“That’s not very nice,” Candace said indignantly.

“I’m sorry,” Kevin said. He’d not meant to hurt her feelings.

“Well, I’m going closer,” Melanie announced. “Jane Goodall was able to get right up next to her chimps.”

“True,” Kevin said. “But that was after months of acclimatization.”

“I’m still going to try,” Melanie said.

Kevin and Candace let Melanie get ten feet in front of them before they looked at each other, shrugged, and joined her.

“You don’t have to do this for me,” Melanie whispered.

“Actually, I want to get close enough to see if my double has any facial expression,” Kevin whispered. “And I want to look into his eyes.”

With no more talk and by moving slowly and deliberately, the three were able to come within twenty feet of the bonobo. Then they stopped again.

“This is incredible,” Melanie whispered without taking her eyes from the animal’s face. The only way it was apparent the bonobo was alive was an occasional blink, movements of his eyes, and a flaring of his nostrils with each respiration.

“Look at those pectorals,” Candace said. “It looks like he’s spent most of his life in a gym.”

“How do you think he got that scar?” Melanie asked.

The bonobo had a thick scar that ran down the left side of his face almost to his mouth.

Kevin leaned forward and stared into the animal’s eyes. They were brown just like his own. Since the sun was in the bonobo’s face, his pupils were pinpoint. Kevin strained to detect intelligence, but it was difficult to tell.

Without the slightest warning the bonobo suddenly clapped his hands with such force that an echo reverberated between the leafy walls of the cul de sac. At the same time he yelled: “Atah!”

Kevin, Melanie, and Candace leaped from fright. Having worried from the start that the bonobo was about to flee at any moment, they’d not considered the possibility of him acting aggressively. The violent clap and yell panicked them, and made them fear the animal was about to attack. But he didn’t. He reverted back to his stonelike state.

After a moment’s confusion they recovered a semblance of their previous poise. They eyed the bonobo nervously.

“What was that all about?” Melanie asked.

“I don’t think he’s as scared of us as we’d thought,” Candace said. “Maybe we should just back away.”

“I agree,” Kevin said uneasily. “But let’s go slowly. Don’t panic.” Following his own advice, he took a few careful steps backward and motioned for the women to do likewise.

The bonobo responded by reaching around behind his back and grabbing a tool he had suspended by the vine around his waist. He held the tool aloft over his head and cried “Atah” again.

The three froze, wide-eyed with terror.

“What can ‘Atah’ mean?” Melanie whined after a few moments when nothing happened. “Can it be a word? Could he be talking?”

“I don’t have any idea,” Kevin sputtered. “But at least he hasn’t come toward us.”