Free The Ape Man's Brother by Joe R. Lansdale

she was a child. Dr. Rice had raised her. I think she liked the idea of being near his grave.
    As I have said, I had grown to like civilization, and missed it. Bowen was ready to go home as well. So on a cool night with all of us up in the tree house, drinking wine we had gone back and rescued from the zeppelin crash (surprisingly most of the bottles had survived), I said what I had dreaded to say. Me and Bowen were going home.
    The zeppelin was beyond repair, but the biplanes, both of them, were in fine shape. We would have to release them from the zeppelin and turn them over on their wheels, but I thought with the help of a lot of my people, that could be done. A plane couldn’t carry us all the way back to America, but Bowen had charted out the possibility of Greenland, the place The Big Guy’s folks had flown from. It was a close possibility, and he wasn’t sure we could make it, but since there were a couple of intact cans of gas along with the planes’ filled reservoir, and me being quite nimble and able to gas it up in flight by means of a can and hose and good strong rope, we thought there was a good chance we could manage it that far. I reminded Bowen that The Big Guy’s parents had made it from Greenland to here, and that gave me hope. He reminded me the wind patterns were different, and we would be pushing against the wind in spots. Still, we missed home bad enough we were willing to give it a try.
    The Big Guy cried. I mean he cried, just let loose with a howl and started leaking tears. He clutched me to him, and damn near broke me. He begged me to stay, but I was stalwart in my plans, and told him so. The Woman cried and hugged me to her naked body as well. I clung to her as long as I could without getting an erection. I thought, considering past events, that would be bad form. Another thing, I couldn’t stay close to her for much longer because the old feelings still existed, and I didn’t want anything to fan that little blaze into a fire.
    Bowen shook hands with them, went on down. I stayed for one last drink of wine. I should add that I was drinking and The Woman was drinking, but The Big Guy was not. He had sworn off the stuff forever, in any shape or form. He drank a kind of coffee made from jungle nuts. It was pretty awful, and hard to get used to. It tasted to me as if it were goat shit boiled in sewer water, but he had a hankering for it and drank it by the cups.
    When we had our drinks, I said, “You know, there’s something I feel I must tell you.” I told them about the serum, and that The Big Guy had, at least according to Dr. Rice, received it when he was a child, that it gave him everlasting life, and that he might remain as he was forever, provided he wasn’t killed or got some kind of disease. I explained this as best I could, and The Big Guy sat there mulling it over. The Woman let out her breath and jerked a hand to her mouth. “He won’t age. And I will?”
    I nodded.
    She buried her face in her hands.
    I said, “I think there might be a way where you can both continue to be as you are now.”
    The Woman peeked through her fingers. “Really?”
    “Maybe.”
    I had brought a little box with me that night, along with the wine, and now I opened it. Inside were items from the medical supplies. Hypodermic needles and big glass syringes.
    I put a needle in a syringe. I said, “If I can draw some of The Big Guy’s blood, and then put that blood in you, it may serve as a serum for you as well. I can’t guarantee it, but we can try. It’s one of your father’s theories.”
    “He told you all of this,” she said.
    “He did. Me and him, we got along well.”
    “I knew you did,” she said, “but this… It’s amazing.”
    “I can’t guarantee it will work,” I said. “But I thought we should try.”
    “Oh, my heavens,” The Woman said. “We must. The idea of growing old, and losing him… I can’t face it.”
    “Your age doesn’t matter,” said The Big Guy, which was