Angel Of Mercy

Chapter 22

Karin leaned against a fence post and gazed around her front yard. In the light of that late afternoon, she could see what caused the noise that she and tinker heard all those days ago. While he was there, Luca had straightened several of the leaning fence posts for her. Oh, Luca, you big sweetie, Karin grinned to herself. As she walked round the front yard, it was clear he had straightened all the fence posts in the yard, and her heart warmed with affection for the big silver-back.

Climbing the ramp, Karin eventually settled in the old swing on her front porch. But even after a few moments of gentle swaying back and forth, she did not want to go into the house, and could not say why. It felt unreal, being back home and alone. Never, except after she buried her child, had the place felt so lonely, so isolated, so quiet, so creepy. It was filled with old memories—not all of them good ones—around one corner and ghosts and shadows around the other. Was it possible that she Had grown used to having so many people around in such a short stretch of time?

Karin thought she wanted solitude, and a large part of her wanted nothing but that. The woman who once performed in front of packed venues on a regular basis had developed something akin to a phobia of large crowds over the last five years. But a large part of her wished that she had not left the Ape village. It was not only because of Maurice. It was mostly because of the big wise and gentle orangutan, but not entirely. Karin missed Sparrow, Cornelia, Tinker, and many of the other females. She missed precious little Mary far more than she should, only knowing the child for such a short time. She missed Lake and the other children she had gotten to know. She would never forget how touching it was for all those ape mothers to bring their infants for her to hold and fuss over.

It brought Karin back to her days as a babysitter. Between the ages of eleven and fifteen, she watched so many babies and toddlers that she had amassed a small fortune

And then came the families dark time; the night that Karin was assaulted in her own bed, and her dad went to prison for beating and killing the man Karin always called 'Uncle Dan', a family friend. After her Mother, Elizabeth, came back and forced Karin away from the house and her remaining brothers—the woman literally drug the girl of to live in the heart of the city—the family was torn apart for good. It would be years before they got back together again. By that time her dad's mind had started to fail, and two of her six brothers were already dead.

Don't get morbid, Karin. Stop dwelling on the damn past, she sternly told herself before she could remember her fifth brother's death. No, she would not let herself dwell on her brother Tommy's drunken suicide or on her hateful and bitter Mother, Elizabeth.

With a visible shudder, Karin forced her thoughts away from those awful times, and back to the present. A smile touched her lips as she wondered how Monica and little gorilla Lisa were doing?

And she knew that she would miss her late night, sometimes dramatic or traumatic, talks with Caesar. The Ape King, along with Luca, were quickly becoming like surrogate brothers. She hoped that she could include Tinker's husband Rocket in that group sometime soon. He had not interacted much with her yet, but when he did, he was quite kind, if a little distant and very aloof and cautious.

She even missed Mary's father Koba, a little bit. Especially after the precious irreplaceable items he went out of his way to return to her. Koba reminded her so much of her father before his illness, it was a little frightening.

In truth, Karin could say that about most of the apes she had met. Old Percy and his wife Phoebe, possibly the oldest orangutans in Caesar's village, were like an old couple from her childhood whom she used to call Grandma and Grandpa. Sparrow was like an overprotective nurse she had met once after her first meeting with buck. She and the nurse had become fast friends, with Karin even making the woman a personal medical consultant when she worked on a medical drama TV show. Tinker was so much like her main hairdresser, Maxine, it was uncanny. And dear kindhearted, regal and dignified Cornelia reminded her very much of the few real life human Queens she had met. Cornelia could have given many of them a run for their money, so to speak, in the being queenly department.