Chapter 4

Dr. Greene was a tiny, white-haired woman in her sixties. She may have been small in stature but she dominated her environment with her slightly too-loud voice and her brisk, all-business manner. As soon as she stepped in the door, she shook my hand with a surprisingly strong grip and demanded, "Where's Bonnie?"

"The last time I looked, she was taking a nap under the tree."

"Good. Introduce me to her so I can get started." It wasn't a request, it was a command.

I called to her as I stepped into the enclosure, "Bonnie, someone here to meet you!"

She raised her head and looked for a moment before ambling over and holding up her arms to me to be picked up. "Bonnie, this is Dr. Greene. She wants to examine you to make sure you're well. Is that OK?"

In response, Bonnie reached out and gently touched Dr. Greene on her hand."

As she moved through her examination, the doctor's demeanor changed completely. Dealing directly with her patient, she was soft-spoken, gentle and solicitous. Every time she employed a medical device, she first showed it to Bonnie and let her hold it and examined it. The patient didn't much care for the calipers used to measure her skull but she tolerated it OK. The process took about fifteen minutes. When she was done, the doctor asked Bonnie for a hug. When she got it, she was visibly moved.

Bonnie's mental capacity was measured by showing her a series of tasks in the form of games and asking her to repeat them. I could tell the doctor was astounded that Bonnie understood everything without it being repeated. Every task shown to her was copied exactly.

Dr. Greene sat there shaking her head. "This is hard to believe. Her adolescent bonobo brain understands instruction at the level of a teenage human. I can't say for sure because I'm not an expert in primatology but I think her forehead is more pronounced than other apes I've seen. If that's true, it might indicate a larger prefrontal lobe and that might indicate a higher reasoning capacity than chimps and bonobos are thought to have. The fine motor control of her hands is definitely superior to other apes I've seen. Of course, we'll need to do a lot more testing and research to decide whether she's unique or a member of an undiscovered species."

My protective instincts rose to the surface immediately. "What do you mean by 'a lot more testing'? You're not planning on holding her hostage again in some laboratory, are you."

The doctor smiled. "No, Aaron, we're not going to hold her hostage in a lab. Any further testing will be done right here at the compound. It's going to take a while to find out where she came from and what legal claims Adamson's Laboratories might have on her. Meanwhile, nobody will know where she is except the three of us, Steve and Jimmy, and I don't believe Jimmy knows there's anything special about her."

I was still suspicious. "Well, I'm not leaving her until I'm satisfied she's where she's supposed to be, and I don't mean just legally."

"I'm very happy to hear that, Aaron." Sarah joined the conversation. "Why don't you consider yourself an employee of the Foundation for the time being? Dad asked me to extend the invitation to you. Your sole responsibility would be to take care of Bonnie. Of course, that includes making sure she lives in a clean, healthy environment. Are you a good housekeeper?"

"Better than most, I'd say."

"Good!" snapped Dr. Greene, back to her normal brusque self. "Well, I'm off. I have a couple of operations this afternoon. I'll be in touch, Aaron, and we'll set up a schedule for further testing. Take good care of our girl. She could be unbelievably important to science. Goodbye." She marched out the door like a person on a mission.

"Aren't you going with her?" I asked, turning to Sarah.

"No, we came in separate cars. The regular girl is back on the desk today so I'm going to spend the day with you and Bonnie, if that's OK."

"Yeah, that's super!" I might have revealed a little more enthusiasm than I'd intended. "How about I make us some lunch?"

"Great! I'm starved."

Bonnie sat at the table munching sweet potato strips and an orange while Sarah and I had tomato soup and a salad. Every once in a while, she'd reach a hand over and sneak one of Sarah's crackers and smile as she popped it into her mouth. I put some on her plate but sneaking someone else's was a game so she ignored my gesture.

"So, Aaron, Dr. Greene told me a lot about bonobo social behavior this morning before we left town. Pretty interesting stuff. I hope you won't be embarrassed by this but, has Bonnie tried to copulate with you yet?"

I must have turned the color of the tomato soup because she put her hand on my arm and laughed. "I'm sorry," still giggling, "I shouldn't have sprung that question on you so suddenly. It's just that it's so important in bonobo society that I wouldn't be surprised if she had, especially considering you're the nearest thing she has to family right now. You don't have to answer that question if you don't want to."

Still feeling a little pink around the cheeks, I grinned and admitted that she had.

In a more serious tone, Sarah said, "I hope you didn't just reject her out of hand. Even with her obvious intelligence, I doubt she has any concept of human mores."

Not at all sure how it would be received, I mumbled, "No, I didn't reject her. She kept watching me to see if I'd accept her so I couldn't really say 'no', could I? But it was all her idea. All I did was lie there as passively as I could."

I though she was going to laugh at me again when the smile spread across her face and I was getting ready to feel offended when she leaned across the small table and kissed me lightly on the lips. "I'm proud of you, Aaron. That was the kindest thing you could have done." Turning to Bonnie, she added, "And you're making me jealous."

I hoped she meant that remark like I wanted to take it. "I have to admit it was an interesting experience. She's definitely not built for sex with a human but she insisted on making it work. I was being as careful as I could not to hurt her. Once she got going, I think she really enjoyed it a lot."

"Doesn't everybody?"

"Probably not everybody. I guess it depends on the circumstances and the partner." I felt a need to change the subject. "I picked up a book on ASL yesterday. You want to work with me to see how well she picks it up?"

"That's a great idea." She stroked Bonnie's head, "How about it young lady? Would you like to learn to talk with your hands?" Her eyes opened wide and she looked at me. "Aaron, does Jimmy know anything is special about Bonnie?

"I don't think so. This morning he just mentioned that he watched her playing for a while. Why?"

"I just remembered he grew up with a deaf brother. He knows sign! He'd be the perfect one to teach Bonnie. Shall we ask him?"

"Well, he seems like a pretty nice guy but you know him better than I do. Do you trust him to keep his mouth shut about her?"

"Jimmy's as loyal and honest as they come. I'd trust him with anything."

"OK. Call him and ask him if he'd be interested."

Sarah called Jimmy and asked when he could come by the house but didn't tell him what it was about. He was busy working on something and asked if it could wait until morning.

After we cleaned up the lunch dishes, we gathered in the living room and sat on the floor with the book on the coffee table. I got Bonnie's attention and pointed to an object in the book, then made the sign for it according to the hand positions shown under the picture. When I pointed to her, she did the same thing; pointed to the object and made the signs for it, checking each one carefully in the book to see that she got it right. In spite of already seeing ample evidence of her intelligence, Sarah and I were still struck by how quickly she understood the concept, then followed through with making the symbols with her hands.