Angel Of Mercy

Chapter 26

Karin did not expect to see most of the apes except for Maurice quite so soon, but while Mary's illness did not spread through the ape village, it did spread to one human woman. A few days after she left the apes, Karin fell ill. It did not worry her much, but when Maurice reported this to Caesar, who then told Cornelia, it all snowballed out of control from there. She did not know whether to be more touched or alarmed when her ape friends acted as if she were on death's door, and while she would love to blame Maurice for the overreaction, her suspicions were mostly on Caesar and/or Cornelia.

Maurice was there, of course, and he stayed longer than usual, especially once Mary was well enough to take over part of his morning classes. When Maurice left, a rotating shift of mostly females, with one or two male exceptions, old Percy whom Karin really began to refer to as Grandpa and Luca, was always at her side, Tinker, Cornelia, Phoebe, Lake's mother Judy, and even Lytta and the village healer, Sparrow took turns playing nurse maids. And they were all much too good at it, even the big silver-back showed that he could be as good a nurse maid as any of the females.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" Karin asked Phoebe late one afternoon as they awaited Maurice's arrival. "You and Cornelia and Tinker seem real at home with cooking in a human house."

The old orangutan lady smiled wistfully and nodded; her eyes distant with memories. "Helped Kim. In kitchen," she told Karin in her halting speech, and Karin hoped that was genuine, that helped did not mean the woman used her as some kind of servant. Given the sad look in Phoebe and Percy's eyes whenever they talked about their human friends, Karin guessed it had been a mutually loving relationship.

"How's Mary doing?" she asked concerned. "With all of you guys traipsing in and out of here, well ... I guess it's too much to hope that Koba would let Mary come."

Phoebe made a low chuckling sound deep in her throat, and her eyes positively gleamed with something that Karin could not name.

"What?" Karin demanded.

"You'll see," Phoebe promised mysteriously.

The surprise was revealed about a half hour after Maurice's arrival and Phoebe's departure. There came a knock on the door.

"Mary?" Karin gasped as the small form, wearing a new-looking bearskin cloak, stepped past Maurice with a triumphant grin plastered on her little face. "Oh my God! Mary, honey, if you're Dad catches you out here, he'll ... Maurice, take her home, quick, before she gets in trouble with—"

Mary moved to one side, and Karin was in for a greater shock, for behind her stepped a hesitant Koba, carrying a large basket with delicious smells of cooked food wafting from its depths.

"Mary? Koba, what the—" Karin spluttered. She turned to Maurice, but he was taken aback as well.

"We hunted for you today," Mary announced proudly. "Both of us. We caught two big rabbits, and a bird."

"Chicken," Koba put in helpfully.

"Chicken," Mary repeated. "And I cooked it, too."

Karin's eyes flicked questioningly to Koba. "Mary's idea," the scarred ape grunted.

"Well, thank you for letting her," Karin told him., her eyes brimming with emotion.

Koba looked away and grunted, shrugging noncommittally, but Karin recognized the expression. Her father often looked like that about some notion she got set upon more or less against his advice.

The child began to look around the room and reached towards a picture sitting on the piano. "Mary!" Koba warned. "Not your house. Don't touch."

"But who are they?" Mary began, but Koba cut her off with a sharp look, and the child withdrew her hand at once.