“Let’s play count.”
Dulce shook her body playfully and spoke again. You silly.
DeeAnn smiled. She wasn’t silly; she was tired. It was almost one hundred degrees in the habitat. She could only run around so much before Dulce would think she was playing dead. “Let’s play count,” she repeated. She held up her hand as the small speaker on her chest vibrated and spit out the gorilla version of the sentence. Displaying four fingers, DeeAnn asked, “How many is this?”
Dulce’s grin turned into a wide smile, and she barely looked at DeeAnn’s hand before replying with a purr followed by low squeals. Four. Play chase now.
DeeAnn sighed and looked around, spotting Alison with relief, who was standing on the other side of the glass, watching them. She pointed through the glass. “Who’s that, Dulce?”
Dulce turned and followed DeeAnn’s finger. Her excitement was immediate. Alison! Dulce sprang from her position and ran forward on her fists, covering the distance to the wall quickly. She put her dark hand on the glass and patted it playfully. That was how she greeted people on the other side.
Alison smiled back at Dulce and leaned forward, patting back against the glass. She waited until DeeAnn and her vest had reached them before Alison replied. “Good morning, Dulce.”
“Hey, Ali,” DeeAnn said.
“Morning. Lee said you were looking for me.”
Before DeeAnn could reply, the speaker on her vest emitted a loud tone, signifying the last sentence was not translated successfully. She instinctively pushed a small button, pausing the system.
“Yeah, I wanted to steal Kelly from you this afternoon to work on some more group translations with us. Lee said he fixed part of yesterday’s problem, so I wanted to give it another try.”
“Sure,” Alison glanced at her watch. “I think she’s going to feed Dirk and Sally in about thirty minutes or so. I’ll send her over after that.”
“Thanks,” DeeAnn gave Alison a devious smile. “You want to come in and do some laps with Dulce?”
Alison laughed. “I would if I could, but I need to make sure everything is ready for Thursday. It’s a big day,” she added, with a wink.
“Gotcha, have fun.” DeeAnn waved and stepped back from the glass, pushing the button again on her vest. She looked down at Dulce, who was smiling up at her. “Okay, one more chase.”
Alison watched DeeAnn run away after Dulce, hopelessly outmatched. She still marveled at what Lee and Juan had done, with help from IBM, of course. The mobile unit was amazing, providing it stayed within wireless range of the IMIS system. But as incredible as the vest was, it almost seemed trite compared to what Lee and Juan were working on now: an improved vest that was also waterproof.
5
Dulce sat on the ground, across from DeeAnn, studying the large board in front of her. Her small brown legs bowed in front of her as she reached down with her thick fingers and spun the wooden dial on the board. It was a game that DeeAnn had built to teach colors and shapes.
The oversized dial stopped turning above a large red triangle, which made Dulce clap her hands. She loved the triangles. Excitedly, Dulce stood up and swung her arm over the board. She grasped her piece in her dark hands and moved it to the next red triangle spot. She immediately raised her head and grinned happily from ear to ear.
“Very good, Dulce,” DeeAnn clapped along with her.
Still standing, Dulce examined the board again and then pointed at DeeAnn.
You turn you turn. The words emanated from the built-in speaker on the vest.
DeeAnn laughed and leaned forward. “I know. I know.” She reached down and brushed the dial with her hand. When it landed on a black circle, Dulce suddenly stopped and shook her head.
Not good.
DeeAnn opened her mouth, pretending to be offended, causing Dulce to promptly begin laughing with another toothy grin. When DeeAnn could no longer hold her smile in, Dulce jumped over the board and into her lap.
Dulce squealed and wrapped her arms around her. Me love Mommy.
DeeAnn hugged her back and gently touched her forehead to Dulce’s. “I love you too.”
Dulce was, of course, smart enough to understand she wasn’t human, but DeeAnn was the only mother figure Dulce had ever known. Or at least remembered.
DeeAnn was already caring for Dulce when they traveled to Puerto Rico to join Alison and her team. In fact, Dulce was just under a year and one-half old when DeeAnn had found her. Now almost two years later, they were as close as ever. It seemed as though Dulce had forgotten the terrible trauma before DeeAnn came along and had managed to become trusting again, as proven through her physical affection. Most gorillas were much less affectionate, or downright dangerous, if they got too close. But Dulce was different. She was naturally strong for her size, but she also had a soft side which made her more human than DeeAnn had ever seen.