scrubbed my water bowl.
And there was Gerald, who once brought me a box of fat, sweet strawberries.
Gerald was my favorite keeper.
I haven’t had a real keeper in a long time. Mack says he doesn’t have the money to pay for an ape babysitter. These days, George cleans my cage and Mack is the one who feeds me.
When I think about all the people who have taken care of me, mostly it’s Mack I recall, day in and day out, year after year after year. Mack, who bought me and raised me and says I’m no longer cute.
As if a silverback could ever be cute.
Moonlight falls on the frozen carousel, on the silent popcorn stand, on the stall of leather belts that smell like long-gone cows.
The heavy work of Stella’s breathing sounds like the wind in trees, and I wait for sleep to find me.
the beetle
Mack gives me a new black crayon and a fresh pile of paper. It’s time to work again.
I smell the crayon, roll it in my hands, press the sharp point against my palm.
There’s nothing I love more than a new crayon.
I search my domain for something to draw. What is black?
An old banana peel would work, but I’ve eaten them all.
Not-Tag is brown. My little pool is blue. The yogurt raisin I’m saving for this afternoon is white, at least on the outside.
Something moves in the corner.
I have a visitor!
A shiny beetle has stopped by. Bugs often wander through my domain on their way to somewhere else.
“Hello, beetle,” I say.
He freezes, silent. Bugs never want to chat.
The beetle’s an attractive bug, with a body like a glossy nut. He’s black as a starless night.
That’s it! I’ll draw him.
It’s hard, making a picture of something new. I don’t get the chance that often.
But I try. I look at the beetle, who’s being kind enough not to move, then back at my paper. I draw his body, his legs, his little antennae, his sour expression.
I’m lucky. The beetle stays all day. Usually bugs don’t linger when they visit. I’m beginning to wonder if he’s feeling all right.
Bob, who’s been known to munch on bugs from time to time, offers to eat him.
I tell Bob that won’t be necessary.
I’m just finishing my last picture when Mack returns. George and Julia are with him.
Mack enters my domain and picks up a drawing. “What the heck is this?” he asks. “Beats me what Ivan thinks he’s drawing. This is a picture of nothing. A big, black nothing.”
Julia’s standing just outside my domain. “Can I see?” she asks.
Mack holds my picture up to the window. Julia tilts her head. She squeezes one eye shut. Then she opens her eye and scans my domain.
“I know!” she exclaims. “It’s a beetle! See that beetle over there by Ivan’s pool?”
“Man, I just sprayed this place for bugs.” Mack walks over to the beetle and lifts his foot.
Before Mack can stomp, the beetle skitters away, disappearing through a crack in the wall.
Mack turns back to my drawings. “So you figure this is a beetle, huh? If you say so, kid.”
“Oh, that’s a beetle for sure,” Julia says, smiling at me. “I know a beetle when I see one.”
It’s nice, I think, having a fellow artist around.
change
Stella is the first to notice the change, but soon we all feel it.
A new animal is coming to the Big Top Mall.