Simon couldn’t quite bring himself to respond to Dr. Hershel; just a moment ago he was completely sure of himself and his humanity, despite whatever any insane quack doctor or well-meaning milquetoast foster father or way-too-nonplussed-by-being-in-a-room-with-naked-apemen researcher told him. But Ben’s primitive hoots had triggered something in him, something he couldn’t quite place just yet. Something instinctual that lay in the back of his mind without him knowing. It was the only way he could explain beating his chest. And if that instinct was rolling around somewhere in his subconscious, then any untold number of strange behaviors could be in there as well. How much of Simon’s humanity was really skin deep?
Simon stopped himself from thinking about it any longer; for one, he couldn’t quite put the pieces together just yet, and two, he was just so distracted by another one of Ben’s unexpected retreats to the corner of the enclosure to relieve himself for the umpteenth time in at least 5 minutes.
Amidst a rapid, rhythmic “ook ook ook ook ook” that was getting louder and louder, Simon looked up at Dr. Hershel. “Look, Doc,” he began, “I have to level with you, this whole thing is still kinda freaky to me. I don’t know how long it’ll take for me to get used to all this.”
Dr. Hershel seemed confused. “How could any of this possibly be confusing to you, Simon?”
Simon stared at her for a moment as Ben, apparently finishing, wildly shrieked in wild happiness. He shrugged. “You tell me.”
Dr. Hershel contemplated his response, then took off her glasses to clean them. For the first time, her face seemed to soften. “I’m sure this is a bit of a shock to you. But if you’re going to get used to all this, we need to get you going as soon as possible or else you’ll never assimilate with the rest of the gorillas.”
What if I don’t want to assimilate with the other gorillas? thought Simon, though he knew that it was no use saying it out loud. Hershel and everyone else was convinced he would become a fully assimilated gorilla soon and all he could really do was do what they wanted.
“If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to begin getting you started on learning gorilla locomotion,” Hershel said after a contemplative pause between the two.
Simon shrugged his shoulders. “I guess,” was all he could muster. And besides, he thought, he was a naked supposed-gorilla-hybrid who had just spoken to a monkey-hybrid in their native language. Surely walking on all fours would be the least bizarre thing to happen now.
“Excellent,” replied Hershel. She turned to the corner where Ben was. “Benji, would you like to help Dr. Sarah teach Simon how to walk like a proper ape?”
The next thing Simon knew, the monkey boy had glommed onto him, shrieking happily as he grabbed Simon’s shoulders. “Yah! Yah!” he wildly grunted. “Ben Simo fren!” Great, thought Simon. Now I have a buddy. The monkey boy clambered off of Simon, following Hershel like a lapdog as she moved towards the center of the enclosure. She adjusted her hair and turned to address the two.
“Now, Simon, I want you to observe Benji’s stance.” Hershel walked around Ben where he stood, siting on his haunches with a bemused grin on his face.
Simon stared at Ben; he’d been put off before by the boy’s tail but now, every other detail of his strange body was in such starker relief. The dark brown hair covering his body was matted in some places but scraggly in others. His eyebrows seemed to fuse together at the ridge of his face to give him that complete simian look. And of course, that tail that shook back and forth around Hershel as she pointed out his stance: knuckles resting on the floor, standing on the balls of his feet, one arm in front of the other with each step. Hershel had Ben walk around for a bit, and Simon took in his gait. Or at least he tried to, only managing to be baffled by how this bizarre creature could exist in this state. He was just human enough to be recognizable, but everything about him screamed animal.
And that fucking tail, dude.
He shook himself out of his daze. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Were you paying any attention at all?” asked Hershel as Ben sat down, happily scratching his rear.
“Yeah, yeah. Balls of your hands, knuckles of your feet, yeah.”
Hershel sighed. “Hmm. Well go ahead and assume the stance.”
Simon adjusted himself, taking a second to stretch. “Alright, alright, gimme a sec.” He crouched down onto his feet and placed his knuckles firmly on the ground. He rested his weight on his hands and they immediately hurt.
“Go ahead and take a few steps,” said Hershel.
Simon pushed his right arm forward, following it awkwardly with his left leg in the way he’d seen Ben do it. But as he tried to keep the gait going, he lost his footing and fell onto his stomach. He got up, dusted himself off, and gave it another shot. He began moving, placing arm in front of arm and leg after leg but soon he found himself face-planting in the dirt.
He sat up, spitting dirt out of his mouth as Ben hooted with glee and clapped his hands over his head. Hershel was slightly less amused. She sighed and squeezed the ridge of her nose. “Is that really the best you can do, Simon?”
Simon sat on the ground. “It’s my first time, gimme a break,” he responded with frustration.
Hershel reached into her coat pocket as Simon brushed the dirt off of his knuckles. “I thought this would be a bit more of an immediate instinctual adaptation but I guess you could use a little coercion.” Simon scratched at his armpit as he watched Hershel pull something out of her pocket: it was a single yellow banana, still slightly green. Hershel held it in her hand, dangling it back and forth. “You want to give it another try?”
Simon scoffed. “Really? I’ve only been your ‘gorilla’ for, like, a day. You think I’m just gonna go nuts for a banana after a day?” He raised air-quotes on “gorilla” and looked at Hershel with a bemused glance.
Hershel held the banana by its stem and dangled it back and forth. “Oh, don’t be like that!” she said in a suddenly happier air, closer to how she spoke with Ben. “C’mon, Simon, you want the banana?”
Simon paused for a minute. The banana looked pretty good, actually. “Uhh, sure,” he replied, beginning to stand back up. “You know what, yeah. I’m kinda hungry.” He hadn’t eaten since he’d entered the enclosure. He didn’t even like fruit, he thought; he just wanted food.
Hershel pulled back her hand, withholding the banana but still dangling it back and forth. “C’mon, Simon, you want the banana?” she repeated.
Simon got closer. Yeah, he wanted that banana. The banana looked delicious, suddenly tantalizing and yet just out of reach. He reached out with his hand to grab it only for Hershel to pull it back again. How dare she, thought Simon. He needed that banana. He stood up on his haunches and reached forward with another hand and, again, she pulled it back.
Now he was mad. “Hey!” he barked. “C’mon! Give it!”
“You gotta knuckle-walk to get it, Simon!” The growing smile on Hershel’s face was beginning to infuriate Simon. The banana was calling out to him in its golden splendor, begging to be eaten, and he couldn’t even reach it.
He hopped onto all fours and rushed towards Hershel, ambling towards her and reaching up for the banana. She held it out of reach again. Simon angrily snorted, flaring his nostrils. He gave a deep, guttural hoot that seemed to come from nowhere, a deep, bassy “hoo” emerging from his throat. He reached again and was again denied, now spinning around Hershel as she swayed to his right. He pounded his chest in angry defiance and began to rapidly grunt, a low steady “ook ook ook ook ook” that grew in volume as he frustratedly reached again and again only to be denied.
Finally, unable to take the insult, he stood on his legs and beat his chest and a loud roar came careening from his throat. He rushed toward Hershel, who dodged him like a bull, tossing the banana to the other side of the enclosure. Simon chased after it, grabbing it from its landing spot on the rightmost edge of the enclosure and taking a bite into it without so much as removing the peel. As he ate it, he gave contented little grunts and hoots, pounding his chest again in his supremacy and then proceeding to stamp his feet against the ground.
“Very good, Simon!” came Hershel’s call. Simon suddenly snapped out of his stupor, looking around and seeing himself sitting down and covered in half-eaten, slobber-covered banana. He was baffled.
“What did I—“
“You were exemplary! A truly remarkable specimen.” She walked up to Simon and patted him on his head.
He brushed her off, suddenly perturbed again. “What did you do to me? What’s in this banana?”
“Nothing, Simon, nothing at all. You just reacted to a stimulus with natural gorilla instinct. It’s completely normal.” She said all this with a big grin on her face, absolutely beaming with pride. Simon, however, was still covered in banana.
“How is any of that normal? I don’t even—“ he stopped for a moment, realizing something. “I don’t even know what I did. What’s going on?” He had no idea what exactly he had just spent the last few minutes doing. It was a hazy blur of pure emotion and instinct together in a wild flurry of manic energy, and none of it made sense.
A whimper came from the left corner. The two looked around and found Ben sitting in the corner, covering his eyes and shivering with terror. Hershel covered her mouth. “Oh, poor thing,” she began. “Your display must have scared him.”
Simon watched the terrified creature in the corner and pondered what he should do. For now, Ben was the only other hybrid who he could socialize with—the only other person he’d probably have contact with other than Dr. Hershel. His instinctual impulses continued to rise, but he couldn’t decide what he would do. Part of him wanted to be the tough gorilla leader, pushing his dominance on Ben. But yet another side wanted to take a more amicable approach. What kind of gorilla would Simon be?