What
the Circus gorilla saw across the open field of several hundred yards
of wild vegetation, was a play in rehearsal in the backyard of a
home, by four persons.
Of
particular interest to the Circus animal in its cage, was the role of
a gorilla. What the Circus animal performer could not know, of
course, was that the gorilla in that distant backyard, was not a real
gorilla. It was a person in a gorilla costume.
The
Circus tents were pitched at one far end of town. Because of the
wild-animal performances, there were only daytime shows throughout
this school vacation month.
Teens,
a set of identical quadruplets Noah, Noor, Jude, and Lourdes had
undertaken to stage a play for their Summer camp group. During
rehearsals, each one took a turn playing the gorilla in the plot.
Because of other commitments, rehearsals could be in the evenings
only. The fun was enhanced because the only backyard lighting they
chose to work in was by flashlights. The best fun was in that the
script was being improvised anew at each rehearsal. It was the
random-moving lighting that caught the eye of the wild Circus animal
several hundred yards away. The distance was too much for vocal
sounds to be heard.
The
Circus gorilla decided to make the acquaintance of that other gorilla
it was seeing across the vegetation-crowded field. Getting out of its
cage was not a problem.
Unknown
to the Circus Management personnel, their simian, which they were
proud to demonstrate at every performance to paying spectators, to
have an exceptionally high intelligence quotient for a wild animal,
had, in fact, an IQ higher than most ordinary politically voting
humans.
Ever
since it had been captured in the jungle when it was yet a cub, it
secretly
unlocked
its cage door and roamed about freely. At a very early age it
appreciated the benefits of being regarded as a genetically inferior
species. It thoroughly enjoyed having its many whims being served,
hand and foot, so to speak, by superior-thinking humans, as long as
the whim was made to appear as having a higher intelligence expected
in an inferior wild animal. It had to be careful about revealing so
much information that would attract too much attention, that would
result in it being housed where there would be less opportunity to be
left alone. So much information, for example, like it already being
able to read the name tags on all Circus person workers.
On
an evening when the Circus was shut down, the gorilla decided to
cross the field and take a closer look at that gorilla having fun in
the close company of humans. It reached the backyard flower hedge,
and camouflage-blended in, and watched. It would do this for the next
four evenings of the rehearsals.
The
works-in-progress plot the teens were experimenting with was about a
family of four humans being surprise-visited by a gorilla that had
strayed from a jungle. At each of the four evening rehearsals, three
teens would invent ways to get the gorilla to follow them back to the
jungle. The circus gorilla would not know about the gorilla-costume
changes because those would occur inside the home.
Because
the three were not relating to a real gorilla, but to one of them in
a gorilla costume, quite often the interaction strayed into pure
human-to-human interaction, sometimes, by accident, unpleasantly.
The
circus gorilla spectator hidden in the hedge-bush fence at each
evening's rehearsal, was really, really, enjoying the spectacle. It
made particular effort to understand why sometimes it was especially
thrilled by the female algorithms of the gorilla, and sometimes it
could not care less when the gorilla emanated male vibes. Of course,
this was no mystery at all since every now and then, the female
person playing the gorilla would have to retire into the home to get
out of the costume, and to let a male sibling play the beast.
Most
times this change-of-roles was necessitated by mere fatigue. After a
few minutes of vigorous activity, the inside of a gorilla costume got
unbearably warm.
Sometimes
other factors came into play. Like the time when the lasso Lourdes
hurled at Noah-in-the-costume landed lopsidedly. She did not wait to
assess her throw. In her eagerness to rope the animal and to haul it
to the road in the front of the home, she went into her haul pattern
the moment she saw the lasso loop start its descent around Noah's
gorilla head.
It
was partly Noah's fault. He had been so immersed in the role of
gorilla, that instead of allowing for the lasso's accurate landing,
he kept increasing his imitation of an angry jumping-about gorilla.
And so, the rope encircled the gorilla somewhat askew, and entangled
around his neck. Lourdes hauled mightily; Noah tumbled to the ground,
and was being seriously choked as he was dragged on the ground. Jude
dashed down to stop the rope from tightening; Noor ran after Lourdes.
That was the end of that rehearsal for that evening.
There
was the time Jude's overzealousness as the gorilla, almost cost Noor
an ear. The scene was experimenting with the option of luring the
gorilla back to its jungle with food. Noor had an apple tied to the
end of a long green branch. She was to wave the apple high up in
front of the gorilla, and move to the road at the front of the home.
Noah and Lourdes were to be behind Noor, eating apples noisily in
plain sight of the gorilla, as extra- tempting luring.
Again,
as too frequently happens onstage, the performer allowed themself to
get buried in the role.
Jude,
as the gorilla, did not wait for the apple at the end of Noor's
branch to descend to him. Instead, he jumped up and grabbed the
fruit, fully expecting it to break from the branch. It did not.
Noor
had done an excellent job of tying it firmly to the branch. The
branch bent under Jude's grasp, and broke in two. The section being
held by Noor snapped back like a whip and whacked the side of her
face and her ear.
That
was the end of that rehearsal for that evening.
There
was the time the four were having so much fun, all of them tumbled to
the ground and were rolling all over one another, shrieking in
laughter and other sounds of reckless merriment. The Circus gorilla,
camouflaged in the hedge fence, had to restrain itself mightily from
joining the four on the ground.
There
was the time when the four decided to try capturing the gorilla and
carrying it in a bag back to its jungle. Noor was the gorilla. She
was to make it not easy for the other three to tie her up once they
grabbed her. To give the scene spontaneity, the three would hide
somewhere in the backyard unknown to Noor the gorilla. Noor would
take up a position behind the hedge fence, and climb into the
backyard anywhere along the hedge when she was ready.
While
hiding on the other side of the fence Noor came face-to-face with the
Circus gorilla. He was overwhelmed by the female pheromones. To show
his joy and approval, he did what he saw Circus persons do when they
laughed in overwhelming happiness; he opened his mouth wide and bared
his teeth, and let his tongue do whatever.
Noor-in-the-gorilla-costume
opened her mouth its widest in order to scream for help, but before
she could make a sound, she fainted in horrific fear.
The
Circus animal took that as a sign of her total obedient approval.
He
slung her over his shoulder and carried her off. As he crossed the
field back to the Circus grounds, he saw there were extra lights at
his cage. Good. They had discovered his empty cage, at last. Took
them four nights. He roared his approach to them. They shone lights
on him.
Boy-oh-boy,
were they were going to be thrilled when he showed up with a second
gorilla act for the Circus!
