They Called Her Fay Wray

Chapter 7

"You'll come straight back?" Will fussed as Amanda edged her way towards the front door for the third time.

"Yes, Will," the girl replied with as much patience as she could muster. He fussed almost as much as her Mom, sometimes.

"Okay, you've got twenty minutes. If you're not back by then—"

"I know. I know. You'll call out the army, the navy, the marines and probably even the national guard." Amanda repeated in an obviously flat monotone. To her credit, she resisted rolling her eyes as many her age would have done.

Amanda actually had her hand on the door knob when Will spoke up. "You know, I could just drive you over there, Only take a couple of-" Will began. Then he broke off, and Amanda could tell he was blushing just by the sound of his voice. "Uh, am I sounding like your Mom again?" he asked tentatively.

"Well... a little bit, yeah," she told him.

"Okay, I'm Sorry," Will apologized. "but I meant it. Twenty minutes."

"Yes, Will," Amanda said pertly and stepped outside, fast, waiting for Will to come after her again. But if she thought it had been hard getting away from Will, the harder fight was just about to begin.

"Caesar, what are you doing?" Amanda asked as the chimp stepped up to her smartly just outside the front door and put his hand on her arm. "Look, Will said I could go home for a sec."

"Caesar come too?" Caesar signed in to one of her hands.

Amanda did roll her eyes then, and she groaned out loud. "Oh no you're not," Amanda disagreed. "I know you're not supposed to leave the property without any of the grownups, Caesar. And I don't count."

"Will said yes," Caesar told her.

Something about that did not feel right. But as Amanda considered it, maybe in this instance, Will would let him go with her. At least, she would not be walking alone. Will would certainly like that, her not being alone. And, though Amanda would never admit it to anyone, no matter how tough and stubborn she acted, she really did not enjoy walking alone even in totally familiar areas. It would be nice to have Caesar for company.

"Caesar guide. Like your friend, Koba? Amanda show how?" The chimp was panting and practically bubbling over with excitement.

"Well, I don't know, Caesar," Amanda was so torn. "You'll have to put on a leash, and—"

Caesar promptly pressed a leash and collar into her hand.

"OH, I hate putting you on a leash, Caesar! I hated keeping Koba on one, too! But if you're really sure—"

The chimp gave one definite pant-hoot. In their little code, before Caesar knew Amanda's strange abilities, this meant a yes. He took the leash and collar out of her hand and put it on, himself.

Amanda swallowed hard, tears coming to her eyes. The sound of Caesar doing that brought back all the time that Koba had done the same thing.

"Okay, then let's split before the man changes his mind," Amanda said as she reluctantly put her hand through Caesar's leash, and the two children skipped out of the front yard.

They were unaware that someone watched them go. Will had retreated to his office, and Caroline was gone to work for the day, but Charles stood at a front window and watched until they both were out of sight. Then he sighed deeply and headed for his piano. He hoped he had not made a huge mistake by not stopping Caesar. But oh boy was Will gonna be mad if he found out!

Please, please kids! Please get back on time! Or we're all gonna get it, Charles prayed silently. To distract himself from absent children and impending family drama, he opened his piano bench and removed some new sheet music. As a surprise, hoping to cheer her up at least a little bit, Charles had gotten the piano score for that King Kong movie she loved so much. And he was determined to learn the main theme by tonight so he could play it for Amanda.