Richard was delighted to find himself back in the right body just in time for the return to Oxford. He resumed his old habits and forced Tim to make arrangements to transport the jungle man with them.
"You're going to treat Garok like a specimen even after all that time you spent..."
"Don't remind me," Richard sniffed, still imagining he could catch whiffs of the jungle man's scent clinging to him.
"It's not right," Tim objected. Richard, restored to his rightful self, resumed old habits and dismissed Tim's protests out of hand.
As for Garok, he seemed content. He didn't even put up too much resistance as Tim arranged for him to return to a cage for transport.
For the next few weeks, Richard was feted by all of Oxford for the potential of his breakthrough field research, including having such an untouched relic to man's primitive past. He even delighted his grandfather, who had all but written off his grandson's likelihood of ever following in his successful footsteps.
So, he wasn't receptive when Garok went from his meek acceptance to wanting returned to the jungle.
"Be fair to jungle man," Garok said. "Send home."
"Will you be quiet?" Richard snapped.
Garok grabbed the bars of his cage and shook them. "Let Garok out."
An exasperated Richard reached beneath his shirt and drew out the intact amulet. Garok hadn't seen it for weeks and had forgotten to wonder where it went. Richard smiled, grasped the amulet, and felt the warmth as it glowed in response to his simple request.
Suddenly, the jungle man's pidgin English was replaced with ooks, ahhhs, and various grunts. He let the jungle man continue to rage and shake the cage, undisturbed by the specimen's nagging.
Tim didn't react well when he found out how Richard had silence Garok. "That's unethical," Tim said.
"He's just a specimen," Richard said, "but, if it makes you feel better, I've arranged for him to be transported back to the jungle. I have even written the instructions."
"Really?" Tim looked surprised. "That's very understanding of..."
"As soon as I wrap a 20-city tour with him."
"What?"
"I have offers from around the globe. Beijing. Bangkok. Berlin. More than 20 cities, maybe 25 by the time I finalize everything."
"You're unbelievable."
"I hoped you'd go along. Will be fun."
"Forget it!" Tim stormed out.
When time came to depart Oxford two days later, Richard hadn't bothered to call Tim. His idea was to let Tim miss him for a couple of months and he'd come crawling back to him.
He went down to the lab to check on the final details and saw that Garok was already in his transport cage. Richard walked over to the cage but stepped back when the powerful scent hit him in the face.
"I told them to wash and scrub you," he complained as he watched Garok's arm slither out from beneath his loincloth, leaving behind plainly visible evidence of what he had been doing.
"Ook!" A hairy arm reached through the bars and tugged on a note tagged to the locked door.
Richard stepped forward. "Leave that alone!"
Garok released the tag, but caught a glint of something shiny flashing from around Richard's neck and grabbed for it. He wrenched the slender man against the bars. Richard flailed, disgusted by the rank odor he had almost forgotten. He grasped the bars and pushed back.
He heard the snap as the chain broke, leaving the butterfly relic in Garok's meaty paw.
"Garok, give me that!"
The jungle man positioned the relic between strong fingers.
"Garok!" Richard caught on to the jungle man's intention. "Don't!"
"Ook!" Garok said and snapped the relic into two halves.
A few moments later, the men arrived to take Garok and his cage to the airport.
"Ook! Ook!" Richard gripped the bars with the jungle man's huge, dirty fingers once again.
"You want us to tranq him, Mr. Winchester?" One of the men on the transport team approached Garok.
"No, just let him tire himself out," he answered, working the muscles of his face to form a smile.
Horrified, Richard could only "ook" as they took him away.