When I was younger I was taken from my family and sent to a cold gray building in Washington State in
the United States. I was devastated and scared. I felt so alone without my parents and my brothers and
sisters. At least I had one brother with me. Without him I would've felt even worse. The scientist wanted
me for an experiment to see if they could make me talk. I was the smartest of the 15 of us that they
took from our home in Asia. I did not know the other apes very well at the beginning. We lived far apart
in the forest. Weeks later when I started to understand what they were saying to me I said, “hello I am
an ape, and my name is Gerald.” I didn't actually use words, but my hands, the humans call it sign
language.
Years went by and I became the head of the 15 original apes. I have a brother named Roy that helps me
with my daily duties. Roy is smaller than I am so he can never be in charge. That's how it works with us,
you have to be big to be in charge. Roys arms are smaller and his chest is less hairy than mine. My wife is
named Lucy. Lucy is shy and timid around the humans but when we are alone she is a chatterbox. Lucy's
hair is much longer than mine and has a red tinge in the fluorescent lights. The air inside never seems to
circulate and is always too warm for us. The Institute smelled like the humans not like the forest where I
am from. I missed the smell of earth and trees every day. There are 12 other apes who are my closest
friends. We live at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute in Ellensburg, Washington. The
Institute is very close to Central Washington University. In 1924 there is a famous report of fighting
between miners and the creature they later would name Bigfoot. I guess that was just us trying to
escape the Institute.
The Central Washington University Chimpanzee And Human Communication Institute was set up as a
sanctuary for chimpanzees to learn American Sign Language. The humans were very nice and humane in
our treatment and they tried to improve our living conditions for captivity every day. There were only
three people that we saw every day. One was an old man who always wore a hat and had hair coming
out of his nose and ears. There was a tiny Asian woman who had short black hair and wore huge glasses
that made her eyes look like fishes. The janitor was the third person we saw every day. He was fat and
short and completely bald. The Institute was a great place for apes to live. Or at least that's what the
brochure said that they sell in their gift shop. Chimpanzees are closely related to human beings and
share 98.77% of the human genetic makeup. I guess it was the 1.33% that made us want to leave the
Institute. The plan came together one day when a visitor to the Institute was talking to her friend and I
overheard them. The bigger one said, “I can't wait for our trip to the Ape caves in Amboy next weekend”
the shorter friend said, “Is this it another place like this? Are their really apes there?” The bigger lady
laughed and said, “I hope so the ones here are so cute.”
After that conversation that day I started to make a detailed plan with my other apes to go there. We
started swiping maps from the tourist every time they came by and eventually found one that clearly
said Ape Caves on Mt. St. Helens near Hill Bridge Rd., Amboy, WA. Now that we had an address and a
map with directions we just had to get there. According to the map it was 184 miles away. The
caretakers had no idea we knew how to use their computers and often left us alone with them. I
Googled the directions and my wife Lucy started hiding food so we could take it on our long trip. Lucy
was very sneaky. She was so shy that no one thought she would ever be brave enough to steal anything.
That is why she never got caught, people underestimate Lucy all the time.