Warning!
This chapter is not only the longest one I've written so far, but it also contains a nightmare at the very beginning. No graphic language or violence, but it is the traumatic memories of a frightened little girl. this story has been so light, I didn't want anyone to be taken by surprise.
To all outward appearances, the attic bedroom was peaceful and serene, but appearances were deceiving. The occupant in the bedroom felt restless, troubled, and lost.
It's going to be another one of those nights, she thought with grim resignation.
Rousing from another cat nap, the blind girl yawned and groped for her talking clock. When the pleasant female voice announced the time, she groaned; it was only a half hour later than the last time she checked.
Downstairs, the family slept on without a care in the world, unaware of her inner turmoil, and she envied them. She longed to be oblivious, like any other human being.
Sleep and peace seldom walked hand in hand in the life of Amanda Grace King. Dreams of any kind was as familiar to her as her right hand, but things had been so quiet lately that when the old nightmare re-surfaced, it caught her off guard. She could usually control or at least influence her dreams to a degree, but that was not working either, and perhaps this was why it came as such a nasty surprise. It loomed in the back of her mind like a terrible predator waiting to pounce, and she was its weak helpless prey, counting the seconds and waiting to be devoured.
As sleep claimed her once more, Amanda filled her mind with all the good things in her life. There were a lot of them, her family, her friends, all the time she walked around freely with Caesar at her side. And it almost worked. But no matter how far or in which direction they walked, the dream sucked her back into her past, back to that hateful place.
Caesar was gone, Koba was gone, and she was all alone, terrified, and surrounded by awful strangers with evil intent.
Desperately, she mustered her limited lucid dreaming skills. It's just a dream ... It's just a dream. You can stop this, Amanda! So, wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Amanda repeated this inside her head. It became something of a litany, a desperate mantra, but it was like shouting into the void.
Nothing changed. The dream was winning. She fought against it, sliding in and out of sleep, but it would not go away. It did not change by the smallest degree. Yet once more, her mind was dragged back in to one of the two worst memories in her life, back to the so-called 'psychic school', the hell hole, the torture pit.
The voice droned on continuously. "Now be a good little girl, and stop fighting us, Amanda! Calm down. You're only making things harder on yourself. Just do what we've asked of you, and you can go back to your room and rest."
A pause, then, "You know what will happen if you don't, honey."
That soft terrible voice, so sugary-sweet, so ruthless and relentless.
"Shut up!" Amanda screamed. "My name's Amanda Grace, and I'm not your honey!"
Amanda, who was barely seven, wailed even louder as she twisted and turned and struggled against the strong hands that held her in the chair. There was no escape from the torturers who were supposed to be her teachers.
"I want Koba! I want Lewy! I want my Mommy and Daddy! I want to go home!" I want to go home, NO-O-O-W!"
The last syllable became the wail of a banshee, and the heavy metal table in front of Amanda creaked and groaned and wobbled. The set of drinking glasses on the surface lifted a few inches and hovered in mid-air for a tense moment before crashing down in a shower of fragments over its surface. The table lifted a few inches off the floor before splitting down the middle, the pieces of shattered glass making a tinkling sound as they rolled off and hit the floor. The two halves of the table came down, broken ends first like two metal spears, and embedded themselves an inch or more in the concrete floor.
All the grown-ups around her rejoiced.
"Oh, good girl! Good girl," the terrible woman exulted as she hugged Amanda. "That's our girl! Now, I know you want to go home, sweetheart," the cold slippery soothing voice cooed in her right ear as one of the teacher's aids tenderly wiped Amanda's sweating, tear-streaked face. "I know you do. But there is so much more you can show us. so much more! I think you're holding back on us, young lady. And that's being a very naughty little girl, isn't it? You'll never see your family again until you show us more. And we know you can do more.
Another long pause. "You don't want us to hurt the little ape again, now do you?"
"No. Don't. Please, leave her alone," Amanda sobbed.
"Now now, there's no need for tears, Princess., I gave you the choice, didn't I. If that little ape is hurt, it's entirely your fault. You be a good little girl and keep that in mind."
The woman brushed Amanda's cheek with her ice -cold fingers, and it was all Amanda could do not to bite.
"Take her back to her room, and lock her in this time," the woman commanded. "Put the little she-ape in with her, but keep it chained up."
The awful woman stroked Amanda's hair. "You know what those two little rascals will get up to if we don't. We can't have the two of you trying to escape again, now can we?""
The scenes suddenly shifted, and the cold concrete training room of the school vanished. The years seem to also melt away, and Amanda was out in the fresh air. It smelled and sounded like Muir Woods, and for a moment, relief flooded her entire being. She was thrilled to be away from that other place. Anything had to be better than that torture pit. But her feeling of exhilaration did not last for long. Something was very wrong. Somewhere behind her, on the Golden Gate or back in the city, she could not say for sure, all Hell was breaking loose. People were shouting and screaming, car horns honking, and the terrible sound of gunfire. It sounded as if San Francisco was dropped into the middle of an action movie.
Amanda had no idea how or why she was there, but she was not alone. A huge crowd of apes were in the woods all around her, far too many apes. She did not know many of the apes, but there were two nearby that she did know, Luca and Koba, and they were different.. They were bigger and older, too.
How much time has passed? Amanda wondered.
Koba clutched her protectively in his arms as he and Luca loomed over her, grunting and growling threateningly at one another,
"Koba?" Amanda whispered. "Koba, it's okay. That's Luca, he's—"
Koba put one finger up to her lips and made a shushing sound. He gently set her off to one side, and the two male apes went on threatening one another. Luca began grunting louder and beating his chest, and Koba refused to back down. They were both obviously spoiling for a fight.
As Luca reached for Amanda, his fingertips grazing her hair, Koba gave one last furious snarl and flung himself at the much larger ape. Amanda could hear the blows each rained down on the other, and she tried to scream out their names, but her voice was gone, frozen with terror for her two friends.
Suddenly, many unfamiliar soft but strong arms snatched her up and out of harms' way. These apes, all of them female she thought hazily, cradled her and petted her and cooed soothingly to her as the terrible battle continued down below.
A loud roar of an orangutan cut through the fight and ...
"Luca! Koba! NOOOOO!"
Amanda came awake, screaming and sitting bolt upright in her bed, her hands clawing at empty air. Her toys flew around the room seemingly of their own accord. The light bulbs shattered one by one, and footsteps came pounding up the stairs as her shaken brother and father plowed through the litter of toys and smashed bulbs in her room to get to her.
Around 9 PM, a friend of Caroline's called, a terrible emergency. Five minutes later, Caesar and Will watched as she ran outside and jumped into a speeding car, with nothing but a shouted, "I'll be at the clinic" as an explanation.
Caesar, Will, and Charles waited up for a while, but gave into sleep around 10:30.
The surprises kept coming, however.
The phone rang at 3 AM and tore Will out of a light sleep. the man groped for the extension by his bed and knocked it onto the floor before picking it up. "Yeah, Caroline, he mumbled into the receiver. "Everything okay?"
"Will, I'm sorry to call you so late."
"Larry?" Will sat bolt upright and wide awake. What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry to bother you. I know it's the middle of the night, but can you please bring Caesar over here. Right now. Amanda needs him. She had some kind of nightmare. Or one of her psychic spells, I don't know, you know sometimes this stuff hits her so hard that it's almost like seizures. But she won't stop crying for him. Him and Koba, and that zoo gorilla she likes so much, what's-his-name, Luca? Not even Lewis can comfort her." The poor man's words tumbled over each other.
"Take it easy, Larry. Deep breaths. We'll be right over. Is it okay with Evelyn?"
'I don't know, and frankly, Will, I don't care. She's not here anyway. She's burning the midnight oil again at Gen-Sys."
"Oh right," Will muttered. He heard the little girl sobbing far in the background. "Okay, I'll get Caesar and we'll be right over."
Scrambling out of bed and throwing on whatever clothes were nearest at hand, Will threw open his bedroom door to find Caesar and Charles outside.
"Caesar, come on. You and I need to Go to Amanda's house, right now,"
"Is she having bad dreams again?" Charles murmured. "My poor sweet girl.:
"Yeah very bad." Will hesitated, visibly torn between wanting to run to Amanda's side and being afraid to leave his father alone, though there had been no signs of his Alzheimer's disease for a long time. "Listen Dad, will you be alright here? Maybe you should come with us. Amanda would love to see you."
"Oh, Will." Charles grinned and tousled his son's head. "You're fussing like an old woman. You're sounding more and more like your mother every day. I'm fine. You and Caesar Go to the poor child right now. Just call and let me know how she is, okay? And give my favorite little girl a big hug and kiss from me."
"Well, okay, Dad. You call us if you need anything. We won't be gone long, I hope."
At the front door, Caesar jumped up and down and gave a loud hoot.
"I know. I'm coming, buddy. Just need to grab something from the cold storage out back."
Picking up some medicine from the refrigerator, a powerful but dangerous if not carefully administered sedative and dream suppressant, he joined Caesar in the car.
"Amanda sick? Need medicine?" Caesar asked as Will started the vehicle.
Will patted his shoulder. "I hope not, buddy. This stuff's nothing to play around with. I'll only give it to her if I really have to, and If you can calm her down, I won't have to do anything."
"I fix," Caesar signed confidently as they pulled up in front of Amanda's house.
"Yeah, I bet you will." Hey, wait for me, Caesar," Will called uselessly as the chimp hurled himself from the car onto Amanda's front porch with a single bound. The girl's father, Larry, stood waiting for them. He held open the door and told Caesar to go. The young ape was bounding up the stairs before he finished the sentence.
"It's good you had that door open, or he might have plowed straight through it. Hey man, come on inside before you catch your death of cold. You look all done in."
Dad's right. I am starting to sound like Mom, Will thought. He put an arm over Larry's stooping shoulders and led him back inside the house. From the top of the house, they could still hear crying, but it was much quieter now.
"I knew he'd calm her down. Koba," the man swallowed hard and wiped at his eyes with an automatic gesture. "He was also good at calming her down." Larry gave a brittle laugh. 'Hell, I almost called the zoo and begged them to bring that gorilla friend of hers over." Uh, did I tell you that already? God, thank you Will, for letting Caesar come," The overly distraught father slammed one big fist hard into his other hand.
"I hate this, Will!" he burst out. "A father is supposed to protect his kids. I know it isn't politically correct to say this, and she'd punch me hard in the arm if she heard me, but she's my little Princess, Will! She's my Princess, my little baby girl, and there isn't a damn thing I can do to protect her from these dreams, or visions, or whatever the hell she has. And they've only gotten a hundred times worse after whatever they did to her in that so-called 'school! God, I wish we'd never sent her there for that year!"
Larry drew in a shaky breath and added, "Amanda may have forgiven us for that, but Lewis never will."
"Anytime, Man, anytime," Will murmured. "But they were supposed to help her manage this, right? Wasn't that what they told you and Evelyn?"
"It was all a lie. They lied to us to get our baby girl, Will," Larry ground out from in between clenched teeth. "Whatever they did to her did not help her manage this. It only ... I think it opened her up more to it. It's made things so much worse. Do you know we've had to replace every lightbulb in this house at least ten times since we got her back from that place? The windows in her room, too. If she gets upset enough, any lightbulb or water glass near her will break." She was never able to do that before those monsters got their hands on her."
"Dear God," Will whispered, a deep chill going up his spine as he took Amanda's father into their living room and made him sit down on the couch. "You need to try and calm down, Man. Amanda will sense it if you don't."
"I know. I know," Larry groaned. "But if she can do that now, what will it be like when she really enters puberty? I don't want my sweet baby girl to become Carrie."
"I told you not to read that damn book," Will tried in vain to lighten the mood, but before Larry could respond, footsteps were coming down the stairs. A second later, a large tall shadow passed by the living room door.
"Lewis, how is she?" Amanda's father called out to his oldest.
The young man stuck his head in the door. "Hey Will," Lewis greeted the family friend with a warm but tired smile. "Thanks for bringing Caesar over. Man, Amanda was really freaking out bad. Haven't seen her like that in a long time. Not since they took Koba away. Or not since she first got rescued from that place."
Will opened his mouth but never got to say anything.
"Lewis William Arthur King, didn't you hear me? I asked you about Amanda?" Larry broke in.
"Why do you want to know? So you and Mom can ship her off again? Maybe you can find somewhere worse this time!" Amanda's brother glared daggers at his stepfather for a long moment, but eventually he turned on his heels and stalked off towards the kitchen without an backwards glance, let alone an answer.
"You don't want to go after him?" Will asked.
"It wouldn't do any good," Larry said in a defeated tone. "He's never forgiven us for sending Amanda away. I can't argue with him about that Will because he's right. We'll never forgive ourselves, either."
Will considered going after Lewis, but decided it might be best if he stayed out of it.
Lewis did not return to the living room. He went back upstairs carrying a large pitcher of hot chocolate, and an hour or so later, it was Caesar and Amanda who came back down. The child's hair hung down in a large tangled mess well below her shoulders, and her face was pinched and pale, making her reddened and puffy eyes stand out even more.
"We cleaned up the mess in my room, Dad. I'm sorry -" Amanda started to apologize, but her father was having none of that. He swept his little girl into his arms and hugged her tight against his chest. Even as she clung to her father, the girl stretched one hand out groping for Caesar, who joined her. Without hesitation, Larry hugged them both.
"Will, why didn't Charles come with you?" Amanda wanted to know.
"I asked him to, but he's sitting by the phone right now, I bet. He made me promise to call him with an update. Speaking of, Larry, may I—"
Amanda's father pointed to the cordless phone on the coffee table, and Will nodded his thanks.
And they stayed at the Rodman's house until later that morning.
Later that morning, Amanda was going somewhere without him, and Caesar was not happy about it. He made certain everyone knew how he felt.
"Go," he signed insistently to Will. "I want to go."
"Caesar, I said no ten times already," Will sighed.
"I Want to go," the young ape insisted.
Will put his arm around his simian son. For a moment, Caesar tensed, and he thought about shoving it away, but changed his mind.
"Not in that place, Caesar. Look, I know you want to go, Buddy," Will replied, keeping a tight grip on his patience and his restless son. "But you know you're not allowed."
"Why?" the young chimp demanded. "Why can't I go with Amanda."
"Because it's dangerous for you. Caroline says it's never a good idea to mix gorillas and chimpanzees. She's afraid some of them will attack you."
Caesar's frown grew even deeper. "Amanda is going," Caesar pointed out for the millionth time.
"Yes, she is."
"If Amanda can go in the big cages, I will guide her. I protect her!" Caesar repeated, the tilt of his hands showing his growing frustration even more than the uncharacteristic scowl on his face. "She goes. So I go," seemed to be Caesar's motto. It was becoming a mantra for the young chimp lately if the girl went anywhere without him. Luckily, there were not many places where he was banned. But the few locations where he was not allowed to go always brought on this protest.
Determined, the young ape started towards the door, but Will stepped in front of him. "Caesar, that's enough! I said no, and I mean no," Will said more firmly. "End of discussion, buddy." Caesar's eyes dropped, and Will Rodman could never play the heavy disciplinarian dad for long. It just wasn't in his nature. The problem was that Caesar knew it. And he knew how to use it.
"Listen, Caesar," Will tried again to explain. "Let's say Caroline is right. What if you were attacked, and Amanda got hurt by accident."
This had not occurred to Caesar. He gave a low whimper of distress. "It's okay, Caesar. Look, Amanda will be here right after she visits her friends in the zoo. Franklin will drop her off, and she'll be here with us until this evening. If the weather holds, you and she can run around outside all you want until 6 PM. But just in case it does rain, why don't you go and round up something you and Amanda can play with indoors. You can also help Charles in the kitchen. Remember, he's baking Amanda's birthday cake."
The stubborn young ape shook his head. "No. Not okay," Caesar grumbled in sign, but at Will's heavy sigh and disapproving expression, Caesar gave in and went upstairs. Amanda seemed to really enjoy it when he helped her with his models, so he started collecting the pieces of the huge castle they were building which were scattered all over his room. A pretty castle for his sweet pretty friend, Princess Amanda. This thought made him smile. He wished he could build her a nice big pretty castle somewhere. Maybe he would do that someday. When he was grown up. After all, Amanda kept telling him he was going to be a King, and everyone, even doubting Caroline, said that what Amanda predicted always came true.
After making sure that the castle pieces were all there, Caesar went downstairs to help Charles with the chocolate cake.
Amanda was uncharacteristically silent as Franklin drove her to the zoo, last night's dreams still foremost in her mind. It haunted her even in the warm familiarity of Franklin's car. Not even the bright light of day could completely dispel her dreams. Of course, Amanda could not see that light, only feel the heat radiating from it. She wondered if it would make any difference if she could see it, but deep down, she knew it did not matter.
At least Luca was fine, upright, bright-eyed and totally fine. Amanda was never so happy to see her dearest gorilla friend, and to have him pick her up and twirl her gently around the gorilla enclosure. He was getting so big and strong, towering over her these days, but he never forgot Amanda's frailer human condition, and was unfailingly cautious and gentle with her even as he held her in one arm and twirled her around.
Yes, Luca was fine, and Caesar was fine. Everyone closest to her was fine, But what about her precious Koba? She knew deep in her heart that he was not fine, not at all.
Amanda visited and played with Luca and his family for a couple of hours before Franklin withdrew her from the gorilla's enclosure. She was more reluctant to go than usual, and Luca was equally as reluctant to let her go. 'I'll be back soon, big Luca. I promise," Amanda had to repeatedly promise him before she could squirm out of his firm grasp, and he would not let her leave with one of the new handlers. The overprotective gorilla only released her into Franklin's care.
Before she left, Luca gave her more flowers. He even weaved a couple of them into her long hair. "I swear, you are turning into such a flirt, Luca," Amanda giggled happily. "You're gonna make the other gorilla girls jealous."
Luca grunted, and Amanda answered as if she understood him. "Now Luca, you stop saying that. It's not true. They are good gorilla girls. You be nice to them, okay. Give one of them some pretty flowers, for me?"
Grumbling, and with a slightly sulky expression, the gorilla went and yanked up a couple of flowers. He tossed them carelessly to the nearest young gorilla female he saw, who apparently did not like his approach. She picked up the flowers, ambled casually over to Luca, and soundly smacked him hard in the face with them before turning and ambling away.
Pressing her lips tightly together, Amanda was hard pressed not to laugh out loud. She heaved a long sigh. "Uh, that's not quite what I had in mind, Luca. You behave yourself while I'm gone. Do you promise?" When there was no response from the gorilla, the girl added, "If you don't behave yourself, they might not let me come back in here to see you."
That threat worked. Luca grunted softly at her.
"That's my favorite big guy." Amanda grinned. She gave Luca a huge hug and a kiss on his muzzle before she left the enclosure, holding onto Franklin's arm.
"You know, I'm afraid he's not gonna turn you lose one of these days," Franklin commented offhandedly as he drove her back to Will's house. "And aren't those pretty little flowers from the big ol' gorilla, little Miss Fay."
"It's good that I need you to drive this thing," Amanda scowled.
"I know. I know. My arm already feels the sting of that vicious little fist of yours," Franklin continued to tease her good-naturedly. "Just don't set your big boyfriend on me, okay? Please?"
"I promise nothing," Amanda grinned, but then she grew somber.
"Hey, you know I was only kidding. What's up?" Franklin was worried about his usually chatty companion.
"Luca, he's getting so big," Amanda commented wistfully. It didn't really hit me until today how big. I can't believe he's that baby gorilla, the same one that I used to feed and rock to sleep,
"Yeah, if he hadn't bent down, I thought you'd might have to climb him for that goodbye kiss."
They both laughed at that, and Franklin went on, I also thought seeing him would cheer you up a lot more."
"It did," Amanda stretched and stifled a yawn. "But I had a bad dream about him," she went on in a small voice. "Him and Koba. They started fighting each other."
"Good grief! Luca's a growing gorilla. He could tear your Koba apart, right? So why didn't I stop them?"
"You couldn't. You ..." Amanda swallowed hard against the sudden inexplicable lump in her throat and the tears that stung the back of her eyes. "You weren't there."
"They let you in the zoo without me, without any protection at all?" Franklin sounded both incredulous and offended.
"No. It wasn't in the zoo. From the smells and sound, I think it was somewhere in Muir Woods."
"Are you saying there's gonna be a mass escape of apes into the woods?"
Amanda winced. Big mouth! She inwardly chastised herself. She wished that she had said nothing, not even to Franklin.
"No. You said that. All I said was that I had a bad dream about Luca and Koba."
"Well, your bad dreams tend to be something others need to listen to."
Now how did he know that? Amanda was horrified to learn that Franklin knew what a total freak she was
"Thanks," Amanda shot back. "Now I see why you work with animals instead of children.
She regretted the words before they left her mouth. She did not want to be mean to franklin. He was one of her favorite adults.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Franklin," Amanda groaned, putting an anxious hand on his arm. "I told you I wasn't good company today."
"Hey, it's okay, Fay." He took one hand off the wheel and patted her hand. "After all, today's your special day." He grinned at her. "So, you're the big double one. Uh, did I get that right? eleven?"
The man could almost always make her giggle. "Yeah, and I'd love to make twelve next year so keep both hands on the wheel. So, who told you? Will? Caroline?"
"Caesar, actually," the man confessed.
"Caesar!" Amanda was astounded, though on second thought, she did not know why. She never asked him to keep her birthday a secret, and if Caesar had not told Franklin, someone else would have reminded him of it. Good old Franklin never missed one of her birthdays, but today she wished that he would forget it.
"So, is it the usual, the Dairy Queen?" Franklin asked. "Or would my birthday girl like something different this time."
"No. I don't want anything. Just take me back to Caesar's, Okay Franklin."
"Aw, c'mon? Are you sure? This is the one time of year when you get to clean out my wallet and I won't complain about it. Well, not much," he chuckled.
He was trying to coax a smile out of her, and since he was her favorite adult, she gave him one. Her heart was not in it, and it showed.
What's wrong with me? I'm going to be a killjoy at my own so-called surprise birthday party, Amanda thought.
To everyone surprise, the party was a rousing success. Even Amanda's strange mood evaporated under a barrage of good friends, good presents, and scrumptious chocolate cake. After the meal and the cake, a knock sounded at Will's door.
"I'll get it, Will," Lewis volunteered. He stepped outside to have a few words with the new arrival. After a moment, he called over his shoulder, "Hey, Squirt! There's a guy out here to see ya!"
Jumping up from the table, Amanda burst out, "Lewy," I've told you not to call me that in front of other people. What's he want?"
"Well, stop stuffing your face with that cake and come see," Lewis replied.
"Caesar, do you still want a brother or sister? I'll happily rent you mine," Amanda grumbled as she and Caesar moved to the door, with everyone else on their heels.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday, Miss Amanda. Happy birthday to you." Two new voices, a man and a woman, sang out in beautiful harmony.
Amanda gasped. She knew both of those voices. One was an old friend, her hero, her liberator, who saved her when she was seven from the torture pit. She did not expect to see him again. He was always deploying somewhere far away, but the other ... The other voice was an impossibility, a dream? No, it could not be her?
"Captain M!" Amanda cried.
Letting go of Caesar's hand, she launched herself at the man.
He laughed easily, catching her up, he swung her around for a few seconds until she laughed with delight.
The woman chimed in, "For God's sake, Wes. Put her down. She's too old for all that?"
"It's Captain M now," he told Amanda. Then he addressed the woman beside him. "You're right," he grunted as he put Amanda down on the ground. "she's too big for me."
"You're just getting old," the woman and Amanda said simultaneously, and everyone laughed.
The army captain adopted a jovial tone of a TV game show host. "Miss Amanda Grace King, meet your birthday present, and my own little squirt of a sister. Here she is, ladies and gentlemen! May I present the lovely and talented Miss Karin Evans. Ouch!"
"Kicked you in the shins, didn't she?" Amanda chortled.
"How'd you know?"
"She knows. Trust me, she knows," Lewis groaned and everyone smiled.
Both Amanda and Caesar were star-struck by their female visitor. "Are ... Are you really, her?" Amanda gaped in astonishment as the woman took her hand. "You are really Karin Evans? And you're related to him?"
"So my family tells me." Karin bent down and whispered conspiratorially in Amanda's ear, "But I think it's just a vicious rumor." She straightened up and went on, "I've heard so much about you from Wesley. It's a pleasure to meet you at last. And whose that handsome fellow right behind you?"
"Lewis. Lewis King, Miss Evans," her brother barged in before Amanda shoved him away.
"She wasn't talking to you, Nerd Boy. She was talking to Caesar." Amanda tried to urge her friend forward, but for once, he refused to budge.
"Come on, Caesar. He's not usually so shy," Amanda said as she finally convinced him to stand beside her. "He's a fan too, Ma'am. He loved you as the Queen of Skull Island. And I think he likes your music, too."
"Hello, Caesar," Karin extended a hand. Caesar made as if to step back, but Amanda caught him and placed his hand into Karin's.
"Please to meet you, Caesar," Karin shook the young ape's hand, and he hooted softly at her.
"Amanda, why don't you invite your friends inside," Caroline offered. "While There's still some ice cream and cake left."
The captain had to go, but Karin stayed on. Charles got out his piano score for King Kong and the Queen of Skull Island. Karin and everyone sang several songs, while Charles accompanied them on the piano, and everyone had a great time.
Karin's twin picked her up a while later, but the presents ere not over. The last surprise for the kids was announced. Caesar would be allowed to go spend the night at Amanda's house.
As they curled up together in her room an hour or so later, Amanda sighed.
"Caesar, promise me you won't let them hurt each other," Amanda murmured sleepily. "Koba ad Luca ... Promise me."
The sleepy chimp put a hand over his heart while he held on to Amanda's other hand. He thought, I promise.
With Caesar's promise, Amanda drifted into a mercifully dreamless sleep with a smile on her face.
A/N:
Season's Greetins, my wonderful patientreaders!
😀Here's another little installment for your reading pleasure. I hope everybody enjoys it.
Welcome back to all my loyal readers, and welcome aboard to any new folks who drop in. I hope you stick around.
A special 'shout out' to all the Luca fans who read this fic. I promise you will see more of him as the fic goes on,much more.
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Stay warm, and happy reading!