the black market, and raised by humans until she was too big to be a plaything dressed in human baby clothes anymore.
She was too confused to ever live in the wild. She had no chimp social skills at all and would attack other chimps if they were allowed in the same enclosure.
Dr. Max hoped that would change. He had arranged for a male chimp, Oscar, who had been raised in similar conditions, to come to the Lincoln Park Zoo as a companion and possibly a mate for Cindy. Oscar was supposed to arrive in the fall, but they would be kept far apart until Dr. Max thought Cindy was ready to meet him.
The fact that the chimp was crushing on the primate research scientist did not bode well for Oscar.
Where is your baby?
Teagan asked again.
Dr. Max thought that play therapy might help Cindy remember her few months in the wild with her mother. It might help her remember that she was a chimpanzee.
Teagan had studied hours of footage of mother chimps and their babies before they started their creative play.
Cindy ignored the question, so Teagan sat down and started searching through her doll's hair for fleas. She pretended to find one, pick it out, and pop it between her teeth. Cindy jumped up into her swing. She brought her own doll back down, and started searching it for fleas, too.
Teagan cuddled her doll. Cindy cuddled her doll for about a minute. Then she threw it on its head, jumped up to her swing, and lay down, one foot dangling over the side.
"Don't want to play today, huh?" Teagan spent the rest of the hour pretending to be a mother chimp, while Cindy peeked at her over the edge of the tire swing.
When she got back to the office, Dr. Max and Agnes were standing in the middle of the floor. Agnes cradled something in her hand.
"Is everything all right?" Teagan asked. "How'd surgery go?"
"Buster should be fine," Dr. Max said.
"Tiny Tiddly's dead," Agnes blurted out. She was holding the small body.
"He was fine just an hour ago." Teagan took him. The
wrongness
she always felt when she touched death spread through her, and then the anger. "Who did this?"
"He was in the middle of the floor," Dr. Max said.
"He couldn't have been," Teagan said. "I put him in the nest box myself." There was a froth of blood on his snout, and his mouth gaped open. "Who else has been in the office?"
Agnes met her eyes then looked away. "No one else has come in, Teagan. Just you."
Someone had to have come into the lab. Teagan shook her head. No one here would do something so ... evil.
I've seen
a
cat-sÃdhe
squeeze the life out of a baby bird. Just to hear it squeak.... Cindy told me you had a "scary kitty" with you....
Teagan shook her head. There had to be a logical explanation.
"Agnes will take over the feedings from now on." Dr. Max took the little body from her. "I'll dispose of this."
"Dr. Max, Iâ"
"Let's follow Ms. Hahn's rules for a while," he said. "No animal contact without supervision. None. I have some paperwork to do."
Agnes turned her back on them and pretended to be busy with paperwork of her own.
Teagan held back the tears until she was at the bus stop. Her vision blurred as they welled up, and the jiggles she'd been catching out of the corner of her eye all morning seemed to swim together into ... a
creature
about a foot and a half tall. It leaned against the wall of the bus-stop shelter, its cat mouth open in horrible laughter.
None of the other people at the bus stop seemed to see it. It's
just tears twisting things around.
Teagan squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed them hard enough to make little stars appear. When she opened them again, there was nothing strange in the bus shelter, just the usual trash and graffiti on the back wall.
When she got home, Abby was waiting for her on the front steps of her house.
"Nobody's here," she said as Teagan walked up.
"They've gone to the library," Teagan said. "Mom's signing books at the Spring Book Fest. Dad is in charge of the whole thing. I'm supposed to go right
She was too confused to ever live in the wild. She had no chimp social skills at all and would attack other chimps if they were allowed in the same enclosure.
Dr. Max hoped that would change. He had arranged for a male chimp, Oscar, who had been raised in similar conditions, to come to the Lincoln Park Zoo as a companion and possibly a mate for Cindy. Oscar was supposed to arrive in the fall, but they would be kept far apart until Dr. Max thought Cindy was ready to meet him.
The fact that the chimp was crushing on the primate research scientist did not bode well for Oscar.
Where is your baby?
Teagan asked again.
Dr. Max thought that play therapy might help Cindy remember her few months in the wild with her mother. It might help her remember that she was a chimpanzee.
Teagan had studied hours of footage of mother chimps and their babies before they started their creative play.
Cindy ignored the question, so Teagan sat down and started searching through her doll's hair for fleas. She pretended to find one, pick it out, and pop it between her teeth. Cindy jumped up into her swing. She brought her own doll back down, and started searching it for fleas, too.
Teagan cuddled her doll. Cindy cuddled her doll for about a minute. Then she threw it on its head, jumped up to her swing, and lay down, one foot dangling over the side.
"Don't want to play today, huh?" Teagan spent the rest of the hour pretending to be a mother chimp, while Cindy peeked at her over the edge of the tire swing.
When she got back to the office, Dr. Max and Agnes were standing in the middle of the floor. Agnes cradled something in her hand.
"Is everything all right?" Teagan asked. "How'd surgery go?"
"Buster should be fine," Dr. Max said.
"Tiny Tiddly's dead," Agnes blurted out. She was holding the small body.
"He was fine just an hour ago." Teagan took him. The
wrongness
she always felt when she touched death spread through her, and then the anger. "Who did this?"
"He was in the middle of the floor," Dr. Max said.
"He couldn't have been," Teagan said. "I put him in the nest box myself." There was a froth of blood on his snout, and his mouth gaped open. "Who else has been in the office?"
Agnes met her eyes then looked away. "No one else has come in, Teagan. Just you."
Someone had to have come into the lab. Teagan shook her head. No one here would do something so ... evil.
I've seen
a
cat-sÃdhe
squeeze the life out of a baby bird. Just to hear it squeak.... Cindy told me you had a "scary kitty" with you....
Teagan shook her head. There had to be a logical explanation.
"Agnes will take over the feedings from now on." Dr. Max took the little body from her. "I'll dispose of this."
"Dr. Max, Iâ"
"Let's follow Ms. Hahn's rules for a while," he said. "No animal contact without supervision. None. I have some paperwork to do."
Agnes turned her back on them and pretended to be busy with paperwork of her own.
Teagan held back the tears until she was at the bus stop. Her vision blurred as they welled up, and the jiggles she'd been catching out of the corner of her eye all morning seemed to swim together into ... a
creature
about a foot and a half tall. It leaned against the wall of the bus-stop shelter, its cat mouth open in horrible laughter.
None of the other people at the bus stop seemed to see it. It's
just tears twisting things around.
Teagan squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed them hard enough to make little stars appear. When she opened them again, there was nothing strange in the bus shelter, just the usual trash and graffiti on the back wall.
When she got home, Abby was waiting for her on the front steps of her house.
"Nobody's here," she said as Teagan walked up.
"They've gone to the library," Teagan said. "Mom's signing books at the Spring Book Fest. Dad is in charge of the whole thing. I'm supposed to go right
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