Free Jennie by Douglas Preston Page B

begin writhing on the grass. It always frightened Jennie so! He’d give out this awful, bloodcurdling scream, and he’d twitch and lie still.
    Poor Jennie. She’d squat next to him, poking him and backing off. Then she’d make that horrible grimace of fear and creep under the bushes. When she was frightened, she made a horrid face. It was really
quite
grotesque, all her teeth and pink gums exposed in a diabolical grin. I could hear her miserable whimpers from under the bushes. Her little heart was breaking, the poor thing, thinking Sandy had died!
    And then Sandy would jump up. He’d cry out, “Ha! fooled you!” and Jennie would hug him, try to kiss him. She was so sweet, so caring. Always so concerned.
    Oh my goodness. I hope I’m not giving you the wrong impression about Sandy. I remember thinking at the time, doesn’t he know he’s talking to an ape? It seemed quite ridiculous. But right from the beginning, Sandy talked to Jennie like she was a little sister—or rather a little brother. In a funny way Jennie seemed to understand.
    I was so surprised one afternoon, the afternoon Jennie figured out how to die. Sandy came rushing out of the bushes firing that silly gun . . . Jennie did a somersault, convulsed on the ground for a moment, gave a screech and lay still. Well! She could never lie stillfor long, but she could lie dead for a few seconds. And then she’d be up again. She’d leap on his back, while he shouted “Die alien!” or some such thing, spinning around and shooting his gun, while Jennie clung to his back and screamed herself. Or he’d cry out, “Help, men, it’s got me! I’m being eaten!”
    Oh, I just wish I could have filmed them playing! It was the funniest thing you’ve ever seen. They raced around, Jennie like a black bullet shooting out of the arborvitae and through the hedge. With Sandy in hot pursuit. Every afternoon they played that game.
    Sandy was not the most popular boy in school. He was very smart, you know, but immature for his age. So he didn’t have many friends. But when the neighborhood children realized he had a chimpanzee in his backyard! Well! He became the most popular boy overnight.
    It happened only three days after Jennie arrived. Sandy came traipsing down the brook path with a big crowd of kids. It must have been half the children in his class! When Jennie saw them coming from her tree house, she could hardly contain her excitement. And nervousness. At that age she was very shy. She squeaked and hid in the bushes when they came through the gap in the back hedge.
    Sandy started calling out for her. Calling up to the tree house, calling around. But no Jennie. And those kids started to laugh. One of them said, “Get out of here, there’s no
monkey!
”
    Now Sandy was very particular about that. Just like Hugo. Jennie was an
ape
, not a monkey. Monkeys were inferior! [Laughs]. So an argument started. I was about to go out there and send those awful children home when I saw Jennie creeping along the bushes next to the house. She was carrying that ratty old hat in her hand. It was quite disgusting. That summer she lost it in the woods, thank goodness.
    Well! Sandy started calling for Jennie again, but those awful children started to tease him. “Monkey, monkey! Here monkey!”they kept saying. Poor Sandy. I could hear the panic creeping into his voice. If Jennie didn’t come out soon, he would never hear the end of it. But I could see Jennie getting ready to make her move.
    Oh my goodness! Jennie burst out of the bushes with a screech as shrill as a buzz saw! Nobody, not even a circus freak, could make a sound that penetrating. Her hair was all puffed out, and that pink mouth of hers was wide open. And she charged right at them, flailing that horrid hat about.
    Heavens! You should have seen it. They were terrified! They all turned tail and went crashing through our poor abused hedge.