Free Black Princess Mystery by Jim Power Page B

animals would
always be startled, but the big baboon would stand over the small dead creature
as if the corpse was a trophy. Then he would walk away and let the hyenas and
vultures clean the carcass.”
    “But that
baboon was not evil because he did not understand evil,” Mrs. Green argued.
“Even if a baboon does kill a gazelle and leave it there, I still think he was
motivated by instinct and not by mere sport. Animals live by instinct, no
matter how strange that instinct may be. They don’t have our conscience. They
don’t have laws and principles and morals.”
    “Oh, they
probably do,” Tasheka objected, “otherwise there would be chaos. Everything is
ordered, Momma. Animal groups are usually highly structured. Chimps, wolves,
and dolphins all have elaborate societies with specialized languages. They are
very much like us.”
    “That’s
true,” Mrs. Green said, nodding. “I suppose that if a baboon murdered another
baboon, he might be killed by the whole troupe, or forced to leave.”
    “Whatever
they decide,” Tasheka agreed. “They have their own laws, but it’s at a level we
don’t understand. The one exception is that sometimes an individual can be
exempt from laws. For instance, if the uber baboon or the alpha male lion
killed one of their own, then nothing would probably come of it. It’s like the
President of the United States ordering a drone attack on some unsuspecting sap
driving down a desert road. He could easily pull that off, whether the man was
guilty or not. My African friend described that exact scene. He said they were
hunting one day and witnessed Brutus killing a young female because she had
refused his sexual advances.”
    “How did
his group react?” Mrs. Green asked, intensely drawn into the conversation.
    “They were
apparently very upset, especially the females, but they fell into quiet
submission. Unfortunately for him, though, there was a rich Texan on safari who
was apparently a crack shot. Brutus was blustering and screaming on top of a
mound when a well-placed bullet ended his reign.” She shrugged. “If it wasn’t
for that bored hunter, who knows what Brutus would have gone on to do?”
    “But was
he evil, Tasheka? Could a fish or a bird or a baboon really be evil?”
    “I think
so,” Tasheka said. “I think many animals have animal laws and sometimes they
are broken, and the individuals breaking them know they are doing wrong. But,
like people, some of them feel no guilt, and if they are the most powerful in
the group, might becomes right. Look at Adolf Hitler. He was responsible for
the deaths of millions, but how much blood did he have on his hands? He had
none, Momma, because he had no conscience. His hands could absorb no blood. It
dripped right off. Stalin killed twenty million of his own people and he was
revered. His throne was built on a Mount Everest of corpses, but when he died,
millions wept. He was a hero, a mass murderer on the grandest scale. Ted Bundy,
Richard Ramirez, Jeffrey Dahmer and Jack the Ripper paled in comparison to
him.”
    “He was no
hero to me,” Mrs. Green said. “My grandfather died in a Soviet gulag. That
blood can never be washed away, and nothing will be hidden on Judgment Day.”
Mrs. Green touched her daughter’s hand. “Killers are the exceptions that prove
the rule. People are not evil. Don’t taint everyone by the actions of a few.”

“You’re
right,” Tasheka said, hugging her mother. “I just have to look at you to
realize there is good in the world.”
    “You could
never kill anyone, could you?” she asked.
    “Could you,
Momma? Could you kill someone?”
    “If
someone was trying to harm you, I could, but to kill someone in cold blood, now
that took a peculiar and very individual mind.”
    “Yes, a
very peculiar mind.”
    Mrs. Green
winced as if tasting something sour. “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Put it
out of your mind, honey. You’re home and I just want to enjoy Christmas with my
daughter.