Excerpt: A Place to Run Free

Chapter 15 – A Conversation in the Canopy

Jake loved climbing trees. There was something about the challenge, and the quick reward of making upward progress that appealed to him. He’d climbed hundreds of trees in his short life, and had enjoyed every single climb. Not once had he ever been afraid, and in all the hours he’d spent climbing, he’d never been hurt. But all of his climbs put together couldn’t match this one.
This one was pure bliss.
Higher and higher he went, passing branches as big as sidewalks that led to other trees, past vines as thick as his head, through leaves the size of beach towels. The ground had long since been obscured by shorter trees, and as he climbed, everything became brighter as the light filtered through the high canopy above. Every branch he passed seemed to give him more energy, and part of him wish the tree would go on forever. On and on he climbed, until the cries of the birds were so close that they might have landed on his shoulders. No wonder the Church people always pointed up when they talked about Heaven!
“Remarkable.”
Jake looked around for the source, but he saw nothing.
“Who said that?” Jake asked.
“It speaks,” said another voice.
“But does it say anything? That’s the more important question,” said a third.
Jake suspected it might be the tree itself talking. Maybe the trees here had grown so big that they figured out how to speak. He decided to find out. He looked directly at the smooth bark.
“My name’s Jake,” he said.
“I think it’s talking to the tree,” came the first voice.
“Odd,” said the second.
Finally, Jake got a fix on them, and he looked up. Sitting on a branch about ten feet above his head were three orangutans.
“Hello,” Jake said.
“Oh, look,” said the middle orangutan, “now it’s talking to us.”
“Brilliant,” said the one on the right.
“Hello,” Jake said. He climbed until he reached a branch level to the apes. At least ten feet separated them from him. The apes didn’t seem hostile, but at the same time, they didn’t seem enthusiastic about his presence in the canopy.
“I thought we’d seen the last of your kind, Keeper,” said the orangutan in the middle.
“My name’s Jake,” Jake said.
“We gathered that. Unless you change your name as often as you talk to trees.”
The other two apes snorted and slapped the tree branch, obviously quite amused at their friend’s retort. Jake wasn’t quite sure what to make of them. Most of the animals he’d met were at least somewhat friendly, but these three seemed different. They called him “Keeper” instead of “Giver.” Jake wondered what the difference was.
“What should I call you?” Jake asked.
“We would prefer if you called us from somewhere far away, so we could pretend not to hear you,” said the one on the left. “But since you insist on bothering us, my name is Bobo. That one over there is Wigwig,” Bobo gestured to the ape on the right.
“And I am Spence, and please pass on our thanks for such ridiculous names,” said the ape in the center.
“Yours isn’t so bad,” said Bobo.
“Now what could a Keeper possibly want with three former Kept Apes who just want to be left alone?” said Spence. “Haven’t we amused you enough already? Now you’re going to climb all the way up here for a little show? What should we do, should we pretend to be keepers perhaps? That was always a favorite. We could put on some Keeper skins, and prance about. You Keepers love that.”
“I didn’t even know you guys were up here. I’m looking for a little dog.”
All three apes burst into peals of laughter. Jake felt his face flush.
“A dog?” said Wigwig, his chest heaving with mirth.
“You find a lot of dogs in trees, do you?” said Spence.
“No. I thought maybe a bird might have seen him.”
“So dogs fly as well? “ said Bobo
“I suspect that’s how he got in the tree in the first place,” cackled Wigwig. All three apes collapsed in laughter again.
“I don’t see what’s so funny,” said Jake.
“Neither did we,” said Spence. “We didn’t find it funny at all, when your kind took our parents out of the rainforest. I’m afraid the joke was on us, born in captivity. I never knew life in the treetops until my life was over. I performed because I wanted to eat. It was that or the test labs.”
“Well, it wasn’t me. I never had a monkey in a cage. I never even went to a circus or a zoo. I lived out in the woods,” Jake replied.
“So we should give you special consideration?”
Jake wasn’t sure what “special consideration” was, but he didn’t want the apes to know that. He nodded instead, pretending that he knew exactly what they were talking about.
“I’ll give you a hint,” said Bobo. “See all those birds flying around? Every single one of them can talk. Every last one. But talking is the last thing they want to hear. Imagine if you were a bird. You have beautiful, bright plumage and strong wings. What do you think you’d want to do?”
“Fly,” Jake said.
“Naturally,” said Bobo. “Now how much flying can a bird do in a cage barely big enough to turn around in? What kind of pleasure could you possibly get out of denying a creature its basic nature? And on top of that, you want the poor bird to squawk like a Keeper too. You take away its wings, and you take away its song, and what’s left? What’s left of the bird when you take away what makes it a bird in the first place?”
“Nothing, I guess,” said Jake.
“Now these birds here, they’ll never see the inside of a cage again. No Keepers here,” said Spence.
“Well, one,” said Wigwig.
“You don’t understand,” said Jake. “There are animals down there, in the grassland and in the forest, dogs and cats, who are getting taken away, maybe put in cages or worse. I’m trying to stop it. That dog I’m looking for, he knows the way to their hideout.”
“Whose hideout?” said Bobo.
“The Malbinocks. The things dragging the dogs and cats away. I’m trying to help.”
“A little late, don’t you think?” said Bobo
“What do you mean?” asked Jake.
“I mean, if your kind wanted to help, you wouldn’t have put us in cages in the first place.”
“I can’t do anything about that,” Jake said. “I fell in a river and ended up here. I didn’t even make it to the right Heaven. But there are things down there hurting cats and dogs. That’s something I can do something about. But I need to find Gordon or I’m stuck.”
“He’s not very bright,” said Wigwig. “Imagine climbing a tree to find a dog. But I think perhaps his intentions are good. And that’s quite rare in a Keeper.”
“Quite rare,” said Spence.
“Perhaps we could ask around,” said Bobo.
“I’d sure be glad if you did,” said Jake.
“Oh, if we did decide to ask around, it wouldn’t be for you,” said Spence.
“We just don’t like cages,” said Wigwig.
“So you don’t think the birds will talk to me?” Jake said.
“No. I’m sure they won’t,” said Bobo. But you’re welcome to wander around the treetops and talk to some more trees, if it will make you feel helpful.”
“Actually, I think I’ll go back down,” said Jake.
“Excellent idea,” Spence said. “Careful not to slip. From this high up, I’m not sure we’d still recognize you when you reached the forest floor.”
“And I know you guys don’t like me, but I am sorry about what happened to you. You guys didn’t deserve it.”
“No, we didn’t,” said Bobo.
Jake began to make his way back down. Suddenly, he stopped.
“Hey, Spence! How will I know if you guys hear something?”
“If we hear something, we’ll find you.”

Chapter 16

Climbing down wasn’t quite as easy as climbing up. Jake climbed carefully, remembering the ape’s warning. He wondered about what would happen if he did happen to slip. The fear of nothingness crept into him again, but he fought it back. Being scared wasn’t going to get him out of the tree any more safely.
Jake also felt sorry for the three apes. Of course, he had never had anything close to a pet monkey, but had the opportunity presented itself, Jake probably would have jumped at the chance. Spence, Bobo and Wigwig had set him straight; he’d never again consider the idea of having anything but a dog or a cat as a pet. It wouldn’t really be a stretch for him. Jake had never kept birds. In fact, he felt exactly the same way the apes felt about keeping birds in cages. Somehow, it had always seemed wrong to him. But he hadn’t given much thought to other animals. He wondered how iguanas and snakes felt about being confined.
That got him thinking about how he was in the perfect place for snakes.
Jake picked up the pace, hoping that there weren’t any snakes slithering through the trees who harbored any kind of resentment against Keepers. There weren’t any on the way up, but somehow that offered Jake very little comfort.
The light faded as he descended, entering the shade of the lower canopy.