They Called Her Fay Wray

chapter 11

Several weeks later, Amanda and her ape friend, Luca, made the national news. During one of her many visits to the zoo, one of the newest zoo workers, while watching Amanda interacting with Luca and his family, suffered a mental collapse. He began screaming that the little blind girl was talking to the apes, that she was really one of them, and was telling them to kill everyone. Snatching Amanda up by her hair, the man tried to run, but did not get far before Luca, along with three other gorillas, tackled and subdued him. Luca's family and friends held the man down while the other gorillas formed a tight protective ring around Luca as he cradled a terrified Amanda in his arms. One of the vets produced a sedative, and the man was taken away.

Getting an agitated and overprotective Luca and the entire gorilla troop to release Amanda was another story. It took almost two hours before the girl was able to convince the young gorilla to let go of her, and even then, he would only release her into Franklin's waiting arms.

The girl remained remarkably calm and poised throughout the entire incident. It was in the quiet safety and security of Franklin's car on the way back to Will's place that she finally broke down and began to sob uncontrollably, and franklin pulled onto a quiet side street to try and comfort her. She cried on the man's shoulder for a few moments before jerking away, her watery blue eyes going very wide.

"Drive!" she ordered.

"What?"

"People are coming," Amanda gasped. "Please just drive, Donnie!"

But it was already too late. Before Amanda could get her seatbelt fastened and Franklin could put the car in gear, they were surrounded by people with cameras. Franklin began rolling up the windows, nearly catching someone's hand. He locked all the doors as the paparazzi crowded around the car, tapping on the windows and shouting questions at the poor little girl. "Hey Fay, give us a smile, honey!" "Fay Wray, how'd you get those gorillas to protect you like that?" "Fay, is that gorilla gonna be your new guide ape?" 'Hey Fay, where's your first guide animal now?" "Hey Fay, is that gorilla your new boyfriend?

That was the last straw for Franklin. "Scrunch down out of their site, honey," he said quietly, and laid on his horn and revved the car's engine, scattering most. The two arriving police cars scattered the rest.

Neither Amanda nor Franklin knew who called the cops, and neither one cared. After a brief conversation, they gave the two a Police escort back to Will's, where an unexpected welcoming committee waited for them.

Caesar and Charles were the first to reach the car, followed closely by Amanda's parents and brother, with Will and Caroline trailing behind.

"Are you okay, Kiddo?" Charles cried as he helped Amanda out of the car and hugged her tight, with Caesar pressing close against her as well.

"C'mon you guys. A girl needs to breathe," Amanda giggled as Franklin got out of the car. The tightly packed group made their way back into the house for some well-deserved food.

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To everyone's relief, that was the last big and exciting event for a long time. For the next couple of years, things settled down for Caesar and Amanda, and their routines were rarely disturbed. Amanda started coming over to Will's every weekday morning. She would do her schoolwork there. At midday, she and Caesar would have a little lunch then go out in the yard to play or for a walk around the neighborhood, and after that Amanda would finish her lessons and have a little piano time with Charles before she and Caesar were allowed out again. Two or three times a week, Franklin would pick her up, and take her to the zoo to visit Luca and her friends there. It was a good arrangement for everyone, since it allowed Amanda to get out of her house and have friends nearby, and her dad could go back to work full time and not worry constantly about his little girl or get reported to CPS for leaving a young child unattended.