Jennie Read Online Free PDF

laid a hairy hand on her head. They stared at each other, fascinated. Neither one had seen anything like the other! And then Jennie said “Oooo” and stuck Sarah’s hand into her mouth.
    Oh my goodness. You can imagine my reaction. I shrieked and snatched Sarah away. You see, I thought Jennie had tried to bite Sarah. Hugo explained everything. This was just Jennie’s way of greeting, he said. She took your finger and put it in her mouth.
    That was fine and good in Africa, but not in America! Later I put an end to that unsanitary habit.
    Poor Jennie was terrified at my reaction. She crouched on the sofa, covering her head with her hands and rocking back and forth. You would have thought I had just beaten her. She looked so pitiful. I comforted Jennie and gave her my hand. She guided my pinky into her mouth and I gritted my teeth while she sucked on it.
    And then Sarah, dear Sarah, held out her arms to the chimp. She wanted a hug!
    Hugo told Jennie she could hug the baby. And I was so surprised, she shuffled over and gave Sarah the sweetest hug. I could hardly believe it when I saw this hairy animal cradling my baby Sarah. She rocked her just like a mother. The baby looked at me and began flapping her arms, her little bald head bumping against the hairy chest of the chimpanzee. Isn’t it odd how clearly I remember that first meeting? Oh dear . . .
    Even at that age, Jennie understood some English. Now some of these primate researchers will tell you that chimpanzees cannot really understand spoken English. That’s ridiculous. That chimp understood almost anything you would say to her. You had to live with her to see what I mean. When she learned ASL—that’s American Sign Language—you could ask her a question in English andshe’d answer in ASL. Honestly, I’d never met a more awful group of people in my life than those primate researchers. That horrible Dr. Prentiss—
    Yes, I know, one thing at a time. I’ll save that for later. Thank you.
    Hugo built a house for Jennie in the old crab apple tree in the side yard, and he gave her a pile of old army blankets. Hugo was a terrible pack rat, and he saved everything. The attic was full of his papers, fifth grade report cards, college essays, you name it. They were a dreadful fire hazard in that wooden attic. We had terrible fights. I thought we were going to have a divorce over those papers. And now that he’s gone, I don’t have the heart to throw them out. There you go. [Long pause.]
    Where was I? Hugo built Jennie a little tree house in back. Every evening Jennie gathered up her blankets and climbed into her tree and arranged them in her treehouse. In the morning, at first light, her head poked out, and then she dropped each blanket, one by one, to the ground.
    Jennie had her own tin cup, plate, and spoon given to her by the captain of the ship that brought them back from Africa. The captain insisted that she and Hugo eat at his table every night. It made the other guests hopping mad to have this ape in a diaper sitting in the seat of honor! But that’s another story.
    When she finished dropping her blankets she threw down the cup, plate, and spoon. Then climbed down, collected her tableware, and banged on the back door, giving her “hungry hoot” at the top of her lungs. That was her “food” sound. I think the primate researchers call it a “pant-hoot.” It was sometimes a grunt and sometimes a howl, depending on how hungry she was! Mind you, this was five, six o’clock in the morning. The dogs would start barking hysterically, even though they knew perfectly well who it was, and I would have to get to the door as fast as possible to keep Jennie from waking up the neighborhood.
    When Jennie came in, the dogs hid under the sofa. They wereafraid to death of her. Jennie sat at the kitchen table and carefully arranged all her tableware. And then she would sit there for an hour or more,