Several days later, Karin dragged one more heavy wagon load of hay back from one of the farthest fields to store in the old barn. It was a slow and tedious process for her, what with needing to stop often to catch her breath. As she leaned heavily on the wagon on one of many rest breaks, the woman heard an unmistakable rustling sound coming from the distant trees. The reaction was automatic. She dropped the handle of the wagon and bolted like a frightened rabbit for the safety of her solid stone house. But once in her front yard, she came to a screeching halt, her eyes wide. Two very familiar visitors stood in her door yard; it was none other than the ape royal couple themselves, Caesar and Cornelia.
Karin gasped. "Oh my God! Was that you two? You folks scared me half to death!" And she slumped against one of the many fence posts that Luca had straightened, panting, but flushed with relief as well.
Cornelia touched her husband's arm and hoot panted an sign something to him. Karin did not understand the sign, but the meaning of the Ape Queen's expression was without doubt. I told you so, Cornelia was telling her husband. She came forward and warmly embraced Karin without hesitation, and the woman returned her embrace.
"It's good to see you both, Cornelia."
When she and Cornelia broke apart, Karin turned to Caesar and held out one hand which the ape king shook gently. "How are you doing, Caesar."
"We are. All well."
"Maurice and Mary too?" Karin asked, a frown coming over her face. The big orangutan had been perfectly fine eight or nine hours ago when he left her that morning, but what if he had had an accident on the way home? Or, what if darling little Mary was sick or hurt? Was that why both Caesar and Cornelia were here?
Caesar put her fears to rest. "Maurice and Mary, too. He has school. Mary helps him," Karin let out the breath she was unconsciously holding. "Oh, thank God. Well, if those two aren't sick or hurt, I'm even more happy to see you both. But no gorilla guards? I bet poor Luca is having a fit about that."
Both apes nodded in agreement.
"That poor gorilla. So, to what do I owe this honor of your visit, Your Majesties," she asked them in a grand manner, even dropping them a little curtsy.
Cornelia hoot panted again. It sounded suspiciously to Karin like the ape's version of a giggle. Caesar gave his wife a stern look that she totally ignored.
"We come. To look. At fields," Cornelia said in her halting gruff speech.
"Yes. Need to judge. How much help you need. How much food to bring back there is," Caesar finished.
"Oh, well, sure thing," Karin agreed. Pulling a large stainless steel flask from her back pocket, she took a long refreshing drink of water. She offered it to both apes, but they shook their heads, so she put it back into her pocket. "Maurice didn't tell me you guys were coming, though."
"Maurice didn't know," Caesar said.
"Well, come on. I'll give you two the grand tour. And there is a lot of stuff, way more than I thought. Not just stuff for THE apes to eat either. I forgot all about our hay fields. That will be good for your horses to eat through the winter."
With Karin leading the way, it took more than three hours before the great tour was done, and the trio were back in Karin's front yard. They were all hot and tired, but also very satisfied. Cornelia was practically ecstatic, virtually crowing with delight, and the sometimes grim and business-like Ape King wore a huge smile of pleasure on his simian face. The apes had discovered even more than Karin did, being able to climb and forage and look in places the human woman could not reach.
"Are the winters that hard on you folks?" Karin asked. "Now I wish I'd brought you more packages of supplies more often."
"Elderly and orangutans. They suffer the most," Caesar translated Cornelia's signs. "But this will help. Will save many lives. More than you know. Thank you, Karin."
The woman blushed and looked down at her feet. "I'm happy to do it, Caesar. I just wish I could have done it all along. A lot of stuff, tons of good food, has gone to waste out here. OH, and thanks for hauling that wagon full of hay into the old barn for me, Caesar," she added. "You didn't have to do that."
"Yes, I did," the ape king grunted, and she caught his sidelong glance at Cornelia. The ape queen was looking far too innocently back at him, and Karin grinned as she watched the two of them together. They are made for one another, she thought.
Tearing his eyes away from his beautiful and strong-willed wife at last, the ape king shrugged, and he made no more of it, but Karin saw that he found its weight a bit of a burden to move.
"You two come in the house and rest? Or sit down on the porch. I'll go and get us all something to eat and drink," Karin offered.
Cornelia touched her arm and glanced up at the front door, her eyes wistful a she gently hooted.
"You're just dying to see inside, aren't you, Cornelia?" Karin grinned at her friend as the ape queen nodded.
"Okay. Caesar, you coming, too?"
The ape king shook his head.
"Well, alright. Cornelia and I will be back in a minute," Karin promised as she led her new friend into her humble home.
Once the two females were in Karin's kitchen, with its windows flung wide open sweet cooling breezes blowing through the room enough to ruffle Karin's hair and Cornelia's pelt, Karin began getting out the good fancy glasses and plates.
"Is there something wrong, Cornelia?" she asked.
"Maurice," Cornelia began.
Karin froze. "But Caesar said he was okay," she cried.
"He is. Okay.," Cornelia said. "But winter comes. Bad weather. I'm worried."
"About what?" Now Karin was afire with curiosity as well as concern. For Cornelia to speak out loud like this, it must be serious, indeed.
"Maurice come. Every night. When weather is bad," Cornelia managed.
"Oh, come on, Cornelia. He won't come out in the middle of some winter blizzard if that's what you mean. He's too smart for that."
The ape queen only shook her head, looking more solemn than Karin had ever seen her. "He will come," she insisted. "He not stay away from you."
"Well, I think you're wrong, but you have known Maurice a lot longer than me. Let's suppose you're right. What do you want me to do about it? Can't you and Caesar order him to stay home in bad weather?"
This question brought forth a barking laughter from Cornelia.
"Right. I'll take that as a no," Karin laughed a little bit too. "So, what do you want me to do, Cornelia?"
"If he here. Weather bad. You keep him here—"
"Until it clears up?" Karin finished the queen sentence for her.
Looking relieved, Cornelia nodded an emphatic 'yes'.
"I can't. I mean, he wouldn't stay. Those kids he teaches. They mean too much to him."
Cornelia put a gentle hand on Karin's arm. "So do you," she said simply.
"Well, of course I'll try. I don't want him out in storms, either. But it's not like I can wrestle him to the ground and force him to stay, is it?"
The ape queen leaned close and gave Karin a truly naughty little grin. It reminded her strongly of tiny Tinker.
"Cornelia," Karin gasped, her face flushing a bright scarlet. She would have dropped her tray of glasses if the ape female had not caught it and put it on the table. "You're jumping the gun a little bit, Cornelia. Maurice hasn't ... I mean, I haven't ... We haven't ..."
"Gun?" Cornelia tensed.
Damn, I keep forgetting they don't understand English slang very well, Karin chastised herself. "I'm sorry, Cornelia. That means you are jumping to the wrong conclusions."
Hoot panting quietly, Cornelia lifted one hand and gently stroked Karin's cheek. "You will," the ape queen told her new friend with utter assurance. "You do want him?" she asked directly.
If possible, Karin's blush got even hotter. "It's ... it's just not as easy as all that, Cornelia."
"Some. Males," Cornelia began, taking great pains to pronounce each word carefully. "Need us to guide them. Teach them, maybe."
Karin realized too late that her mouth was wide open, and she forced it shut with an audible click. She could not remember the last time she had such a downright scandalous conversation. For some reason, she had been expecting this kind of talk from Tinker; that little ape female often had a mischievous curious little gleam in her eyes when she looked at Maurice and Karin together, but from Cornelia?
"Just a dog gone minute. Is this why Caesar didn't want to come in, so we could have a little girl talk?" Before Cornelia could ask, Karin put her head close to her friend and returned her naughty little grin.
Cornelia hoot panted her laughter. "Girl talk," she pronounced each word as if she were savoring each syllable. "Girl talk. Good words."
"Yep, good old-fashioned girl talk. Too bad tinker isn't here to join in," Karin said. "Actually, Cornelia, I expected this kind of thing to come from her more than from you."
The slightly guilty look on Cornelia's face gave Karin pause. "Or, have you and Tinker already talked about the Karin and Maurice problem?"
"No problem," Cornelia began, but Karin cut her off.
"No problem? Are you kidding me? This is nothing but one big problem, Cornelia, on all levels."
The ape queen took Karin's hand and squeezed it. She waited patiently for her new friend to continue, so Karin did.
"Look, Cornelia. Let me tell you what happened here just a few days ago. I went down to the creek to take a bath. I wanted to get one good all-over soaking in before the water glazed over with ice, you know? Well, I forgot one of my towels. I left it out back on the big picnic table, and my hair was sopping wet. I hate wet hair dripping down my neck."
Cornelia was listening with total rapt attention, and nodded vigorously about the wet hair issue.
"Anyway, assuming that I still had an hour or two before Maurice showed up, I tied the towel around my hair and started back up the hill. And I nearly bumped straight into Maurice by the gap in the back hedge. And do you know what happened then?"
The ape female shook her head and made a gesture that seemed to say, "Well, don't stop now. What? What?"
"Maurice took one look at me in my birthday suit, that means totally without my clothes on, had some kind of bad circus flashback or something, and got, well, he freaked out. That means he got good and scared. He spent the next half of that evening barely looking at me and staying as far away from me as he could get without actually leaving the property."
Cornelia winced and made a low sympathetic sound deep in her throat.
"Yeah, tell me about it. I mean, he acted like he thought I was going to whip him or scream at him or something, maybe all at once. I've never seen Maurice look so scared or so ashamed before, Cornelia. How do you think I felt then? It broke my heart. It still does, just thinking about it. I finally had to corner him on the couch to get things settled between us."
With a mixture of fond affection and irritation, Karin saw Cornelia's ears prick up at that last statement. She looked on as Cornelia twisted one hand in a gesture that seemed to mean, "Well, don't stop now! What happened next? Tell me?"
"Yes, I got things back to where they were between us. At least, I think I did. But that's not the point, Cornelia. Doesn't that story prove anything to you?"
Cornelia got an obstinate, stubborn look on her face and shook her head. Seeing that expression, Karin felt sudden strong sympathies for poor Caesar, who probably saw that expression more often than she ever would.
"Well, it does to me," Karin said flatly. "It proves I've finally found a guy, a male, who has all the personality traits that I always longed for. He's patient and kind and gentle. He adores children, and he's got loads of intelligence and nobility to boot. And if it wasn't for that pesky interspecies, He's orang and I'm not, problem, well, I'd have a lot more to talk about with you today, You know what I mean?" Karin gave a tremulous sigh and put her head down on the table. She buried her face in her arms and closed her eyes tight. The next thing she heard was soft hooting and cooing sounds, and the next thing she felt were two warm arms wrapping around her from behind. The next thing she felt was Cornelia's muzzle pressed against her cheek, and the ape queen's gentle hands grooming her hair and patting her head, trying desperately to comfort her. She had not been mothered so much since the last time she saw her old friend, Queen Marie, and she told the little old gypsy lady through a flood of bitter angry tears that her baby's father wanted it aborted.
Raising her head, Karin twisted around in Cornelia's embrace and hugged her back. The Ape Queen was a strong, beautiful and very complex female; she was all fire and brimstone and determination one minute and a bundle of tender motherly affection the next. No wonder Caesar fell in love with her and made her his Queen. In Karin's opinion, they made a perfect couple.
Karin wished that she was half as worthy of Maurice.
"Cornelia," she began tentatively. "When you talked about females needing to teach males, you didn't mean Caesar, did you?"
Cornelia nodded.
Drawing away a bit from her new friend, Karin gasped. "But ... Caesar!" Karin gaped at Cornelia. "He's so big and so smart! He's the ape king! More than that, he's the ape liberator, practically an ape Moses! And you're telling me that he didn't approach you first?"
Cornelia grinned. "Caesar, get nervous. Caesar He get scared. He hide. Up a tree once. I climb up after him. I ... I corner him."
Now there's an image I won't get out of my head for a long time to come, Karin thought. out loud she said, "Oh my God! Really?" She burst out laughing at the image that evoked, and Cornelia gleefully joined in. "Just when I thought I was starting to understand your ape society. Thanks for turning everything I thought I knew about the mighty dominant ape King Caesar on its head, Cornelia. Now how am I ever supposed to look hi in the face again?""
"Welcome," Cornelia grunted, and that set the females to hugging each other and laughing all over again. They shrieked with it. They laughed so hard and so loud that Caesar, concerned by all the noise, came bounding around the house and peered in the window. Cornelia signed something to him, and he beat a hasty retreat without so much as a backward glance.
Once the laughter died down and Karin was able to catcher breath, she sighed again. "I'm glad you were, uh, such a good teacher for Caesar. But I don't see what that has to do with Maurice and me." Karin was still trying to choke back her laughter. "I mean, well, If Maurice gets scared and climbs to far up one of those redwood tree, I'll never be able to reach him."
"True," Cornelia agreed. The ape female absently scratched her head and stared out Karin's kitchen window, deep in thought. "But you. Want to catch him?" she asked, giving the most gentle emphasis on the word 'catch'.
"It doesn't matter what I want, does it?" Karin said. "Maurice doesn't want to be taught or caught or anything else by me."
That look came over Cornelia's face again. "Wrong," was all she said. "Only by you," the queen insisted.
"I really don't get why you think that?" Karin said stubbornly.
Putting her head on one side, Cornelia studied Karin long and hard for several silent moments. "You don't SEE. Maurice. He watch you. I see him watch. Tinker, she see it too," Cornelia told her. "Have known Maurice. Long time. Never see him watch a female. Like he watches you. Not ever."
"Well, that's understandable. Wasn't he the only orangutan in San Bruno?" Karin countered Cornelia's statements. "I'm sorry, Cornelia. I'm not trying to be so difficult. It's just that, well, I've never seen that from him," Karin said.
Cornelia nodded. "Maurice. He not want. You to see," Cornelia told her.
"I can't believe that no female has ever been interested in him."
"Many females plenty interested. All ape female types. Maurice not," Cornelia said.
"Well, all the female interest, now that I do believe." Karin smiled. "Okay, Cornelia. I promise that if he's here and it's raining cats and dogs or snowing to beat the band, I'll do everything in my power to keep him here until it blows over. Karin sighed. "We'd better get outside before Caesar comes back to check on us." She hefted the tray, and the two females went back onto the front porch to have a little snack before the king and queen headed back to their realm.
Karin was more than a little surprised at how fast he apes got organized. By the time she had planned to return to the ape village, the apes not only had a system of transport all worked out. It involved almost every horse they owned, but they sent out small groups each day to help her bring in the crop, so to speak. Each time, there was at least one or two apes that Karin knew and liked in the bunch, and it all worked very well. Suddenly, she was never alone, not during the day, and not at night either, not with Maurice always there. Surprising even herself, Karin found that she did not mind all that much. The old place was starting to feel more like her old home, with someone or several someone's always around and under foot.
It was a tossup as to who was more surprised by the amount of eatable food that was retrieved, Caesar's apes or Karin herself. But the end result was that the following weekend, Karin, Tinker and Rocket rode towards the ape village with a long caravan of horses ladened with huge packs of food and bales of hay trailing behind them. Just before they came in sight of the ape's home however, Karin pulled the horse to a stop, her face pale, her lips trembling. "No," she gasped. "No! No, I can't ride in, not like this," and she slid off the horse she shared with Tinker to make her way as fast as she could to the back of the convoy.
Tinker quickly joined her, taking both trembling hands and trying to sooth her worries. Even Rocket came back for a moment to check on the females, which touched Karin deeply, even if he was likely only concerned for his wife's well-being.
She and Tinker continue to loiter along behind the pack train, but a raised voice got their attention once more than half the horses were safely inside. 'Where is she?" the gruff voice demanded indignantly.
Karin's eyes went wide with surprise. "Was that?" he laughed. "No, it couldn't have been—"
"Koba," Tinker grunted softly. "That was Koba. Come on. Before he comes back here."
To try and help Karin cover her sudden anxiety, Tinker started up a light silly conversation about some unimportant thing or other. Raising her head and squaring her shoulders, Karin pasted on a smile and played along as if it was a new script she had been given, and the two women made their way into the ape colony. It was then that Karin realized that trying to be inconspicuous was totally useless. It was never going to happen, not while she was the only human in an all-ape village. All the surrounding ape's eyes were on her the minute she and tinker stepped through those gates. And Mary's father, Koba, stood foremost among them, his mouth agape as he surveyed the vast amount of supplies.
"Good afternoon, Koba," she greeted the one-eyed ape brightly. "Long time no see, huh? Is this enough supplies for you? If not, there is one more load we'll have to go back for tomorrow."
Mary's father took the time to give Karin a once over glance that she really did not understand, then he walked up and down the line of horses more than once with a critical eye. He took his time, but when he came back to where an anxious Karin stood with Tinker, the one-eyed ape gave a grudging huff of approval. "Good food. Food for apes and horses. Good."
"Ah, really, please don't gush Koba," Karin said with a smile. "Now, I'll help you guys unload this stuff."
Tinker touched Karin's arm and shook her head no. "What? OH come on, Tinker, I know I'm just a puny weakling of a human, but I can help unload-" Karin began, but the little ape female was adamant as she pointed to a familiar gorilla gathering up the packs. He carries some in his arms, a few over his shoulders, and one or two bales of hay were tied to his back.
"Is that Monica's brother, Urko? He's a big strong gorilla, but he can't do that all by himself, can he?"
Tinker nodded emphatically, which was when Karin noticed that while Luca and a few other gorillas were milling around, none of them was making a move to help Urko with his task. Some of the younger gorilla stood and jeered at him, but Luca silenced them with a firm grunt and a stern look.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Karin asked.
"Urko's punishment," Tinker said with a little gleam in her eye as she touched the now fading bruise on the side of her face. "Now you come. Monica. She want see you now."
"Okay, but I need to put my own stuff away first. And where is Maurice?" She was disappointed, almost hurt, that in all the apes, she did not see Maurice at all.
"He's at home. and, I'll do that," came a light clear voice. Karin looked down into young Mary's upturned face, and her heart lifted.
"Mary! Hi, baby, how are you?" the woman cried with a wide grin. Without thinking, Karin knelt down, opened her arms wide and she and the child embraced. The girl's father looked on impassively, but he made no move to come between them.
As Karin shrugged out of her backpack, Mary whispered in her ear, "Uncle Maurice has a surprise for you?". Then, out loud, she said, I'll put your things in Uncle Maurice's hut."
"Thanks honey, but I doubt if you can—" Karin broke off as the petite slight-looking ape girl easily hefted her heavy pack and trotted off with it towards the ramp that led to Maurice's home.
"Well, she's a lot stronger than she looks, isn't she. Okay, Tinker, lead on then."
She still felt Koba's eyes on her. But before Karin made to leave, and with sudden inspiration, she reached into her shirt and drew out the sacrifice medal and the locket and deliberately showed them to him. She wanted him to know how truly grateful she was that he went out of his way to return the precious items to her, and for a brief second, Koba's face visibly softened. She thought he might actually crack a smile,. But the usual grim expression settled back on his scarred features, and he turned away and trudged off into the distance.
"Oh well, I suppose it'll be one step up and two steps back with him for quite a while, I guess," Karin sighed, her eyes now downcast, her expression a little forlorn as she tucked away her treasures under her shirt. When she looked up, she caught the amazed expression on tinker's face. It was mirrored by her husband, Luca, and many of the other apes, too.
Just then, Urko trudged past, completely loaded down yet again with heavy sacks of supplies. Karin noticed again how none of the other apes, particularly the gorillas, were making any move to help him. She almost felt sorry for the gorilla. Almost. She almost said something about it, but she caught sight of the healing bruise that covered the side of Tinker's face, and remembered that the blow had been meant for her, and not Tinker. If he'd landed that blow, I'd probably be dead now, Karin reminded herself. He would have snapped my neck like a chicken bone.
Inwardly, Karin shivered, and reminded herself that virtually everyone in this village was at least ten times her strength, and probably a lot more than that. Even the children were all stronger than her.
"As much as I'd love to ask you guys what that's all about," Karin began. 'I'm dying to see Monica and the baby." She let tinker lead her away deeper into the village.
"What does she pack in here, rocks?" Mary grunted as she entered Maurice's home.
The big orangutan gave a low chuckle and rushed to relieve Mary of her burden, placing Karin's pack carefully in a far back corner of the hut. He paced around his home, seeming uncharacteristically nervous.
"Don't worry, Uncle Maurice. She'll love all this," Mary said. "You done things up so pretty. I wonder if Papa would let me do the same for our place?" Maurice looked at the little girl and slowly shook his great head. "Oh, I know. Probably not. He complains now about the plants and the cats." Mary sighed. "Do you need me for anything else, Uncle Maurice?"
"No, child. Run along now, and thank you," Maurice signed to her.
"Okay. But if Karin needs me to sign for her again—"
"We will call you, I promise," Maurice signed then ruffled Mary's soft blond head.
"Okay. See you at supper, Uncle Maurice."
With a fond smile, Maurice watched as the child ran down the ramp and out of sight. Then, he turned back to his newly re-decorated home and began pacing again. Everything he had done was meant to make a human, one human in particular, feel more comfortable.
It felt like forever before Maurice heard Karin's footsteps coming up his walkway. Feeling exhilarated, the big orangutan rushed out and met his human friend at the top, and the two shared a warm embrace. But both of them became quite self-conscious as they felt many pairs of ape eyes staring up at them, and they reluctantly drew apart. Maurice glanced down at their audience. It was mostly the younger apes though a few familiar older faces were present, most notably a grinning old Percy and his beaming wife Phoebe. Putting on a stern expression, Maurice signed to the crowd that made them scatter, even the two old orangutans, before he turned back to Karin and offered her his arm.
"Oh my. We are being formal today, aren't we," Karin grinned. "Maurice, what in the world are you up to? All I've heard for the last hour, and from just about everyone, is, 'Maurice has a surprise for you'. I swear, even little Lisa had this smug expression on her baby gorilla face. I half expected Koba to say something about it. So, what's ... Oh, Maurice."
Maurice gave his friend a mysterious little smile before ushering her to his door. As they stepped inside his home, the orangutan watched anxiously as Karin first gasped in surprise before her face split into a wide grin. "Oh my god! Maurice, you re-did this place! It's so beautiful!" she walked around, looking with wonder at the new shelves, The new soft pretty pelts on the old and new cushions. And the huge potted plant by the door.
"Maurice, this is lovely!" Karin gushed. Picking up one of the larger cushions, she ran her fingers reverently along the soft pelt. "These things are too pretty to sit or lay on!" she cried. "You did all this because of me?"
"For you," Maurice answered. 'Not because."
"Oh, Maurice." For the first time since he had met her, the human woman seemed to be made speechless. She stared at him for a long moment, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she gave a low cry, put the cushion gently down on its pile, and flung her arms around Maurice's neck. "Nobody's ever re-decorated their whole house for me before," she whispered. "I don't know what to say."
"You. Do. Like?" Maurice asked, a timid hopefulness anxiousness in his eyes.
"No," Karin breathed. But when the big orangutan's expression turned crestfallen, she laughed out loud. "You silly ape. I don't like it. I LOVE it!? She reached up to gently draw his forehead to her own, and he did not resist the gesture. He put one large hand on the back of her head, his other arm going firmly around her waist, and they stayed, holding on to one another, for several delightful moments.
"There. Is. More," Maurice whispered, and he turned Karin gently to face the back of the hut.
"More? What, what is that about?"
At the back of Maurice's hut hung what had been a large thick heavy white drapery. Maurice had decorated the thick curtain's plain fabric with pictures, of him and Karin, of Karin and little Mary, of Karin singing to a group of ape babies and their Mothers of Karin stealthily leaving a package at the tree the apes called the Gifting Tree. And at the very top of this tall curtain, spelled out in pretty beads, were two words:
Karin's Room.
"Oh man, what else have you done, Maurice. What's that for?"
Silently, and with some reluctance, he let go of her and gestured for her to go open the curtain to find out.
"Did I win what's behind Curtain number one?" Karin chortled. "I'm sorry Maurice, real bad game show joke," she explained. Before drawing away from him, she patted his cheek pads with loving fingers, then went to peer behind the heavy curtain. He heard her draw in a breath, the curtain swished shut behind her, and then He heard nothing else for a long time. Just when the big orang was going from mildly curious to very concerned, she called to him, "Maurice?", and he could not read her tone of voice. Stepping into the newly-renovated space beyond the curtain, eyeing some pieces of actual human furniture the apes had scavenged including a small desk and a chair that he thought she might like, Maurice frowned. Where was she?
"Hey! It really opens up back there," came Karin's voice out of the gloom near enough to touch him, and the orangutan almost jumped out of his pelt. "Did you know there's another huge space back there? Beyond the slight curve in that back wall?"
Maurice shook his head. He remembered the opening Karin was referring to now, but he had never felt a need to go exploring beyond it. He had no need for so much extra space.
"Well, tomorrow, once I get back from delivering this year's last load of supplies, I'm going to explore it, and see where it goes," Karin declared.
Humans, Maurice thought with a sigh. They were as curious as chimps, and every bit as likely to get into trouble like chimps.
Sensing his slight shift in mood, Karin put a hand on his arm. "What's the matter. You don't want me to go exploring? Why? Is it collapsed back there or something?"
"Don't know," Maurice replied.
"Well, you'll know by tomorrow," Karin grinned. "And don't look so worried, Maurice. My Twin and I, we crawled around caves since we were little kids. Anything to stay away from the house while Elizabeth was home."
"Your twin. He is. Not here," Maurice reminded her, his voice soft, his gentle eyes full of emotion. The minute it was out of his mouth, he regretted saying it.
"Thanks for reminding me," she muttered. "Oh, wait a sec, I get it. You don't want me exploring alone."
Maurice nodded, though she was only half right. The overprotective ape did not want her exploring at all. But he knew better than to tell her not to do it. And yet, even though he was almost certain that he did not hint at telling her any such thing, the orang still inwardly braced himself for some kind of resistance.
It never came. "No problem," Karin said her expression sweet and calm and reasonable. "You can come with me, then. It's not safe to go exploring all alone, That's the first thing my oldest brother ever taught me." She studied him for a long moment before suggesting, "Unless you'd rather I go with someone else?"
Resigned, and absolutely not wanting her to go deeper into the cave with anyone else, Maurice shook his head.
"Okay then, it's a date," Karin announced and hugged him excitedly. "This is a beautiful room, Maurice. And I still wish you hadn't gone to so much trouble, but thank you. You've done everything up so pretty. Where did all this stuff come from?" She waved her hand around the room at the desk, the chair, the hooks pounded into the back wall fit for hanging clothes, and the small bookcase in one corner.
"Ask Koba," Maurice replied. "He find. Most things."
Karin considered for a moment. "Uh, I think I'll pass on that. I really don't want to hear about Koba scavenging nearby houses, what very few there are, I mean, what few there were. Not that he would tell me anything, anyway. But I'm surprised. The way he hates all of us humans, I wonder why he'd bother."
He had no answer for her. Truthfully, Maurice had wondered about that, himself. Koba had come up with these human items rather rapidly in Maurice's estimation, but why? Maybe it was better not to know.
Any further musings were forestalled by the sounds coming from the main room. "Looks like you have company," Karin commented.
Maurice stepped through the curtain then out of his animal-skin door, but he returned at once, and he beckoned Karin to follow him. "Many females. They want you," he told her.
"Me? Why?" Karin asked, perplexed.
"Female's business," was all Maurice would say, an uncomfortable expression on his kind face.
Karin grinned and touched his face fondly. "Well now, don't you worry your big handsome head about it, Maurice. I'll take care of everything." And she rushed out to meet her visitors, with a smiling Maurice looking after her.
It was almost bedtime as a tired but contented Karin came slowly up Maurice's walkway. Yet again, many young mothers with fussy babies had come, and Karin had sung for them like she did the first time they met, except this time, more and more apes came out of their homes to listen. So, Karin put on a very impromptu concert for as many of the apes who cared to pay attention, and not just for the females and young. She had felt very uncomfortable and self-conscious at first; it had ben along time indeed since she had performed for anyone other than her daughter, but she quickly warmed to her curious waiting audience.
There were many familiar faces in the crowd, Caesar and Cornelia, Tinker and Rocket, Old Percy and Phoebe, and of course, Maurice, who looked positively enraptured and spell-bound. Rocket had listened hard, and he stared as if he was experiencing something long lost, but familiar and very much missed. Lake and Mary, Blue Eyes and Ash and many older children were there, too, but the biggest surprise was Mary's father. In the middle of her first song, he had stalked out of his hut, stiff-backed and scowling, and Karin was waiting for him to bellow at her to shut up. But he stood through the second song, and the next, and his forbidding expression gradually softened. He began to nod in time and even sway gently back and forth to the slow songs, and he looked even more pleased with her singing than Rocket, maybe even more than Maurice.
When Karin finally pleaded exhaustion, some of the apes wanted her to go on, but Caesar raised a hand and put a stop to it. "It is late," the ape king signed to his people. "Karin is tired. We all are. Good night, everyone."
And that ended that, much to Karin's relief.
"Remind me to thank Caesar for that. But what was up with them?" Karin asked Maurice as they sat together in Maurice's nest a short while later.
"Then?" Maurice asked.
"Yeah, them. Rocket was staring at me like he'd been to one of my concerts before and liked it, and good lord, Koba. What was up with Koba tonight? At first, I was sure he was gonna scream at me to shut up, but. Well, you saw how he looked. What was up with that?"
Surprisingly, Maurice shook his head. "NO. didn't see him," he replied.
Karin turned to gape at him in astonishment. "What do you mean? How could you not see him?"
Maurice gave her a sheepish little smile. "Didn't look at other apes. Only looked. At you," the big orang rumbled quietly.
"Aw, Maurice, you big charmer you," Karin cooed a she stretched out beside him and laid her head against his shoulder. The big ape buried his face against her hair, and after a mutual murmured "good night," to one another, they were both fast asleep. Both were unaware that all throughout the ape village, many apes asked the same question Karin had, "What was up with Koba tonight?" Most asked it with fond or affectionate smiles, some asked it with nothing but avid curiosity, but a few grumbled the question with growing anger quietly seething deep in their souls.
A/N:
Greetings, my wonderfully patient readers. No, you aren't seeing things, and I hope this isn't too much of a shock, a new update so soon. Call it my Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate. Or Happy holidays for those of you who celebrate something else this month.
So, what do you all think is up with Koba? I'm curious to know everyone's opinions.
I hope everyone enjoyed, and as always, reviews/comments and Kudos always appreciated.