Aileen and the Ape

It had been one of those weeks. Not just ordinarily bad but one of those special ones where you realise it is not paranoia but the world really is out to get you. It wasn't enough that she had 3 essays due the following week or that her best friend had just been dumped by her boyfriend. The debt collectors had been around as well, a £20 overspend magically turned into £120 thanks to their fees. The call from her mum had been the final straw. After about 20 minutes of nagging Aileen hung up the phone without saying goodbye and marched out the door.

Now she was standing staring into the eyes of a great ape, the plaque in front of its cage described it as “Percy: An adult male Western Lowlands Gorilla.” Aileen looked into its eyes and decided that “Bloody great big Ape” would be more appropriate, he was at least her hight and probably weighed 4 times as much. “What a stupid name Percy was for such an animal” she muttered.

The gorilla cocked it's head and looked at her “What's wrong with Percy?”

Now it had been a bad week but this was ridiculous. She decided there and then to book an appointment at the spa and also not to go on random walks.

As she turned to walk away the ape stood up and reached out to the bars. She stared back into his big brown eyes and this time saw so much more. He looked so unhappy. Feeling incredibly foolish she walked up to the bars and asked “are you ok?” He shook his head “Not really, no.”

Aileen squealed, partly in delight and partly in abject fear, then quickly shut up. Now people really were staring at her and if she carried on talking to a gorilla they would probably lock her away. It was getting dark and the park attendants were ushering people out of the zoo. She quickly stroked Percy's hand and headed towards the gate. She felt his eyes on her all the way out. She decided not to tell anyone about Percy, she would come back again soon and find out what was making him so unhappy.

It was a couple of months before she could make it back, she hoped Percy wouldn't be too mad at her but she had a life to lead and no matter how amazing a talking gorilla was her degree had to come first. It was a Monday afternoon and the zoo was almost empty. Aileen was wrapped up in several warm layers against the November chill and had an umbrella with her just in case. Percy was curled up in a corner of his cage chewing on a bamboo shoot “Percy”, she whispered. Carefully looking around she called out a bit louder “Percy”. He looked up and after a few moments a small smile appeared on his face.

“you never did tell me what was wrong with the name Percy” he said. Aileen blushed uncontrollably “Well it's just... I... errr” Percy smiled at her and she blushed some more “It's a lovely name.” They carried on talking for over an hour and Aileen had soon forgotten she was talking to a Gorilla. Percy told her about his life in the jungles of Africa before he was brought to the Zoo. He had a brother and a mother but as a young Gorilla his mother had been killed by hunters and he had been orphaned. Too young to look after himself he had become ill and was very grateful to the people who had come and saved him. They fed him and nurtured him back to health. They had even become his friends. Percy had no real concept of time but he had been brought to the zoo a long time ago and had spent his entire adult life here alone.

Aileen wiped a tear from her cheek. “I want to help you but I'm just a university student, I wouldn't even know where to start” Percy grinned “I haven't just been sitting here all this time, I can get out but I need help staying out. Will you help me Aileen?”

Sitting in a hired van with a Starbucks cappuccino and the heating turned up to maximum Aileen wondered if she was going insane when the doors suddenly banged open, she turned around expecting to see a film crew instead there was a bloody great big Ape screaming at her to drive.

Simultaneously spilling her coffee and slamming the van into gear she abstractly wondered where Percy had taken his amateur dramatics classes or, in fact, his advanced English lessons.

She spun the wheel to the left and felt a huge weight bang against the side of the van “Where too?” she shouted. “What?” he yelled back. “I need to know where we are going?” She looked at him as he climbed over the seats. “I figured you would have thought of that, my local knowledge is pretty limited” he said, sitting himself down next to her. She sighed and accepted the inevitable. Forcing her flatmate to live with a gorilla would hardly be the worst of her sins today. She was sure that aiding an escaped gorilla was illegal in some way and she was definitely in breach of her van hire contract.

Lucy was surprisingly accepting of Aileen's Canadian cousin. Lucy was not a particularly well travelled person had even suggested they all go on a shopping trip because “That black woollen jumper makes him look like a school boy” so Aileen was happy to leave the two of them talking about Canada and only smiled slightly as she heard Percy describing the Tropical Rainforest's in Canada. She would have to buy him a lonely planet as a house warming gift.