My Little Bird | Blue Eyes (Under minor grammatical editing)

Chapter 6

Its been two days. We have been given a few days to ourselves to grieve from working on the dam. I was sitting on the log in the eating area with Caesar and his family again for breakfast. I haven't spoken a word out loud, and have been answering questions politely with short, curt sentences. I was picking over my breakfast plate, trying to force myself to eat so as not to offend the apes around me, even though my appetite was as good as nonexistent.

"You are not hungry?" Cornelia signed, but she didn't seem to be talking to me. I turned to see Dax sitting next to me just staring at his food blankly. He didn't see Cornelia sign to him, and just continued to stare at his greens. I knew that look well. I sighed and turned to the queen.

"His head is somewhere else right now. I'm sorry. He doesn't mean any offense." I apologized for him.

"No offense taken. I am worried you two will not get enough to eat. You don't seem hungry, either." She signed, glancing pointedly at my own stone dish. I sighed and looked apologetically at her, beginning to raise my hand to my chest to apologize. Cornelia reached out and grabbed my lightly clenched fist before I could sign the word and shook her head with a small smile.

"You are grieving. No need to apologize." I surprised myself with how ecstatic her understanding made me, but I was still unable to give her more than a half smile. But I unfurled my hand and lifted it to my chin.

"Thank you, Cornelia."

She smiled kindly at me, but my attention was diverted by a certain baby chimp. I met Haze's bright little eyes as he tugged on my hair, which hung almost to my waist. He gave a pant and a cute little smile before clambering up me, nearly knocking the plate out of my hand as he made his way onto my shoulder, sticking his face into the hair hanging next to my neck. I let out a small laugh before the child moved himself to my other shoulder and doing the same as he did on the other side.

Haze's attention then went to Dax, as though he had heard a noise come from my sulking older brother, even though the older boy had remained still and silent as stone. Haze then made the decision to leap from my shoulder to Dax, nearly falling off as Dax gave a little jump of surprise. Dax quickly cupped his hand under Haze and helped the little ape get a steady hold on his shoulder.

The child made himself useful by exploring Dax like he was a mountain that was in desperate need of ascension and adventure. Haze climbed all over Dax, from exploring his beanie, to his pant leg, to his T-shirt sleeve. All the while Dax sat still and let the chimp use him as a jungle gym. Dax luckily got smart half way through and removed the wooden food dish from his lap as Haze played. Soon the chimp lost his grip on Dax's T shirt he had been clutching as he examined Dax's ears and went rolling down. When Haze rolled down to his lap, Dax lifted both legs upward so the baby wouldn't land on the stone beneath our feet. Haze seemed to love that.

We watched with a smile as my large brother played with this tiny, delicate little child, and had a blast. They played with each other for a little while longer before Haze decided he missed Blue Eyes and toddled over to his older brother, who promptly scooped him up with one arm. We all kept our eyes on the small ape as he panted excitedly to his brother.

"Haze like new apes." The small child signed.

I felt immensely happy and flattered, and Dax and I shared a glance, and though he tried to hide it, I could see in his eyes that it made Dax happy, too. The ape family bared their fangs in a smile at the small child's words. After a moment shared by all of us in silence in the glow of the happiness Haze sparked in us, Cornelia turned to me again as Blue Eyes began to try to feed Haze berries.

"Will you tell me about her?" She signed.

"Who?" I asked.

"Your mother. It might help to talk about it." She explained. Dax and I shared another glance, and I took a cleansing breathe.