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Diary of Ruby Cardini, dated September 8, 1974

Smithy gave Jeff and me a big scare this afternoon!  While I tried to get him to identify pictures from books and magazines, he went into a funk, then broke out of the solarium—literally ripped the door open—and escaped.  It happened so quickly I didn’t know how to react.  We chased him as soon as we came to our senses and were just in time to see him climbing the gate! I knew we’d never catch him before he ended up loose in the neighborhood. 

As luck would have it, Tammy and Eric came jogging up the drive with Maisie then and were able to intercept him.  Eric plucked Smithy right off the gate and calmed him down by letting him pet the dog.  I’m afraid our boy was a bit rough with her because Maisie whimpered and looked uncomfortable.  Smithy looked awfully jumpy too.  The hair stood up on his back and he trembled as he clung to her.  We hauled him back to the house, back up to his room, and Jeff stayed with him the rest of the day.  I’m relieved no real harm ensued from his escape, but embarrassed it happened at all, especially with Piers back for the weekend.

After Smithy was in bed for the night, we went out to the gatehouse to watch Jeff’s film of the aborted lesson so we could find out what had triggered Smithy’s agitation. We also wanted to show the film as a demonstration of his strength when he broke the lock. Eric examined it and pronounced it “trashed.”  However, he insists that the very violence of its destruction is an argument against Smithy escaping the house that way before. 

All the other times he’s gotten out, none of the locks on the doors or windows have shown any force; it’s like Smithy’s gotten them to unlock themselves by magic.  “Either this time, he was in an awful hurry, or…” Eric trailed off and frowned.  “Or he didn’t do the other ones.”  Wanda asked if he thought someone else in the house was releasing Smithy from his room and Eric got flustered and fell quiet.  That’s a crazy suggestion, but no one else can explain how our chimp has become Houdini.

We couldn’t come up with a satisfactory motive for Smithy’s escape either.  Piers was both fascinated and puzzled by Smithy’s refusal to sign ‘car’ and his reversion to signing ‘woman,’ especially his combining it with the other sign.  We tried to figure out what he could have meant – “black woman,” “dark woman,” “sleep woman” “shame woman” “Get me out of here, woman!”  – but just as Piers once warned us, the fact that this sign has come to mean multiple things makes Smithy’s message ambiguous. 

We’re all concerned about what his backsliding could imply for our funding.  Piers just met with the board last month and said they were pleased, but if our progress stalls, if Smithy doesn’t adapt to his new school, the next meeting could shut us down.

As we were quietly fretting, Gail innocuously remarked on Smithy’s appearance.  “He looks like one of those little monkeys—see no evil!” That set Piers off.

“He’s not a monkey!  He is a chimpanzee! You know better!”  Gail looked startled; I thought she was going to cry. Later, Tammy and I assured her Piers wasn’t angry at her, only frustrated by Smithy’s odd behavior and worried about what it might mean for the study. 

We’ll resume our lessons tomorrow, and Smithy will attend class at the Meyer School on Tuesday and Wednesday as scheduled, but we’ll have to warn his teachers he could try to give them the slip.  I hope they won’t expel him if he acts up.  I also hope we don’t have to deal with any more such stunts here. 

Next Chapter: Diary of Ruby Cardini, dated September 25, 1974