“Sometimes, things do work out for the best,” Moe said.
“I’m glad you called. Catch me up.”
“A lot has happened. St. James and LaDonna did sue the pants off of West Covina for breaking their promise to build me a house. Finally, the town agreed that I could be moved somewhere closer to home.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at the Animal Haven Ranch near Bakersfield. The people who run this place seem to really care how I feel. And there are six other chimps here.”
“I’m glad you feel you’re in a better place,” I said.
“They know I’m special. And they know how important it is that I see St. James and LaDonna. Last week, during their visit, LaDonna told me she was happy I had some chimp friends here.”
“You seem happy to be there.”
“I am. I can’t believe I spent five whole years living at that ‘sanctuary’.”
“That’s a significant part of your life. Now that you’re out of there, do you think it changed you in any way?” I asked.
“I don’t want to think about that place ever again,” Moe said.
“But it’s important that you do. Do you think you learned anything there?”
“They made sure I learned chimp stuff, not human stuff.”
“Like what?”
Moe thought for a moment and then sounded more relaxed. “I can sit and be by myself. I’m not always in a rush to do the next thing.”
“Anything else?”
“I don’t need approval for everything I do anymore. I sure wasn’t going to get it from them.”
“Anything else?”
“When my situation looked totally hopeless, I had to stop worrying about the future.”
“That can be a relief,” I said.
“But I am worried about St. James and LaDonna. They spent all their money trying to get me back home. They even had to disband their racing team. I hope they don’t hold it against me; I owe them everything.”
“Did anything give you the impression they were angry with you?”
“No, but I just want to see them happy. I wish I could live with them again, but the people who run the town still see me as a dangerous animal.”
“Sometimes we have to settle for less than perfect.”
“In humans and in chimps,” Moe replied.
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about humans,” Moe told me later in the session.
“We humans do the same thing.”
“I think I know why they’re so afraid of me.”
I waited for his thoughts.
“They’re not only afraid of losing a finger,” Moe told me. “They’re afraid of losing control of themselves.”
I assumed he was talking about me.
Moe continued with his analysis of human behavior. “Humans do much worse things to each other than bite someone’s finger off. I’m not saying that’s good, but I didn’t kill anyone. Or any of the awful things humans do every day.”
“But most people aren’t like that.” I was a little uncomfortable having to defend the goodness of my species.
“And I’m not like that either. People loved me when I showed them I could act human. But your worst fear is that in the right circumstances, you can act like a chimp.”
“And often we do. For a chimp, you’re very smart, Moe.”
“I’ll stay here, make friends with the other chimps, and be who I am. You humans will have to worry about your own identity. I can’t solve that for you.”