I Waved and He Waved Back

Have you ever thought about the day in your childhood when your parents picked you up and put you down for one last time? Knowingly or unknowingly, they never picked you up again after that day. They thought maybe you could take care of yourselves or you were too big for them or more often than not, simply there was never a reason. That’s how it is in life for everyone. But that was not the case for me. I could still remember the last time my papa hugged me and lifted me off the ground. I was still a very small kid and the memories are fading fast but some scenes are well ingrained in my mind because it was all too emotional for me.

I was told that my mama passed away giving birth to me in a zoo in Texas. My papa was the world to me. We spend all day in our home. We were never worried about starving because our masters who look a lot like us were always providing us with enough food. According to my papa, our ancestors and the ancestors of our masters were one. The masters belonged to the smarter group and we were the ordinary group. The masters developed some special powers that we did not. For example, the masters can produce unique sounds from their mouth but we can’t. We can produce sounds too but not as fluent and as fast as our masters. We can totally understand what they mean by each sound they produce but we can’t reproduce the exact same sound to reply them. Hence, the communication between us mostly relied on sign language.

My papa used to tell me stories about the place where he came from. He called it ‘The Other Side’. I could never imagine the terrain he was describing. Apparently, it was filled with rows and rows of trees as far as the eyes could see. When papa was young, he used to jump from tree to tree in a straight line for hours and yet he could only see rows of trees for as far as he could see ahead of him. He also always reminded me that as much as The Other Side was an exciting place, it was also full of traps and dangers. My papa’s papa, my grandpa, could not outrun his enemy and ended up dead. My papa, during one of his adventures, accidentally stepped on what looked like a beautifully organised string and ended up falling in the trap set by our masters and was brought to this zoo. He has since then have come to terms with his fate and managed to suit himself to live in the zoo. He always wished that I should experience living in The Other Side at least once.

I was five years old when I last saw my papa. My papa hugged me and lift me off the ground as soon as he saw two masters coming into our home. It is as though he knew something horrible was going to happen. True enough, I was forcefully separated from my papa and was loaded in a huge vehicle. I was sent to another zoo in Cincinnati to learn to behave like an adult since I was always living under my papa’s protection before this.

I was depressed for a long time in my new home. No more papa, no more cuddling and no more stories of The Other Side. Days passed very slowly and I had nothing to look forward to for the day. Sometimes I would just stare at the masters standing outside of my home. They would throw light at me with their device and some would even throw some bananas.

Not everything was gloomy in my new home. I made two new friends there, Chewie and Mara. They were slightly older than me and was very understanding towards me. They had been through the exact same situation and they somehow successfully overcame it. I spent all day with them and we exchanged stories and sometimes we played games that my papa taught me. Slowly things were starting to feel normal and my childhood trauma was starting to fade away.

It was my 17^th birthday that day. I felt like it was just another day. The day just passed by and my long-gone depression was trying to creep inside me again. My existential crisis boomed out of no where and I felt like a five-year-old again; the same five-year-old who was separated from his papa and was thrown into an unfamiliar place; the same five-year-old who had no more reasons to live anymore. I was missing my papa more than ever that day.

Chewie and Mara had a good night’s sleep but I couldn’t, partially because of Chewie’s loud snore but mostly because of my memories of papa. Memories I was not aware that were embedded in my mind came flashing in front of my eyes. Next day the sun rose as usual and I was convinced about one thing. I need a reason to continue living. I need something to look forward to. That’s the only way, if not I was sure this depression will eat me from inside.

That’s when a fresh banana hit me from the back. I turned around and saw a young master waving at me with a big smile. I gathered whatever physical and mental strength I had left in me and waved back weakly. I could see that the young master was jumping in joy when he saw me responding to him. I heard him saying to the older master beside him that he wanted to come inside my home but the older master shook his head in refusal. The disappointment in the face of the young master was apparent.

I don’t know why but I felt an instant connection with this master, more than the other masters who served my food daily. It was a long time since I felt this feeling, maybe never since I last saw my papa. I wanted to protect him and pour my affection towards him. It was my time to become a father and continue my papa’s legacy.

I signaled the young master to come inside but there was three-foot-tall fence separating him and me besides the 15 feet height of steep slope. He understood me immediately and began climbing the fence with his small feet. The older master who was standing beside him was too busy throwing light at Chewie and was totally unaware of the young master’s effort to climb the fence. After a small struggle, young master managed to climb over and started crawling towards me through the bushes. He didn’t realise the steep slope and fell down 15 feet. Luckily, he fell into a moat of shallow water. I quickly ran towards him to see if he sustained any injuries. He was fine.

Suddenly I could feel the vibe surrounding my home was different. I could hear screams and feel the panic in the air. I thought my young master was in danger and quickly moved him out of the place. My young master was all wet now. I tried to prop him up. He was so fragile and small; he could fit in between my arms perfectly.

As seconds passed by the magnitude of the screams got louder and louder. I looked up and saw my usual master who would bring me food was signalling to me to go back inside.  I could see Chewie and Mara’s face were full of fear and they were just staring at me. I was confused and had a sudden urge to protect this young master at all cost. This was history repeating itself but now I am in my papa’s position. I need to protect my child.

I hugged him and lifted him off the ground and carried him up a ladder out of the moat onto my sleeping spot. I hugged him and made sure he was not exposed to those who were trying to separate him from me. I heard Chewie’s voice screaming my name, “Harambeee….”.

That was the last thing I heard before a bullet pierced through my brain.