1523 words (6 minute read)

Archival film footage dated June 25, 1974

Int – Library - Day

 

Eric kneels and plugs in a lava lamp on the small table.

 

Eric: Can you please close those drapes?  I want to make it as dark as we can.

 

Gail walks behind him and the room darkens.  The lava lamp glows a deep iridescent blue.

 

Eric looks up at the camera.

 

Eric (cont.): OK.  Today we’re going to review colors with Smithy and we’ll also see if he can learn to apply more than one word or concept to an object.  So let’s bring him inside…

 

A knocking sounds at the door.

 

Jeff (off-camera): They’re ready!

 

The door opens and Piers enters holding Smithy’s hand.  The chimp smiles when he sees Eric and Gail.  Eric waves and opens his arms.  Smithy gives him a hug.  Gail sits on the floor beside Eric.  She signs “hug” and Smithy embraces her too.

 

Piers: Let’s limit our vocals today.  I want to ensure he truly understand the sign and isn’t reacting to our words.  Remember, our goal is to teach comprehension and performance of sign language.

 

Piers signs to Smithy, “Who is that?”  Smithy signs “Eric.”  Piers points to Gail and signs “Who is that?”  Smithy signs “Gail.”  Eric points to Smithy and signs “Who are you?”  Smithy signs “Me.”  Eric signs “Who are you?” a second time.  The chimp signs “Me Webster Smithy me.”  Piers frowns and makes a “Hrumph!” sound when he sees this. 

 

Eric shifts his seat and Smithy sees the lava lamp behind him.  It glows a deep purple. He freezes and stands up straighter.  His gaze is focused on the lamp and the hair on top of his head stands up.  Eric signs “What is that?”  Smithy runs over to the lamp and reaches out for it.  Eric quickly signs “Don’t touch!”  Smithy hesitates, then reaches for the lamp again.  Gail sits closest to him and she swats his hand away.  She also signs “No. Don’t touch.” 

 

Eric crawls closer to the lamp and taps it gently. He signs “What is this?”  Smithy signs “purple.” As he signs, the color shifts to red.  Smithy hoots and hops backward.

 

Eric: I wanted something that wouldn’t be static so he would have to identify its changing properties instead of becoming complacent and assigning only one sign to the object.

 

Gail: How does it do that?

 

Eric: There’s a little light underneath, kind of like at a disco.  So the lava’s always changing color a little.

 

He signs “What is this?”  Smithy stares at him.  Eric points to the lamp and signs “Water lamp.”

 

Piers: Why did you choose that sign?

 

Eric: Because the globs inside look like giant drops of water.

 

Piers frowns.

 

Piers: My concern with “water lamp” is that Webster may try to drink from it.

 

Eric: We’ll teach him that’s a bad idea.

 

He signs “You no touch.  Bad.” “What color?”  Smithy signs “red.” The light changes to blue again.  Eric signs “What color? Hurry.” Smithy is distracted by watching the lamp.  He crawls closer and peers up at the shifting liquids.  Piers snaps his fingers to draw the chimp’s attention; he signs “What color is this?”  Smithy signs “blue.”  Eric points to the lamp and signs “pretty.”  Gail signs “water lamp” then “blue water lamp” then “pretty.”

 

Piers: Right now, we are introducing him to the variety of descriptors for this lava lamp. Later, we will test his recall to see how many different signs for it he can spontaneously apply.

 

Smithy watches the lamp.  Gail signs “You like?” Smithy signs “Give me.”  Gail signs “What do you want?”  Smithy signs “red”.  The lamp has just turned red again.  He pauses and signs “red water lamp.”

 

Jeff (off-camera): He did it!  He extrapolated from a previous sign!

 

Piers grins.

 

Piers: It’s too soon to assume that, but we’ll ask him about it again later.

 

Eric signs “What is this?”  Smithy signs “pretty water lamp.”  With greater agitation, he signs “Give Smithy me pretty.”  Eric signs “No touch water lamp. Touch bad.”  He pauses, then signs “Smithy touch water lamp hurt.” 

 

Eric: I don’t want him to get fussy when he sees one of us handling it.

 

Eric signs “water lamp hot.  Hurt.  Eric touch water lamp good.  You touch water lamp bad.”

 

Piers: What else can you ask him about its properties?

 

Eric and Gail sit for a moment, watching the lamp, then Gail signs “Water lamp light. Water lamp hot.”  She slides over to the wall socket and unplugs the lamp.

 

Eric: Wait! What are you doing?

 

Gail: I want to show him the difference.

 

Gail signs “Where light?  Water lamp cold. Water lamp dark.”  Smithy whines.

 

Eric: He wants it back on. 

 

Gail plugs the lamp in.  It glows a soft purple.  Eric points to it and signs “Water lamp purple.”  Smithy crawls toward the wall socket and picks up the cord.  Gail snatches it out of his hand.  Smithy grunts and signs “No bad hot water lamp me Smithy mine.”

 

Eric: What do you mean by that?

 

He signs “What do you want?” Smithy scoots backward suddenly, snarling.  The lava lamp tips over and breaks.  Glass and fluid spray across the table and carpet.

 

Eric: Shit!

 

Piers grabs Smithy and pulls him away from the mess, toward the middle of the room.

 

Piers: You need to clean this up right away!

 

Eric: I’ll get a towel. 

 

He jumps up and runs out of the library.  Gail opens the curtains to let more light into the room as Jeff comes into the camera range and approaches the desk.  He picks up a newspaper from the desk and unfolds it; he sets the papers down over the spill.  Piers faces Smithy and signs “What happened?”  Smithy covers his eyes with both hands and rocks back and forth.  Piers pulls his hands free and signs “Look.  You bad.”

 

Gail: He must have tugged the cord when he moved backward and pulled the lamp over.

 

Jeff: You’re the reason we can’t have nice things, pal.

 

Smithy continues to cover and uncover his eyes rapidly, whining.

 

Gail: Look!  He’s crying. He’s ashamed.

 

Piers: No, don’t anthropomorphise him.  He’s telling us something.  Covering the eyes is Webster’s sign for ‘sleep’…or ‘night,’ correct? 

 

Jeff:  He also uses that sign to mean “dark.”  He started using the signs interchangeably about a week ago, and we all agreed to respond accordingly.

 

Piers: Hmm…I wish you had consulted me before adopting the sign as a synonym for another word.  We risk leaving ourselves open to sloppiness and ambiguity if we allow him to overuse signs too generally.  Now what meaning would make the most sense in this context?

 

Gail: Nothing in the room is dark anymore.  Maybe Smi—Webster wants us to turn the lights out and make the mess go away?

 

Piers: Isn’t that a complicated message?  Our boy usually uses simpler, more direct concepts.

 

Jeff: Gail could be on to something.  Maybe he feels safer in the dark.

 

Piers: Webster could be reverting to the original meaning of this sign.  Perhaps he is overtired.  He may be asking for a nap.  He has also signaled “sleep” in the past to extricate himself from unpleasant situations.  It may be he recognizes he is about to be punished and is trying to escape a scolding.

 

Eric runs back into the library with his arms full of towels.  He mops up the spill.

 

Eric: I’m so sorry about this. And about the delay. I had to get some cleaning rags from Wanda. She wouldn’t let me use a regular towel.

 

Piers: That’s all right, Eric.  It was a good try.  I’m going to take our boy up to bed.  He needs a nap, or at least a time out, for the breakage.

 

Piers scoops up Smithy and walks out of the library.  The chimp is still agitated.  He points to the lamp and signs “Me no bad” then covers his eyes with his free hand.  Jeff returns to the camera.  The screen goes dark


Next Chapter: Archival film footage dated July 24, 1974