Beastly Behavior

Content warning: Brief violence

Esau and Calvin are tearing around the chimp yard like furry black missiles. When one catches up with the other, he lashes out, punching, kicking, and slapping all at once. They race across the grass, scramble up the fake rock formations, and then fall off in a tangle of limbs as they scream. Every chimp in the enclosure is screaming, either in indignation or fear or anger. The females are running around, their lips pulled back in fear grins, trying to avoid the two big, angry males.

Some visitors to the zoo are watching the fight from the path. A few boys have their phones out videoing the clash. A little girl with bright orange glasses is holding onto her father’s leg and crying. I think I know how she feels.

There’s nothing I can do about this. Esau has been challenging Calvin for dominance for months, but Calvin has tenaciously kept his alpha position, beating back the younger upstart. Zoo keepers don’t usually intervene. The animals need to sort it out for themselves. 

Calvin and Esau eventually quiet and slow down, until they come to a stop a few yards apart. The other chimps go back to foraging. When the camera boys are convinced the show is over, they put their phones away and leave. The upset murmuring from the other guests fades, and they move on as newcomers wander up to the railing of the exhibit. 

When Esau isn’t challenging for dominance, he and Calvin behave affably, like old friends, grooming one another and sitting together. But after a scuffle, they sulk with their backs to each other, like now. They remind me of the way my older brothers have been handling their disagreements recently. 

It's closing time, so I work on getting the chimpanzees indoors for the night. Calvin and Esau are reluctant to go into the same space together.

“Hi Dad, sorry I’m late, Calvin and Esau were fighting right before closing time, so it took longer to get the chimpanzees in for the night.” As I come into the kitchen, my nose registers burning, and I snatch a pot off the stove. I can’t even tell what the black, crispy stuff stuck to the bottom is. 

Dad smiles at me broadly as I turn off the burner. “Do you know where they keep the plates in this house?”

I look up at him, a smile pasted on my face, and gently ask, “Dad, do you want to sit down while I set the table?”

“Alright,” he answers, ever amiable.

As I settle him in the dining room with hot tea and a cookie, I hear the front door open and shut, and then cupboards slamming in the kitchen. 

“What’s wrong?” I ask my brother Gary as he scrubs out the bottom of the pot under a higher-than-necessary stream of water. 

“I had to stay late, I’m starving, there’s no dinner ready, and Dad was home alone until—”

“Where’s James?” I interrupt. 

“He left me a voicemail. Something came up at church and he thought Dad would be okay alone for an hour or two.”

“Well maybe he thought—”

“If he’s the only one at home with Dad all week, he should be getting dinner ready, not going out while Dad nearly burns down the house!”

Gary’s knuckles are clenched tight around the clean pot’s handle as he clatters it onto the stove top.

“James keeps insisting he should have a say in every decision before I do anything to the new house, but he doesn't know anything about building or working with his hands, so why should I have to talk it over with him? I’m the one who needs to do the work. The help he offers is a picture he drew!”

“He told me he’s been over there measuring and planning out the—”

“I don’t want to hear about it! If he won’t help take care of Dad, he won’t get the privilege of a voice, either!”

“He needs to practice, Gary, or they’ll pay someone else to play hymns and lead the choir.”

"Then what about you? Why don’t you spend more time helping at home?”

“You know how long I’ve been volunteering at the zoo. I just got a paid position, and I can’t take time off now or I might lose it!”

“I just got hired, too, but at a real job!” He throws down the box of macaroni he has begun to open; hard little noodles explode across the counter and floor. “You know what, you make dinner! I need to go sit with Dad.”

The cheesy pasta is nearly done when James comes in. My oldest brother's brow is furrowed with worry. “The organ repairman called to let me know his schedule changed and he needed to come today or in a month. I said today would be better, so I had to go let him into St. Francis."

“It's a good thing you were able to go let him in,” I say, holding out a stack of plates. “Could you set the table, please?”

"Why didn't Dad finish dinner?"

"He's having a foggy time again," I say, blinking back a few tears.

James's shoulders droop. "Oh," he says softly.

When I bring the food into the dining room, the table isn't set, and there is shouting in the hallway. Dad is shakily trying to stand, still holding onto his teacup. Tea is streaked on his pants and puddled on the floor.

Mom comes in, dark circles under her eyes. “Stephanie, darling. Sorry I’m home late…" She notices Dad, and hurries to him.

“That’s okay," I tell her. "Dinner’s a little late, so you’re just in time.” We both jump when a thud and crash make the pictures on the dining room wall shift. I leave Mom with Dad and dart out into the hall.

James is pressed against the wall, Gary's hand twisted in his shirt.

"You can't leave Dad alone like that!" Gary shouts in James's face, spittle flying.

James tries to push Gary away. "I thought he would be okay! He was doing great before I left!"

"But now he's not! He could hurt himself, or burn the house down!"

"Guys!" I exclaim, and swallow hard. "Dad just spilled his tea all over himself, and Mom is exhausted. Can we please sit down together and eat dinner?"

The meal passes in silence. I was hungry, but now I've lost my appetite. I push my food around my plate as I wait for dinner to be over.

A new day at the zoo, and another ferocious fight has wound down. Some of the chimps are huddled in little groups, grooming each other, which reduces their anxiety.

Lucille, oldest of the zoo’s female chimps, ambles up to alpha Calvin and starts grooming him. His tense, hunched posture relaxes under her gentle hands, and he even grooms her a little. Everyone else is avoiding the two males who just disrupted their morning. 

Interesting.

Minutes later, Lucille sidles away from Calvin and over to Esau. He also cheers up under her busy fingers, and he takes a few steps after her when she heads away from him and back to Calvin. 

Back and forth she ambles and scoots, drawing the two contrarians closer and closer together until she is sitting right between them, turning back and forth to groom them both. 

Suddenly, both males turn and reach around Lucille to start running their fingers through each other’s thick, dark fur. Lucille saunters away to look for more food hidden in the yard. 

It’s Friday, so when I clock out, I wish my hours weren’t over yet. 

I know home is where I’m needed, but Friday is the only day of the week when both of my brothers are off of work. There’s so much fighting. It feels worse than Calvin and Esau.

But Lucille’s actions are still bouncing around in my head. She broke the stalemate between Calvin and Esau by giving both something they wanted, when no one else would go near them.

At home, I ask both of my brothers to prepare our Friday night pizza and popcorn. They side-eye one another as Gary heats sauce on the stove and James opens plastic bags of shredded cheese, pepperoni slices, and sausage chunks. When they carry the ingredients into the dining room to assemble the pizzas, they avoid even brushing against each other. Meanwhile, I'm making something we haven't had for a long time.

James comes into the kitchen with a pizza to go into the oven, sniffing audibly. "Is that…fudge?"

"It's going to be," I answer, smiling. He grins as he puts the pizza in to bake.

Gary peers into my pot as he sets our big metal popcorn popper on the stove. "Dad's recipe?" he asks, looking pained.

I nod, giving him a smile tinged with sadness.

After playing our Friday night board game on the dining room table, with Dad watching rather than playing, I bring in a plate of peanut butter fudge, already sliced.

James and Gary reach for the same piece at the same time, and when their fingers touch, their eyes dart up to meet briefly. Both pull their hands back, and both pick a completely different piece. "This is good," Dad says, smiling as he eats his piece.

"So, boys, about the new house…" Mom starts when we've finished all the fudge on the plate. The last few times she brought this up, Gary left. This time, both of my brothers stay seated.

At the zoo the next day, I end up bargaining with Kong, a male chimp who's older and weaker than Calvin and Esau. I saw a little boy drop an unusually large stick into the chimpanzee enclosure. I need to get it out quickly, before Calvin or Esau finds it and uses it as a weapon against the other. Kong can be counted on to give me things if I ask for them, because he knows he'll get a treat if he does. "Give me the stick, Kong, and I'll give you a pear!" I show him the green fruit in my hand.

As I lean over the chimp yard's railing, the father of the stick-dropping boy points at me and lectures his son. "That is why you need to go to college. If you don't, you won't get a real job, and you'll end up talking to animals like they understand you."

I laugh so hard I barely catch the stick when Kong tosses it.