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Farrow wiped the sweat off his brow and looked over at the two men lying on the ground in his secret hideout. He shook his head which was suddenly so full of questions.
Who were these men? Why were they dressed like that? What was that thing they were in when he found them??
And how long had it been since he had pulled them out of that...machine?
He was just now beginning to feel more like himself. Sitting on the dirt floor with his back against a concrete wall, he was finally catching his breath. Although the day outside was cool and comfortable, with the door to this secret room shut, it was very hot and stuffy in here. But the gorillas were out there, no doubt searching for these two humans. Farrow had no choice but to keep the door closed. He had put a pitcher of water in this room earlier in the day so he had plenty to drink. He also wanted to use a damp cloth to try and cool off the two sleeping humans with him.
But first, he had to rest. Getting those men out of that contraption and then half carrying and half dragging them here had taken a physical toll on him. He was no longer a young man.
Farrow thought about the third man who had been there. The dead man. He wished he could have pulled that man out too. If only to give him a proper burial. But the apes had been close. They were always close. And he was glad to have at least saved these two living humans. He wondered again how long they had been here? In this dark and quiet room, he had dozed on and off and had lost track of time. Had it been hours? It felt like it.
The two men showed no sign of waking up. The dark-haired human lay so heavy and so silent that Farrow went over--twice!--and checked his heartbeat to make sure he hadn’t died. Farrow smiled at that thought. He didn’t think that particular human would be waking up any time soon. The light-haired one occasionally mumbled in his sleep and had even cried out once or twice but both were still deeply unconscious.
These humans, as strangely dressed as they were and however they had arrived in that machine, were young and strong. They were alive. And Farrow was determined that they stayed that way. I will help them, Farrow thought, I have to. The smile slipped from his face. Two male humans. Young and strong.
As his sons had been.
He hadn’t been able to save his two boys all those years ago. Then he had been powerless to stop the apes from…
He shook the thought from his head. It didn’t matter anymore.
He would certainly save these two.
Farrow looked up towards the door of this secret chamber. The loud and desperate uproar of approaching horses filled the room. The apes were close again but Farrow paid the noise little attention. It was the third time he heard the gorillas searching the area since he had pulled these two humans to safety. Of course the gorillas were looking. They were always looking. There was no doubt in Farrow’s mind that the apes wanted these men found.
And then the apes would want them dead. The sooner the better, the apes would think.
But Farrow wasn’t worried. These human men were safe now. The apes would never find this place. They never had in the past, not even by accident. All three of them were safe right where they were. That feeling of safety, combined with the quiet of the room, allowed Farrow the time to think--he knew he should be planning what he needed to do next.
But now that his sons were in his mind’s eye, he couldn’t stop thinking about them. His boys. Royo and Danal. For so long after his wife had died, it had just been the three of them. How long had they been gone? How long had he been alone? Years now, he thought. Many years.
He watched as the two men’s chests silently rose and fell. Their breathing was steady and silent.
They were alive.
And his sons were dead.
Royo had been lost first. He and his entire family--including a young son named Farrow--had died of the sweating sickness. Their bodies had, of course, been burned by the gorillas (along with their whole village and several humans who were not even sick) and the ashes were dumped in a nearby river.
Danal, his younger son, was only a teenager when he had been shot and killed by some gorilla soldiers during a hunt. Farrow had heard that his younger son’s body had been stuffed and was on display at the ape science museum in Central City. He never went to check out if it was true. He was afraid it was and what would he do then?
Farrow hadn’t had either son to bury and no graves to visit. They were just gone. As if they had never existed. He wiped away the tears that had suddenly come to his eyes and looked over at the sleeping humans. That would have happened to them too if he hadn’t gotten them to this safe place. They would have just disappeared. As if they had never existed.
The light-haired man started moaning again. Then mumbling. But this time Farrow couldn’t make any sense of what he was saying.
He brought the damp cloth and a candle over to where the man lay and began to wipe his brow. A glint caught his eye. He looked down. Why hadn’t he noticed that before?
The human was wearing a band of metal around one of the fingers on his left hand. Farrow lifted the man’s hand and gently turned the metal band to see if there was any writing on it. There wasn’t, which was good, because Farrow couldn’t read.
He rubbed his chin. Where had he seen one of those metal bands before? He furrowed his brow. Now that he thought about it, the dead human he had left in that machine was also wearing one of these. Identical in fact. It brought to mind a nearby fishing village where the workers were banded around their wrists for life as a sign of where they belonged. Maybe this man and the dead one were from the same village or family. Maybe they were running away from that place and the lifetime of slavery this metal band represented.
Farrow looked over at the dark-haired man’s hand. It was bare. He must be from somewhere other than where this man and the dead man belonged. He must have been helping them escape somehow. Everything about these men was so strange. He carefully put the man’s hand down. The sleeping man’s voice faded away and as his body relaxed, he lapsed back into a deep unconsciousness. Farrow moved over to the dark-haired man and began to wash his forehead.
Then he went back to sit against the wall and wait for these men to wake up. He was beginning to think that they would never wake up. He yawned. In this hot, dark room, he was feeling sleepy again so to pass the time he reached into an opening in the wall and moved a flat stone to uncover a dusty and tattered book. He loved this book but it was falling apart so he pulled it out being careful not to tear any of it. It was his favorite because the pictures showed a world where humans were in charge. He couldn’t read the story but he knew it was a made-up tale. It had to be! How could humans be smarter than apes? He looked at the book for a few minutes but he felt himself falling asleep. He smiled as he thought how funny it was that at the same time he wanted the men to wake up, he wanted nothing but to sleep. He closed his eyes. Just for a minute or two, he said to himself.
**********
Farrow awoke again from a dozing nap. He had been here with these men for the better part of the day. He knew the gorillas must still be out there scouring the area for them. He also realized that he needed to go into the village. If these men were to survive, he needed three things: food, clothing, and information.
Though they had lain there motionless for hours, Farrow did not feel entirely comfortable leaving their side. Perhaps he could wake them up. He lifted one of the light-haired man’s eyelids. A blue eye stared sightlessly up at him. He waved his hand in front of it. No reaction. He allowed the lid to close. He had remembered once when he was still living in the village a female neighbor of his named Clara had fallen out of a tree while picking fruit. She had lain unconscious on the ground at the foot of the tree. A crowd had gathered. A gorilla overseer who wanted everyone to get back to work had tried to wake the poor woman up by kicking her in the ribs. When that didn’t work, the ape finally brought the woman awake by slapping her face. Hard. So Farrow went over to the dark-haired man and gently tapped him on the cheeks. He didn’t want to hurt the man but he had to try and wake him up so he hit him a little harder. It didn’t work; the strangely garbed man continued to lie there, limp and silent.
Farrow stood and made up his mind. These men had remained asleep since he had found them that morning; it had been all day. What were the chances they were going to wake up while he was gone? For a moment he thought he should stay until they woke up. If they woke up while he was gone, they might wander outside and get into trouble. Or worse, killed. No, he should stay until they wake up. But they would need food and water. Different clothing to help them blend in. Farrow thought for a moment and then decided he would have to take a chance and leave.
And get back as quickly as he could.
Surely they would still be asleep when he got back, the old man thought as he slipped out of the secret room.