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Monkey Man

He was the ultimate experiment in genetic engineering - the egg cell of a laboratory monkey that had been injected with human genes and fertilized with the sperm of an orangutan. They called him "Marvin" and kept him in a cage. Running their experiments, they poked and prodded him with needles and stuck things in his head to attempt to find out what was going on inside.
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The Institute

Dr Jean Genison was the head researcher at the Institute for Advanced Genetic Studies in California. She had been working in this field for the last four years. She was considered a "bitch" by most of her fellow colleagues. Her sharp, sarcastic tongue, which she was more than free to let loose when it suited her, combined with an almost arrogant belief in her own intellectual and scientific superiority, did not endear her to her fellow workers. What galled the females most was that Dr Genison was also a highly attractive woman. Men tended to stare after her when she walked into a room. However, she'd breeze passed as though no one was there. It equally galled her male counterparts, who were quickly put down and snubbed by any advances or attempts at being friendly. The called her the ice lady, and she lived up to her reputation.

The initiative for the Marvin experiment had come from Jean. She'd received ample support and funding from the director of the institute, Professor John Morgan - a dark, somber, black-bearded man, who like Jean, shared one trait in common - a driving ambition to succeed at any cost.

The institute received its funding for research into various human genetic disorders. It had been a natural step, bound to happen, when human genes were first injected into monkey cells. The progression from the first Jellyfish gene in a monkey subject to the first human gene had not been a long time in coming. Sharing 95% of the same genetic material as humans, monkeys were the ideal hosts for receiving human disease genes, in order to test out new treatments. Ostensibly, the work with Marvin and monkeys like him had to do with testing out new types of treatment for human illnesses. Without actually doing experiments on humans - which would have been considered unethical and illegal - the same experiments could be run on monkeys, genetically modified to carry the human genes that were being evaluated.

During a period of several months, involving hundreds of attempts to inject genetic material related to brain development into monkey cells and fertilize them, the institute finally came up with Marvin. He was the lone survivor on a long road scattered with failures - egg cells that did not fertilize, infants that died before or during the first month of birth. Out of five hundred attempts, Marvin was their only success, a 'fluke of nature' that had somehow survived the harsh laboratory environment.

Marvin was isolated from his mother at birth. He was too precious a commodity to risk being rejected by the mother and injured. His home was a small incubator, adapted from use with human babies. His mother was a string of nurses with rubber bottles and blankets. From birth, he was videotaped and put under an intensive program of intervention and surveillance. Jean had ambitions for this project. They were going to teach this baby monkey to understand human speech and perhaps even read and write. Technically, he had the human genes that were necessary for language. Their careful research - based on evidence with autistic and retarded children, who never learnt to speak, had placed the main language learning centers in a specific area of the brain and parts of the cerebral cortex. The genes for the development of this part of the brain were in Marvin. Although he looked like a normal monkey, his brain was different, a mixture of both monkey and human intelligence.

The details of the experiment were kept away from the public eye. In fact, only Jean and the director were aware of the exact nature of the experiment. Only they knew exactly which human genes were in Marvin, and they weren't going to be talking about this. They were taking every precaution not to put their reputations on the line until it became obvious that the experiment was a success. The director was well aware of the importance of public opinion. It was the public who ensured that money kept coming into the institution. Any hint that the institution was tampering with human genes in the brains of monkeys could cause an outcry - not to mention a public hearing - and take away all public support for the institute. But if they could present a success story - a high functioning, trained and communicating monkey, who could speak using sign language - then they would be the center of a huge media storm. The public interest and desire to know more would far overshadow any questions as to the morality of what they'd done.

But after five years, Dr Genison and the director had to conclude that the experiment was a dismal failure. Contrary to their original high expectations, Marvin did not succeed in grasping language. In fact, he had turned into his own little world, showing symptoms of withdrawal and lack of response to his surroundings, broken only by bouts of intense rage and screaming, in which he attempted to injure himself. His behavior resembled that of an extremely retarded or autistic child.

They decided it would be for the best to quietly terminate the experiment and run some autopsy tests to find out what had gone wrong. They selected a date to inject Marvin with a lethal dosage.
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Billy cycled furiously to escape the three bullies chasing after him. Tomorrow would be his twelfth birthday, and here he was, fleeing in terror from three fat assholes, who thought they could get away with terrorizing him because he was younger and smaller and new to the neighborhood.

He turned left to avoid his pursuers and squeezed the bicycle through a narrow residential alley, scraping his knee on one of the gates in the process - then peddled frantically.
They were behind him and closing ground.

"Pussy! Come back here you little pissant!" they called after him.

Billy ducked into another side alley. For a moment he thought that he had escaped. However, he wasn't looking where he was going and the front part of his wheel hit a large stone lying in the path. He went flying head first over the bicycle to land with a hard bump on his shoulder. With a groan, he hobbled to his feet. His other foot was bruised and his shoulder and arm were aching on the side where he had fallen, but it didn't feel like he had broken anything. Right now, he couldn't think of anything expect to escape from his three pursuers, who were catching up. He had to get away. They would probably beat him to a pulp if they caught up with him.

He could hear their footfalls close by as they ran past the alley and in about another twenty second they were bound to double-back when they realized he couldn't have gotten ahead and must have turned in one of the side alleys.

Leaving his bicycle where it lay, Billy hobbled on for several yards, looking frantically left and right for an escape route. He could hear them now, shouting to each other to come back and search down one of the side alleys. They would catch him in a few moments. This was a dead end. Straight in front of him was a six-foot brick wall. It was too high for him to climb.

Then he saw it. If he climbed over the fence of the house next door, there was a tree that he could probably use to climb over the wall. Frantically, breathing hard, he scrambled over the fence wall, tearing his shirt and sending buttons flying in the process. His pursuers were in the alley already. They'd found his abandoned bicycle. Trying to do it quietly, Billy clambered up the tree and then dropped over to the other side of the wall.

He was standing on a large green lawn, freshly mowed. He hoped that there were no dogs about. From the other side of the wall, he heard the sound of his three pursuers.

"He must have come this way," one of them was saying, the voice of a boy calls Rucks by his buddies, a tall, fat, black headed and pimply faced kid.

He had to find cover quickly. Where he was standing was too exposed. They would spot him if they decided to take a look over the wall. He ran away from the wall, towards the large, gray building on the other side of the lawn. The building had the characterless, formless facade of many institutional buildings, resembling a hospital or clinic. There were no doors visible from this side, and the windows were high up and tightly shut. Then he noticed a small window opening into a room below ground level. He stooped down to take a closer look through the window. It looked like some type of laboratory. There were burglar-proofing bars on the windows, but these were quite widely spaced apart and intended to keep out an adult and not a small twelve year old. He was certain that he could fit through the space. He'd have to chance it. He didn't have much time.

After hesitating for a moment, Billy slipped through the burglar proofing on the window and dropped silently to the floor. For the moment he was safe from those bullies. They had taken his bicycle. He didn't think they'd try and follow him in here.
He sat down on the floor for about twenty minutes, giving them time to get tired and leave. It was starting to grow dark outside, but just to be safe, he decided give it another half an hour and then make his escape. He didn't want to find them waiting outside, ready to ambush him.

The laboratory room was lined with shelves and cages. The shelves held cardboard boxes and glass jars and other equipment. All the cages were covered with plastic sheets. Billy began lifting up the sheets to see was underneath. The cages were filled mainly with monkeys. Billy stopped next to the cage of one of the monkeys, labeled " 48A Orangutan male, Marvin".
"You're a cute little fellow," he said aloud. Marvin looked back at him with sad brown eyes, but did not respond.

Billy spent another five minutes trying to coax the monkey to respond, but with little success. Then he heard the noise of slamming doors and the sound of footsteps approaching. Somebody was coming. Frantic that he would be discovered, he looked around for a place to hide.

There was nowhere to hide - except perhaps in the cage, with the monkey. But was it safe? Marvin seemed cute and harmless enough, but how would he react if Billy entered? There was no time to find out. It was now or never. Billy unlatched the cage and climbed quickly inside, pulling down the covering again. "Sh" he whispered to Marvin.

Someone entered the room. Peeping through a crack in the covering, Billy saw that it was a security guard, coming to close up for the evening. The guard noticed the open window through which Billy had crawled and reached up to latch it closed and then lock it from the inside, with a key. Then he left the laboratory, locking the front door.

Billy sighed. It appeared that he was going to be stuck here with the monkey for the night. He cuddled up next to the monkey, stroking its furry back. After a while, Marvin responded by putting his head in Billy's chest and wrapping his arms around Billy. Soon Billy was asleep.
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Billy was awoken by the sounds of slamming doors and footsteps upstairs. He rubbed his eyes and stretched. Marvin the monkey lay cuddled up next to him. Light was streaming through the window. It was morning and they were opening up the center for the day. Alarmed that somebody could be entering the lab at any moment, Billy started thinking about how he was going to get out of the laboratory without being seen. The guard had locked the window, so he'd have to wait for someone to come back and open it.

A few minutes later he heard the sound of footsteps and the door to the laboratory was opened. Billy hastily pulled down the sheet over the cage and dived beneath the blankets. If anyone took a cursory glance inside the cage they would hopefully not notice him.

The footsteps approached the cages and stopped right in front of Marvin's cage. A female voice spoke out. She sounded like a real bitch.

"We've almost completed our tests on subject 48A, the Orangutan male. We're going to terminate it today. I want you to run some blood tests on the specimen and prepare the lab for an autopsy. You can also prepare the cage for a new arrival shortly. Do you understand?"

"Yes Dr. Genison", a younger female assistant replied.

"Good. Then stop dawdling. Get everything prepared. I don't have time to waste. And open that window! It's stuffy in here."

"Yes. Right away Dr Genison." The lab assistant responded demurely.

Billy heard the sound of the assistant unlocking and opening the window and then footsteps receding as they both left the lab. He waited for a moment, to make sure that they were gone, then sat up and pulled off the cover. He didn't have much time before they returned. It was now or never if he was going to escape from the lab undetected. He looked down at the monkey Marvin. It was slowly awakening from its sleep, clutching tightly to his jersey. It was such a cute little thing. Billy stroked it gently.

They were planning to destroy it.

He debated with himself for a moment what the right thing would be to do. If he left the monkey here, it would die. If he took it with him, then he could get into a lot of trouble. Where would he keep it?

Marvin clung tightly to his jersey, unwilling to let go. There was no time to think. Billy unlatched the cage door and carried Marvin out with him. He reached up and clambered up onto the windowsill and then gradually squeezed himself through the bars. Afterwards, he slipped Marvin through them also.

He was outside. The orangutan's arms were around his neck. Billy ran across the grass towards the wall at the far end. He ran along the length of the wall until he came to a long metal drainpipe, protruding through the wall. Using this as leverage, he climbed up onto the pipe and then clambered over the wall, taking Marvin with him. Then he dropped over onto the road below and ran as fast as he could back home, hiding Marvin under his sweater, so that nobody would see him.
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Marvin In The Treehouse

Marvin sat up and cooed with delight as Billy came into the tree house with a plastic cup filled with milk and a banana. He held out his arms for Billy to pick him up. Billy set the food down on the floor and then picked up the orangutan and kissed it. He gave Marvin the banana. Marvin looked at it for a few moments, not knowing what to do with it.

"Here, peal it silly!" Billy showed Marvin what to do. The monkey quickly caught on and peeled off the banana skin.
"Eat it. Like this!" Billy took a small bite out of the banana and passed it over to Marvin. Marvin copied him.
"Hmmm. Tasty isn't it Marvin?" Billy nodded his head up and down encouragingly as he spoke.

After a moment's hesitation, the monkey shyly nodded its head.

The tree house was the only place that Billy could think of that would be suitable for Marvin. The tree house had been there when they'd moved into the new house two months ago. It had been built out of sturdy pinewood by the previous owners and had a little door that latched from the outside and a small window. It was the ideal place for Marvin, and could be secured from the outside so that he couldn't run away. The place also had the advantage of being out of the reach of adults and other prying eyes. Nobody ever climbed up the tree. Billy had stacked it up with blankets, books and toys. On hot evenings, he'd sometimes slept out here. The tree house contained a small table and chair and two shelves on the walls. The only person who ever climbed up besides Billy was the cat.

Billy didn't know much about keeping orangutans. He supposed that a monkey would be comfortable in a tree, and that it ate bananas and drank milk. He would have to go over to the library at the first opportunity and find out more about taking care of monkeys. He took a sip of milk and handed it over it Marvin.

Marvin imitated his actions, leaving a strip of white cream on his mouth. Billy laughed and taking a cloth, wiped Marvin's face clean. "There you go, Marvin, now you look as handsome as ever."

Marvin attempted to smile in response, showing white teeth and grunting.

It was Thursday, but Billy had decided he wasn't going to school today. He complained to his mom of feeling ill. His mom had been frantic when he hadn't returned home the previous night. She had phoned the police who had started organizing a search. The first thing he had done upon returning home was to sneak round the back and stash Marvin away in the tree house. Then he'd gone round to the front again and rung the doorbell. His mom had been overjoyed to see him. When she asked him what had happened to him, where his bike was and why his clothes were all torn, he told her part of the truth. He had run away from three bullies, who'd stolen his bike. Then he'd hidden away, being too afraid to come home.

His mom was now on the phone to the police and the school principle, telling them off for what had happened to her son.
After a quick bath and a snack to eat, Billy had taken a few supplies - a blanket, some comic books, toys and food - up to the tree house, with an excuse to his mom that he wanted to be alone.

Billy made up an excuse to spend most of the day up in the tree house with Marvin. For the most part, his mother seemed to understand, feeling that he obviously needed time to himself, after what had happened.

On Friday, Billy returned home from the library to find that Marvin had made friends with Tom, their cat. The cat was sitting snuggly in Marvin's lap, purring and Marvin was grooming it.

"That's great. You've made friends with Tom." Billy smiled cheerfully. "Guess what, Marvin. I've just been up to the library and got out lots of books on monkeys. Do you know that you're called an Orangutan? Here, do you want to see a picture of yourself?"

He showed Marvin the book. Marvin waddled over and peered curiously into the book, making grunting noises. "Yes, that's you're uncle, Marvin." Billy pointed to a large, red haired monkey.

The rest of the day was spent pleasantly, teaching Marvin how to play with the toy soldiers and airplanes and cars. Billy even tried a game of throw and catch. Marvin was amazingly quick at imitating and picking up skills that Billy tried to teach him. Billy was surprised how intelligent he seemed. It was almost like having a younger brother.

Billy's parents were divorced. After the divorce, his mother had sold the house and moved to a new job in a new town, to be closer to her own parents. They'd come to live here. Billy missed his dad, but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it. He also knew one of the major reasons for the divorce had been the death of Patricia, his two-year old sister, who had died of a burst appendicitis about a year ago. Billy's mom had blamed his father for the death, because he had told her not to worry and refused to take the screaming baby to the hospital at two o'clock in the morning, saying that he was exhausted and that it could wait till the morning. Billy's father had always been wrapped up in his work. He was a high-powered executive, with a job that demanded frequent travel and late nights. Billy's Mom had grown disillusioned with this lifestyle over the years. The death of Melissa had been the final straw for her.

Billy had taken the death of Patricia and the ensuing arguments and divorce very hard. He had withdrawn deep into himself, turning into a shy, introverted boy, carrying feelings that he'd never fully resolved.
Marvin was a breath of sunshine in his life, the companion he'd always wanted and maybe the only person who could have filled the gap that had been left by his lost sister.
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Dr Genison was frantic. The orangutan had somehow escaped, impossible as it seemed. If anybody discovered the exact nature of the subject, then the institute would be in hot waters. She arranged an urgent meeting with the director. Should they go to the police with this - and risk raising questions and a public manhunt for the monkey? Who knew what this would lead to eventually? Or should they keep quiet about it, pretend the incident had never happened and deny responsibility in the event that it was found?

The recriminations were mutual.

"You incompetent idiot!" The director shouted at her, "how could you allow this to happen?"

"Maybe if you'd provided tighter security as I suggested, none of this would have ever happened," Dr Genison responded indignantly. "And may I remind you, I am not responsible for the incompetence of the staff you hire, or for the fact that they not only left the window of the laboratory open, but failed to check that the cage was properly locked."

"Did you check before you left the previous evening?"

"Yes. Everything was fine. I locked up the cage personally. There was no way he could have escaped."

"Then what are you suggesting. That the monkey is Hudini?"

"It was the assistant," Jean wailed self-pityingly. " I asked her to prepare the subject for termination. It was her incompetence! She left the door open and the monkey escaped, and the worst of it is that she adamantly denies leaving the door open. I want her fired!"

" Do you think that this would be a wise thing to do?"

"Why not?"

"She might talk - tell people," responded the director, thinking of the potential ramifications of the incident.

"Tell them what?" responded Jean hotly. "She knows nothing. As far as she's concerned, it's just another monkey."
"Perhaps you're right." The director stroked his beard thoughtfully. "She is more dangerous to us if she remains in the institute. I'll see to it that she is relieved immediately of her duties."

"And what are we going to do about the monkey?" Jean asked petulantly.

The director paused for a moment. "We'll report it to the police - mention that the animal is dangerous and should be returned immediately to the institute if found. It's more than likely that some neighbor will have spotted it. It couldn't have traveled far in its current condition."

"Yes. I guess you're right. But what if somebody finds out what it is?" Jean bit her fingernails, she was so agitated.

The director raised an eyebrow. "Find out? How? Do you really think that anyone is going to start running detailed genetic tests on an escaped monkey?"

Dr Genison shook her head.

"Good," the director stood up. " I don't like leaving loose ends. I'm not happy with the idea of this monkey wandering about out there, but we can't afford to make too much noise about it. You notify the police. I'm going to hire a private investigator to make some inquiries in the neighborhood and do some searching for us. One way or another, we're going to get that monkey back - alive or dead."
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Monday morning and it was time to go back to school.

Billy had enjoyed the weekend immensely, preferring to spend most of the time up in the tree house with Marvin. The question of hygiene had come up on Friday night, when Billy had returned to find the tree house disorganized and a big brown mess on the floor where Marvin had relieved himself. He'd scolded Marvin and had to clean up the mess himself. Afterwards, he'd realized that there was no place for Marvin to go to the toilet. He improvised a cat litter, with a large cardboard box, filled with sand. After fetching up the box and putting it near the door, he pointed at it and said to Marvin "That's where you do your poo's, Marvin. Do you understand?"

Marvin seemed to understand. He came round to sniff and touch the sand.

Food was another problem. Billy solved this by bringing up extra fruit and vegetables and sandwiches, but he knew that he couldn't continue doing this indefinitely. Eventually, his mother would get suspicious and start asking questions.

On Saturday afternoon his mother went out to a ladies meeting with some friends. Billy took the opportunity to put the cat leash on Marvin and lead him down the tree. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the garden and Billy introduced Marvin to the house.

On Sunday morning his mother went to church. Billy begged to be excused, pleading that he had a stomachache and didn't feel like going. His mother relented. He spent the morning in the garden and house with Marvin. They watched some TV together and Marvin clapped his hands and smiled, imitating one of the characters on the TV.

"That's very good Marvin," said Billy. "Have some popcorn." He handed the bag of popcorn over to the monkey, who took a handful without looking at him, keeping his eyes glued on the TV.

Now it was Monday morning. Marvin was locked securely in the tree house. Billy had spent the night with him. At the moment, Tom the cat was up there, keeping Marvin company. Billy hoped that Marvin would be safe. Four weeks from now and it would be the Easter holidays. If they could hold on until then, without being discovered, then Billy would hopefully have more time to spend with Marvin.

Billy felt scared at the thought of returning to school, after the incident with the three bullies. His mother had spoken to the principle, and no doubt the principle would want to question him about the incident and the boys involved.

The day proceeded rather normally. Billy sat quietly in the back of the class, half-listening but not really paying attention to the teacher. He took out the magazine he had loaned from the library and began to read about the behavioral patterns of primates. He was lost in thought until he heard a rap on the table.

"Billy. Do you mind sharing with the class what you're reading!" It was the history teacher, standing by his desk and glaring at him. She reached out and grabbed the book.
"The behavior of primates." She read out aloud. "What are you reading this book for?"
"I'm sorry. It's a homework assignment for biology, Miss Parcher. " Billy lied.
"I don't want to see you doing homework for other classes during this class. Do you understand me?"
"Yes Miss Parcher." Billy responded. The children in the class snickered. Word had gotten around what had happened to Billy.

The bell ran for lunch and Billy was called into the principal's office, to answer questions about the incident with the three bullies.
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The week passed without mishap. For the most part, Marvin was quiet and passive. His life in the laboratory had prepared him for spending long periods of time alone, with minimum interaction and so he did not feel it so much when Billy was gone, having nothing better to compare it to. The environment in the tree house was far more stimulating and inviting than the cramped, barren environment that the cage in the laboratory had been. The tree house offered tons of toys to play with, picture books to look at, balls to bounce and space to move around. Tom the cat kept him company during the day and Billy returned in the afternoons and spent the rest of the day with him. The best part of it was the quiet and peacefulness of the place. There were no screaming monkeys and other animals, jabbering in pain and fear. No needles being pricked into one's buttocks or torches shining up one's eyes, no rough hands poking irreverently into ears and mouths. No meaningless cards and letters being shown to him and electrical shocks when he failed to respond. However, the hurt and harm of three years of mistreatment at the institute could not be overcome in the period of a few days.

The second week passed swiftly. Boy and monkey began to get used to each other's company and know each other a little better. Despite the brief period in which they had known each other, the bond between boy and monkey was strong. Marvin trusted Billy and turned to him more and more for comfort and guidance. Billy was the bigger brother that Marvin had never experienced. There was nothing threatening to Marvin in the relationship. He gladly accepted and returned the love and affection that the lonely boy gave. Marvin attempted to imitate everything that Billy did, using him as a role model, whether it was eating, watching TV or reading. But this process had barely begun and would take much time - if only the outside world would allow them to have it.
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Melissa Brown

Melissa Brown was in Billy's class. She was also new to the neighborhood and had been attending Poke junior high for the past six months. Her classmates called her "pigtails" since she sometimes wore her hair in pigtails and their other name for her was "stork", since she had long, skinny legs, usually covered in blue stockings. She had never exactly been the best dresser or the life of the party at school. Wearing spectacles because of her shortsightedness had been the nail in the coffin as far as her social standing went amongst her peers. So she excelled at schoolwork and usually wasn't invited to parties on the weekends.

Melissa had a secrete crush on Billy. She had heard from the other children about Billy's run-in with the three bullies. Word had it that he had shat and peed in his pants and run up a tree to hide when he'd seen them, and hadn't come down for the rest of the weekend, until the fire brigade had arrived to drag him down kicking and screaming and sucking his thumb.

The new nickname coined for him was "shitless".

As for the three bullies, they'd been given a reprimand and a warning, but nothing else. George Gestappa, nicknamed "Rucks", one of the gang of three, a hulking, fat black haired boy with a wide nose and double-chin was now walking around the school, telling how he was going to "beat the crap out of shitless" when he saw him again.

Melissa despised them all and felt sorry for Billy. She realized that most of what they'd said about him was untrue, having undergone the same experience of being a scapegoat herself. She decided she'd make it a personal goal to get to know Billy better.
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PI Smith had been in the private investigator business for the past several years. An ex-police man, he'd been released from the service for a drunken driving incident that had cost the life of a young child.
He had few friends and had beaten up on his ex-wife regularly until she had run away. He was known to be good at his job as a private investigator, but ruthless.

The director surveyed the man sitting before him. PI smith was a middle-sized man, fairly overweight and out of condition, with the stubble of a few days unshaved face and shifty eyes. According to his sources, this man was not the most reputable or honest that he could have chosen, but would be ideal for the nature of the work at hand and could be counted on to keep his mouth shut. Even his critics - the unfaithful lovers he had tracked down and photographed and the many who had been robbed out of false insurance claims - admitted that he was a blood hound, who never gave up once he had a smell of the sent and a whiff of potential profit.

The director put down the file distastefully. The less he had to do with people like this the better.
"You understand that we need you to find this monkey as soon as possible?"

"Yes sure, " Smith grunted. "It will cost you 300 dollars a day, plus expenses, plus a 2000 $ finders fee, once I find it for you."

"You can arrange the financial side with our accountant" The director replied distastefully. You understand that your utmost discretion is required in this case. The police have been informed, but we're trying to keep this low profile. It has to be low key. We don't want undue attention being given to the institute. Have I made myself clear?"

"Sure." Smith nodded. He was thinking to himself that something fishy was obviously going on here. He'd dealt a lot with clients like these, and this was clearly a client with something to hide. The question was whether or not he'd be able to gain some leverage to extort something extra out of him.

"Do you have any additional information to tell me about this case?" he asked. "Perhaps a picture or description that I could use to identify the monkey, maybe a list of employees who worked with the animals who may have stolen it."

The director did not reply, but handed over a manila file. "Everything you need to know is in this file - pictures, names, everything that we thought might be relevant."

"Do you think that…"

The director held up a hand and grimaced. "I'm sorry to interrupt you Mr. Smith. I have some other urgent matters to attend to. Now if you will excuse me. I do expect a progress report and a detailed account of your expenses in a week from now. Goodbye."

The director stood up and left without shaking hands.

"Bloody prick!" Smith muttered to himself. He opened the file to look through the pictures and notes describing Marvin.
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Melissa Brown lived in a large white, double-story house. Her father was a surgeon, her mother a high-powered executive lawyer. Her parents came home late in the evenings, usually just before or after Melissa went to bed. Melissa was their first and only child. They had decided that one child was enough, given their current commitments to their careers. Melissa had a full-time au pair that lived in the house, cooked breakfast in the morning and helped Melissa get ready for school, supervised her during the afternoon and checked that she did her homework in the evening. Janet, contrary the common perception of a typical au pair, was a plumpish, middle aged white woman. For Melissa, it was like have a school teacher or aunt living in the house. In many ways she was a substitute mother, doing all the things with her that her own mother and father never did, often even attending parent meetings and school events in the place of her parents.

When she had the time, Melissa liked to go down to the library and look at the books. It was a quiet and unthreatening environment and the one place where she could be sure to get away occasionally, not only from school and home, but also from the gangs of school-aged children that congregated in other places, such as the movie theatres, parks and shopping malls.
That Friday she was walking down a row of books when she spotted Billy sitting at the table at the far end, his head buried deep in a book. She approached him.

"Hi Billy!" She called out shyly.

Billy looked up. "Oh hi Melissa! I didn't know you liked libraries." He gave her a quick, broad smile.
"I sometimes come here. What are you reading?" She bent over to have a closer look. There were pictures of monkeys in various forest habitats.

"It's a book about primates in East Africa," Billy responded. " It explains everything there is to know about them."

"That sound interesting." She looked at the pile of books heaped up around the table, all with titles indicating that they had something to do with monkeys and other apes. "You seem really interested in the subject. I remember when Miss Parcher caught you with a book on monkeys last week."

"Brrrr" Billy responded, shivering deliberately at the mention of Miss Parcher. They both laughed.

"Billy, if you're not doing anything this weekend, maybe you'd like to come and visit my house. My father's a doctor. He has a whole library full of books about nature."

"Hmm. I don't know," Billy hesitated, thinking how he'd planned to spend the weekend with Marvin. "I'm kind of busy this weekend. By maybe some other time."

"Oh please do come!" Melissa pleaded. "We've got such a big house and lots of trees and toys - we can play outside. Also, I've got some great computer games."

Billy finally gave in, the thought of the computer games winning over in the end. "Well, okay, if it's not too far away. I don't think I can stay long though. Where do you live?"

" On Miller street."

"That's not too far, maybe I can convince my mom to give me a lift."

"Oh, that's no problem. I'll tell my chauffeur to drive me to your house and pick you up."

"You have your own chauffeur?"

"Well, he's my dad's. But they're not going to be there on Sunday, my dad's attending an important conference in Los Angeles."

"Okay, I'll see you on Sunday afternoon."

"About 3 o'clock, is that okay with you?" asked Melissa, smiling happily.

"Yes sure." Billy nodded.

"Bye Billy. See you on Sunday." She picked up her books and moved off.

Billy waved goodbye and watched her walk away. He liked Melissa. She was always so quiet in the classroom. She was kind of pretty when you got to talk to her. He wandered if he could trust her and tell her about Marvin. It was one thing having a monkey as a pet. It was another trying to keep it a secret.
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Billy spent the rest of Friday with Marvin. They played catch ball for a while and then moved on to the toy soldiers. Billy helped Marvin stack up all the toy soldiers in a row. Around ten o'clock his mother went out to do the weekend shopping and Billy used this opportunity to give Marvin another tour of the house. They watched some TV and then went outside to play in the garden. At around twelve o'clock Billy took Marvin back up to the tree house, just as his mother pulled into the driveway. Marvin was becoming more and more attached to Billy, and it was increasingly harder to separate him and leave him alone in the tree house without a fuss.

"Come on Marvin. I'm coming back shortly. I'm just going down for some lunch with my mom. LUNCH, FOOD." Billy pronounced the words loudly and slowly, " You do understand, don't you Marvin?"

In response Marvin put his hands to his mouth and pretended to eat, a gesture that Billy had taught him and that they'd practiced a couple of times in the context of food and eating.
"That's right, Marvin. FOOD." The monkey seemed to accept this and calmed down, rubbing his tummy expectantly - another gesture that Billy had taught him.

At lunch, Billy was unusually thoughtful.

"What's on your mind Billy?" His mom asked.

"I was just thinking. What it's like to bring up a young baby. Is it difficult?"

"Well, yes and no. It is difficult, but it's also a pleasure. Otherwise nobody would do it. What makes you so interested in babies all of a sudden?"

"Oh nothing. Just something we're learning at school. But, what if it was about four years old or so, and didn't know how to talk, how would you teach it things?"

"Billy, is this about Patricia? Do you want me to have another baby?"

" No Mom, really. I mean it's not that I don't want another sister, I'm just asking out of interest." Billy responded, embarrassed.
"I understand." His mom smiled." Well, having a young child is like having a pet, a very special pet. You have to give it lots of love and attention - play with it, read to it, teach it things. But mostly, you have to be very responsible. Young children require a lot of supervision - bathing and hygiene, clothing, food, playtime and bedtime. It's rather like being a full-time teacher."

"Hmm." Billy thought about this for a moment. "Do you need any special training to be a parent?"

"Well, it would be preferable for most young couples if they did have training. You don't have to do a course or go to school to study to be a parent, it just happens naturally. Most parents rely on the advice and suggestions of friends and family and they tend to imitate the type of parenting style they experienced from their own parents."

"That's interesting mom. So you're saying, all the things you do with me, I should also do when I'm a parent."

"Yes. One day." Billy's mother smiled. "But not quite yet. That's a long way off still. I hope you're not thinking about doing anything tomorrow with your new friend Melissa, are you?"

"Oh no of course not!" Billy shook his head vigorously and turned a bright red.

After lunch, Billy went up to the attic and fished out some of Patricia's old books and toys and carried them up to the tree house. One of the things he'd read in the book about teaching primates, was that you had to start with very simple things.
Billy sat and read to Marvin for half an hour, showing him Patricia's picture books. The monkey listened attentively. Afterwards they did a puzzle together. Perhaps if Billy had know more about primate abilities he would have been extremely surprised at Marvin's ability to put together a puzzle. However, being ignorant of these limitations, Billy didn't think too much of it when the monkey reached into the box, took out a piece and fitted it into the correct place. They did two more puzzles. By the time they were finished, Marvin was able to do it by himself, fluently and confidently. He was really an amazingly fast learner.

In the evening, Billy brought up his homework and sat with Marvin in his lap, while he finished his homework.
Sunday morning his mother went to church and Billy spent the time pottering around the house and garden with Marvin. He taught Marvin how to switch the TV and stereo on and off and introduced him to the computer.

At three o'clock Melissa's chauffeur came to pick Billy up. They drove in silence to her house. The large iron gates swung open and they drove down a long driveway, shaded on each side by tall, leafy trees. At the far end they pulled up in front of the house in a large parking space, large enough to accommodate several cars. The double-story, ten-roomed house was imposing from this angle.

Melissa opened the front door and smiled cheerfully. "Hello Billy! I'm so glad that you could make it." She was wearing a long, blue cotton dress and had her hair tucked back and she looked real pretty.

Billy smiled back.

"Let me show you around the house," said Melissa. She led him up the staircase and showed him each of the rooms upstairs and downstairs. Afterwards they spent some time playing computer games and Janet, the au pair, prepared them peanut butter sandwiches and cool drink, which they ate outside in the garden.

"This garden is great!" Billy said aloud. He was thinking of how Marvin would love to be able to play in a big garden like this.
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It hadn't been hard for PI Smith to track down the laboratory assistant who'd been fired. Smith occasionally used the services of a downtown stripper, called Jessica, for penetrating places under various disguises and snooping around. It hadn't been hard to sneak Jessica into the institute as a cleaning woman and let her ask around. A few discrete inquiries had been enough to unearth the name of the ex-assistant. Her address and phone number were listed in the telephone book.

Smith pulled up outside the house and sat in the blue repair van, observing the front door and windows through his binoculars. The police had had no success so far in their efforts, which consisted of nothing more than sending a patrol car around the neighborhood, asking people if they'd seen a stray monkey and requesting them to call the police if they spotted it. Smith had been canvassing the area himself at the time, hoping to catch a glimpse of the lost monkey and seen the police officers questioning the neighbors. After about twenty minutes of asking door-to door, the police gave up and left.

But Smith believed that monkeys did not just escape from locked cages and barred rooms and then disappear without a trace. There had to have been somebody on the inside that'd sprung it. And so far, all the evidence pointed to the assistant.

He set down the binoculars. The front door had opened. Somebody was leaving, a young woman in her early twenties, slim with blond hair. That had to be the assistant. She opened the garage door, went inside and drove out with her car. Smith let her drive passed and then switched on his engine and followed her.

He followed her into town where she parked and went into the supermarket. Then he quickly returned to his car and doubled back to her house. She would probably be away for at least another half an hour. That would give him the time he needed to get in and out of the house quickly.
He fished out his blue workman's overall and helmet from the back of the van and put on his sunglasses. The disguise was complete, together with a false identity tag, containing his picture, a fake name and a telephone number. If anyone were watching the house, they'd see an ordinary repairman, carrying a toolbox, enter the house. The helmet and glasses made it impossible for anyone to identify him. In the rare event that someone confronted him, he had the identity tag. Another sleazy colleague of his, who would pretend to be the general manager of the Jones Electrical Repair Company, would answer a call to the number on the card. Even if further inquiries were made, the Jones Electrical Repair Company would appear listed in the telephone book. It was a shadow company that Smith often used as cover during his investigations.

Whistling, he opened the front gate and strolled down the path. He rang the doorbell. When there was no reply, he took out a thin metal piece and began to fish it through the keyhole, which eventually sprung the latch open. He stepped into the house.
Moving quickly, he located the telephone and placed a bug inside. He scoured through the living room, bedroom and kitchen, for suitable places to bury additional bugs. Pot plants were the easiest and most secure place. They could be stuck into the stem of a large plant, hidden by leaves or buried just below the soil. These new bugs were waterproof. Other good places were in the mattress of a bed or under the sofa or chairs. The final piece of equipment was the small spy camera, which was good for three hours of filming. These were usually best placed just inside a ventilation grid or even in a keyhole.

Having set everything up within twenty minutes, he decided to chance another ten minutes to look around for any evidence. First he checked the back door. If the girl made an early return, he could escape through the back door and go round the side of the house before she entered.

A careful search revealed no evidence that she had or was holding the monkey. A picture on the dining room table showed her at her sister's wedding. Other pictures showed other family members, but no husband or children yet.

The newspaper was lying on the coffee table. Smith browsed through it and came to the wanted listings. She'd circled several possible offers - all related to chemistry or laboratory assistant. Smith put the paper down and picked up his tool bag. He was ready to go. He'd found something that he was looking for. Leverage.
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Three weeks had passed since Billy's first visit to Melissa. They had started spending more time together, during their lunch breaks, and after school in the library. Melissa came to visit Billy at his house a few times. He had visited her house twice since then and they had gone out once together into town for a soda.

Today, when Melissa came over, she became quit curious about the tree house, since this was the one place that Billy seemed studiously to avoid and refused initially to show her.

"Okay, you better tell me what's up there, because I want to know!" She said to him point blankly when they were out in the garden.

Billy hummed and hawed for a moment, trying to think how he was going to wriggle out of this one. Should he tell her? Could he trust her? Next week would be the Easter holidays. Marvin had been with Billy now for almost four weeks. Eventually, his Mom was going to find out about this - she was starting to become very suspicious of what he did up in the tree house all the time. The only thing that prevented her going up there, was the fact that it was high up, and covered in branches, and the small tree house was relatively inaccessible to anyone larger than a thirteen year old. More importantly, Melissa had a great garden and lots of space where Marvin could play - and her parents were never around. If her confidence could be gained and she kept the secret, then maybe he could bring Marvin over to play.

He sighed. "Okay, I'll show you what's up there, but you've got to promise me that you'll keep it a secret and not tell anyone. I can get into a lot of trouble if anyone found out."

Melissa nodded. "Okay. I promise. Now can I see what it is!"

Billy led her up to the tree house and opened the door.
"This is Marvin." Billy introduced the monkey to Melissa, tentatively. "Marvin, say HELLO to Melissa."
Marvin hung back timidly, cowering behind Billy' legs.

"Come on Marvin. Don't be afraid." He turned to Melissa apologetically, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess he's not used to strangers."

"That's okay, I understand." Melissa smiled at Marvin. " He's really so cute. Do you think he'll let me hold him?"

"Sure. Just let him get used to you for a while."

They sat down on the floor of the tree house.
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Billy's mother was relieved. Her son had finally found a good friend in the new neighborhood, and seemed to have settled down happily. She had been very worried about him for weeks, after the incident with the bullies. He had retreated more and more into himself, spending hours on end up in his tree house and refusing to go to church with her on Sundays. She hadn't been sure what to do about it, but it seemed that time and nature had taken care of things and that he was pulling through on his own. Meanwhile, she had her own problems. Her new job was demanding more and more of her time, expecting her to work late hours, and often she came home exhausted. If there were some strange things about her son's behavior - his stealing food and taking it up to the tree house, and some of his questions about babies - she let this pass, her mind on other things. When Melissa started coming around to the house, she dismissed her worries. She herself was lonely, bringing up her son without a father, and she missed her ex-husband. Although she had left him and couldn't forgive him for some of the thing's he'd done, she still loved him deep down. And then she heard that he had found another woman and was thinking of getting married. So furious with him again, she buried herself in her work.
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PI Smith placed an advert in the newspaper for a lab assistant, sure that the assistant who'd been fired would eventually answer the ad. A week later, she'd called and he'd set up a meeting with her and asked her to fax him her CV.

The same office, which he shared with his lawyer colleague, could be used occasionally for specific scams. All it took was a new sign on the door, labeled "Smithson's Employment Agency". PI Smith pretended to run an employment agency, and he had a client with an opening for a lab assistant, such as this, he told her.

]At the meeting, he drilled her with questions about her previous position. How long had she worked there? What projects had she been working on? What had her former employees been like to her and why had she been fired?

She spoke for some time, and when she saw that he seemed to take a grim delight in hearing all the dirty laundry she could lay on about her former employees, she gladly supplied this to him in ample quantities. He questioned her in depth about subject 48A, Marvin the monkey, what had been the nature of the experiment, what she had done with the monkey and why had the monkey been so important?

She didn't know all the answers to these questions, but was glad to supply him with what she did know.

From her, Smith learnt about the genetic manipulation and splicing of human genes in the monkeys, how Marvin must contain some human genes, although which ones, the assistant couldn't say. It didn't take a genius to figure out that there had been something special about the monkey. Not only because of all the attention it had been given, but also the amount of trouble the directors were going to see to it that the monkey was caught and the incident kept under cover. So the Monkey had enough human stuff in to make the institute very nervous, mused Smith to himself. Yes, this assignment was turning out to be very promising. Very promising indeed!

Smith smiled, thanked the lab assistant and promised her he'd be in touch shortly about the position.
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A Game Of Chess, Anyone?

The week passed quickly. Melissa had been delighted to meet Marvin, and slowly, Marvin began to relax around her and eventually came to sit on her lap, allowing her to pat him. Marvin was fascinated when Billy and Melissa talked and played together, following their every movement with his eyes and often attempting to imitate Billy.

For her part, Melissa was in heaven. She was with her favorite boy - she liked to think of Billy as her boyfriend - and she had found a way into his heart through this cute little monkey, which Billy adored. The best part of it was that this was their little secret, something which only they shared, and thus something which helped bond them together and cemented their friendship. She knew that she would guard Billy's secret jealously. Melissa started to come regularly to the house, to play with Marvin, bringing him toys, books and treats to eat. She no longer needed to find excuses to be with Billy, Marvin was the perfect reason - and she did like Marvin, he was such a cute and intelligent monkey - rather like having a younger brother.

When Billy raised the idea of bringing Marvin over to her house to play, she readily agreed. They thought how they could do this without anyone finding out. It was decided that Larry, the chauffeur, would also have to be brought in on the secret. There was no way that they would be able to get Marvin to the house and garden without Larry finding out. Janet, the au pair would also have to be told something.

So they eventually, decided to tell Larry about Marvin, and ask for his help.

Larry was a likable guy. He was employed by Melissa's father full-time, to take care of the car, the garden and swimming pool, handle any repairs and painting in the house, and act as chauffeur when required. He was the all-purpose handyman, doing the job of the man of the house - and it was a really large house with a huge garden that needed lots of attending to. Larry was kind, soft-spoken and gentle. He always spoke to Melissa's parents respectfully, addressing them as "Yes Mr. Brown, Yes Mrs. Brown, and Yes Sir, Yes Ma'am." He was friendly and kind with Melissa, calling her by her name and often sitting with her and keeping her company, when she was alone. Larry enjoyed playing chess, so this is what they often did together.

Larry was an immigrant from Russia. In his long career, Larry had been a painter, a carpenter, a bus driver and an automobile mechanic. His wife had died years ago and his children had immigrated to America, and then sent him an invitation to come and join them. His English was not very good, and this, together with his age, prevented him from getting a good job, but eventually, he had found an offer from Melissa's father that he couldn't refuse. In addition to his duties as chauffeur, Larry was hired as the gardener and house repairman, taking care of the day-to-day maintenance and upkeep of the house. He lived in a small, semidetached cottage in the back garden. The quite, sedentary lifestyle suited him, as well as having his own privacy.

When Billy told him the story of Marvin's rescue from the institute, Larry agreed to help and not to speak to anyone about Marvin.

On Sunday, after Billy's mother had left for church. Melissa arrived with the chauffeur. They bundled Marvin up in blankets and took him out to the car. There he was introduced briefly to Larry, who drove them off to Melissa's house.

Janet, the au pair/housekeeper, was off for the day, visiting her sick sister, so the children had the house and garden to themselves.

Marvin loved Melissa's house and garden - the beautiful trees, and the swing. There were so many things to explore, so many pleasant smells and sights. From all his brief and miserable life in the laboratory, Marvin had never imagined that the world could be so beautiful.

Marvin and Larry, the chauffeur, developed a very special relationship. It was Larry who drove Billy and Marvin to Melissa's house. Marvin often accompanied Larry on his duties.

Marvin took a keen interest in the car - an interest that Larry shared. One day he came across Larry cleaning and polished the car and tried to imitate him. Larry showed Marvin what to do and then let him help wash and polish the car. He found it hilarious to watch this furry monkey, with a cloth in his hands, clamber up onto the roof and start polishing away.

When Billy stayed over for the evening or on the weekend, Marvin stayed hidden in Larry's cottage, where Melissa's parents wouldn't ask any awkward questions. Since Billy also felt guilty about leaving Marvin in the tree house alone, when he went to school, Larry agreed to take care of Marvin a few days in the week.

It was Larry who first had the idea of teaching Marvin how to play chess. Marvin showed keen interest in watching Larry and Melissa playing chess, and then Larry and Billy. Larry invariably won these games - unless he decided to give the children a handicap advantage, by allowing them to take a few of his pieces, which made the game more interesting. They all noticed Marvin's keen interest in the game and his puzzling look as he tried to fathom what was going on. Not paying much attention to the monkey, who would try to reach for the pieces, Larry showed Marvin how to move the pieces into place. One day, when Melissa and Billy were off playing on the computer, Marvin came up to Larry, who had set out the chess pieces and was just about to embark on a game with himself - something he often did when he couldn't find a partner. He took the pawn and moved it. Bored and as a joke, Larry thought he'd try to teach Marvin how to play chess - never for a moment actually thinking that the monkey would be able to understand the strategy behind the game. He commenced to teach the monkey to play.

"Come here Marvin," said Larry with a smile. "Let me show you how to move the pieces." He picked up Marvin and put the monkey on his lap, facing the chessboard. He took Marvin's hand and placed apiece in it. " Marvin, this a PAWN. PAWN. You move it like this."

Marvin imitated him, moving the piece two squares.

"No stop there Marvin. Only one square at a time. See how I do it." Larry showed him again a few times.

This time Marvin got it right. He picked up quickly how to move the other pieces.

Teaching Marvin the rules of moving the pieces was the easy part. The difficult part was getting him to understand the purpose of the game.

It took several repeated sessions for Larry to teach Marvin how to capture the pieces of the opposition and at the same time protect his own pieces. The idea that one type of piece, such as a castle, was more valuable than another type of piece, such as a pawn, was difficult for Marvin to grasp. However, Larry stuck to his pet project, practicing and coaching Marvin whenever he had a spare moment.
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For PI Smith, the trail, which had initially been promising, had momentarily grown cold. The monkey was the key - but the monkey was still missing, with no signs of where it could be. It had not turned up, none of the neighbors had reported seeing anything and nobody had contacted the director with a ransom note or blackmail demand.

With no visible response from Smith's end, after the first month had passed, the director had decided that there was no further use for the detective's expensive services, and terminated the relationship.

This didn't however deter Smith from continuing the investigation on his own. He was a bloodhound by nature, and not willing to give up that easily on a case. The special circumstances surrounding the burglary and the request for secrecy had piqued his curiosity. There was money to be made here, if he persisted just a little longer.

At first Smith had thought it was an insider's job. After watching the assistant's house for another week, without any luck, he eventually concluded that she hadn't been involved. There was no evidence of quick cash that could indicate a pay-off. He turned his attention to the director and Dr. Genison, but their position was impeccable. They had nothing to gain from taking the monkey. Why would they, when they had such a neat little setup over here - and why place the extra suspicion on themselves, if as he surmised, what they were doing was already illegal. And also, it didn't make sense, because they'd ordered the monkey destroyed. The only other person who'd known that the monkey was going to be destroyed was the lab assistant, but she was innocent. So that led to the conclusion that it could have been an outsider job after all. But what type of thief would break into a top security lab and steal only a worthless monkey? Perhaps a kid?

He decided to make some more inquiries around the neighborhood, this time asking if anyone had noticed any kids around the area on that day. He came up with a standard line, which he promptly gave with a smile after a door was opened. "Hi, my son was playing with his bicycle around here a few weeks ago, and somebody stole it. You don't perhaps remember seeing some kids playing around here on the 2nd of last month?

In fact somebody had seen some kids around about on that day. PI Smith was just about to give up on this line, when the last house in the area bore fruit. A neighbor had looked out of her kitchen window that day, when she heard a loud crash. She saw a small boy, lying on the ground, get up and run away. Shortly afterwards, a few larger boys came running down the alley after him. She hadn't been able to get a close look at the boy - she'd only seen his back. But he'd left his bicycle and the other kids had come back and taken it. She remembered the day - it was a Tuesday - because that was the day they normally came to take out the trash and for a moment she'd thought it was the garbage man.

Smith had his clue. It may have been a coincidence, but then again, maybe not. Smith didn't believe in coincidences. They were always too neat, which made him suspicious. Nothing ever 'just happened' in Smith's world. You had to make it happen first. Afterwards, you could always claim it was a coincidence.
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Marvin was doing well. The weeks had fattened him and awoken his curiosity. His intelligence also seemed to have spurted, because his chess playing with Larry became better and better.

Billy and Melissa now spent all their free time together, much to the amusement and teasing of the other children in school.
"Hey shithole!" Rucks called out to him, "why are you always playing around with little girls? Maybe you're a girl yourself?" He turned to his friends, "hey guys, maybe he's a queer, or better yet, he doesn't even have a dick." They all laughed at that.
"Oh yes! Well you're an idiot. Everybody knows that." Melissa responded, and stuck out her tongue.

Rucks glared at her. "You keep your mouth shut, you bitch, or I'll shut it for you." He threatened.
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One day they decided to take Marvin down to the local outdoor chess player's corner. The chess corner was a place in the market where chess players gathered on the weekends, to play each other and make bets about the players. Usually it was speed chess that was involved, but sometimes it was a full game. There were the regular "pros" who took their stations each weekend and creamed off the contenders, for twenty bucks a piece.

By this time Marvin was fluent in the game and could follow the moves. He had already surpassed Billy. As a joke, they decided to enter him in a game.

Larry chose his man carefully, a fat, middle-aged man who had just lost to one of the pros.
"Hey man, I bet you fifty dollars that my monkey can beat you!" he called out.

The man looked up. "You gotta be kidding me."

"No. I'm straight. If you can beat my monkey, I'll give you fifty bucks."

"You out of your mind or something." The man turned to leave.

"What's the matter, afraid the monkey's going to beat you?" Larry mocked.
The taunt seemed to convince the man, since he turned around.

"Okay, what the heck. Let's play. It's not like I've got anything that important to do now anyway."

They sat own at a table. The fat man produced the chess pieces and began to lay them out on the board. Marvin sat in the chair opposite. "Choose which hand," said the fat man to Marvin, holding out his hands. Marvin chose the left hand. The fat man opened his hand to reveal a white pawn. "Okay then, you're white." Let's start.

Marvin made an opening move.

A crowd began to gather around the table, laughing and joking, following the game.
Marvin eventually lost the game, but it was a good match and kept everyone entertained.
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Both Billy and Melissa remembered the day when Rucks, the big bully who had plagued Billy's life since he'd joined this school, was humiliated by Marvin. It happened innocently enough. Rucks enjoyed playing checkers and thought he was pretty good at it - although he sometimes cheated and moved a piece when his opponent wasn't looking. The favorite spot for Rucks to play checkers with his friends was in the park on West Boulevard. Billy and Melissa usually avoided this park, but today they hadn't expected Ruck's group to be there, because there was a big rock festival on the other side of town. Ruck's would have gone, only his dad had just lost his job at work and wasn't too keen to fork out the money for the ticket. So, in a bad mood already, Rucks resigned himself to a dismal second best option of checkers in the park with his pals.

Rucks gleamed with malicious delight when Melissa and Billy walked into the park. Billy was holding Marvin, who was wearing a dog's leash, and Larry and the au pair fetched up the rear of the party, carrying the lunch basket together. They saw Rucks, but pretended not to notice him.

"Hi shitface, Hi storklegs!" Rucks called out to them, "who's the monkey?"
"Just ignore him," Melissa urged Billy. She grimaced in disgust.

Billy gripped the leash tighter and pulled Marvin towards him, while Larry glared at the fat delinquent, wishing he was young enough to beat the crap out of him.

The group of boys playing checkers stopped their games, and eyed the monkey as he passed, smirking to themselves.
Rucks turned to his friends with a wide smirk on his face. "Hey guys! Don't you think that monkey looks a lot like shitface? I bet they're both ugly enough to be brothers. Or maybe their father's an ape - that would explain everything." The other boys laughed.
Billy went pale with anger. Melissa stopped in her tracks, a grim gleam in here eyes. She spun round. "Look who's talking. You're so stupid I bet you my monkey could beat you at checkers!"
Rucks glared at some of the boys, who'd laughed at this joke. "Shut up. You think you're so clever - I could beat any of you at checkers any time, with my eyes blindfolded."
"Yeah sure." Melissa scoffed. "Okay then, let's see if you can beat the monkey, but not at checkers, at chess - now that's a real intelligent game."
"Oh yes, Larry chimed in, his eyes gleaming. "I have some chess pieces here. Marvin loves chess and I'm prepared to give you 50 dollars if you can beat him, although I'm prepared to bet 100$ that he'll beat you in less than ten minutes. That is, if you know how to play chess?"
Rucks looked uneasy and cornered. He did know how to play chess, but not very well, preferring checkers, which was far quicker and less complicated. However, he didn't want to look stupid in front of his pals. If he said no, they'd think he'd chickened out or was just plain stupid. The old geezer was probably just kidding about the 50 bucks, automatically assuming that Rucks didn't know how to play chess. He decided to brashly call their bluff.

"Oh yeah! Well, fine then. You better have that fifty bucks ready then, mister." He replied nonchalantly.

Without further ado, Larry took out the chessboard from the picnic basket and set up the pieces on the park table. Everyone crowded around, with Marvin and his friends sitting on one side and Rucks and his friend's on the other.

Marvin seemed to know automatically what to do. He reached out and grabbed one white and one black piece, hid them behind his back and then held out both hands for Rucks to choose.

"Choose a hand," Larry prompted him.

Rucks chose the left hand, which Marvin opened to reveal a white pawn.

"Okay, I'm white" Rucks grinned, "let's play. And no cheating!" He glared at Billy, "no giving your monkey any signs."
The game commenced. At first Rucks played confidently, sure that he would win. Billy and Melissa sat watching silently.
Slowly, the smile slid off Ruck's face, to be replaced by a look of annoyance. He was losing. And quickly. The game was turning into a route. To save face, he tried to cheat, making an illegal move. Larry quickly spoke up. "I'm sorry son, but that's cheating. You know you can't move like that."

"Are you calling me a cheat?" Ruck's shot back, looking red in the face. Everyone was watching him silently, and he knew that they all knew that he'd cheated. He stood up. "I've had enough of this stupid game anyway. You're the one's who've really been cheating - you've been giving signs to the monkey all along. You're all cheats. I'm going." He turned to his friends. "Come on guys, let's get out of here!"

Melissa and Billy said nothing while Ruck's got up and walked away. For a few moments, his pals hesitated, but when he turned round glaring at them, they slowly followed. While Ruck's back was turned on them, you could hear the whispering and snickering.

"Stupid fat fart. Beaten by a monkey! Even a monkey has more brains they you!" Melissa said it just loud enough so that Rucks could hear. She could just imagine what would be being said in the corridors of Poke high tomorrow. Rucks would never be able to live it down.
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PI Smith was hot on the trail again. He'd gone around to all the schools in the area and put up notices about a missing monkey - with a substantial reward for any information leading to its recovery. He'd left a phone number to contact. Now all he needed to do was wait and see if anything came up.

Billy and Melissa were otherwise occupied, so they didn't see the notice up on the school board. However, somebody else did notice, one of the boys who'd been in the park the day that Rucks was humiliated, and he lost no time in mentioning it to Rucks.
PI Smith was in the office when the call came in.

"Hey mister," said Rucks, "I understand you're looking for a monkey."

"Yes that's right. May I ask who's speaking?"

"First tell me about the reward. How much is it?" Rucks asked suspiciously.

After considering for a moment, Smith replied. "Well, first I have to make sure that you're not pulling a fast one on me and that the monkey fits the description of what I'm looking for. But if it's the right one, I'm prepared to offer a hundred bucks. Do you have it?" Smith asked eagerly.

"A hundred bucks! Is that all? How about two hundred and fifty?" Rucks perhaps sensed the eagerness in Smith's voice.
"You really are a conniving little bugger aren't you?" Smith replied with genuine admiration. This was a boy to his heart. "First tell me something about the monkey."

Rucks described the monkey as he remembered it. He remembered the monkey's name - Marvin. He even included the bit about it being able to play chess really well, concluding with "Mister, for a monkey that can play chess, two hundred and fifty bucks is not much to ask."

"And do you have this monkey?" Smith couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice. This was the one. It matched the description, and even the name was the same!

"Well, I don't have it exactly," Rucks replied grudgingly, "but I know the name of the person who does - and I can find out where he lives."

" Tell me his name and I'll send you the money."

"Rucks guffawed. "Oh come on. Do you think I'm stupid? I'll give you the name and the address, when you give me the two hundred and fifty dollars."

PI Smith considered. "Fair enough. Let's arrange to meet and I'll bring the cash with me." Yes, this really was a boy to his own heart. Perhaps he could use him on other jobs in the future.
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Monkey Napped

Now that he recognized the full potential of the monkey, PI Smith intended to kidnap it and hold it for ransom against the institute - or sell it off to the highest bidder if they were not willing to pay the price. He reckoned that such a specimen was bound to fetch over a million dollars on the open market.

The fat boy, Ruck's had been a godsend. Smith had recognized a kindred spirit the moment he had laid eyes on the boy in the park. After taking the envelope with the two hundred and fifty dollars and checking each note carefully, to make sure that they weren't fake, Rucks told Smith the story about the incident in the park, with Billy's monkey. A few questions from Smith also elicited the story, told boastfully by Rucks, of chasing "shitless Billy" on the day that the monkey had disappeared. For Smith, all the lose ends tied up neatly. The boy Billy had hidden in the laboratory of the institution, to escape from Rucks and his pals. The bars on the laboratory window were wide apart enough for him to have squeezed through. He'd entered the lab and taken the monkey with him when he escaped.

Smith thanked Rucks for the information, going so far as to reach into his pocket and offer the boy another 50 bucks to keep quiet about the incident. "Keep your eyes on this kid and let me know if you get some more information," he told Rucks. "There's more of this money, if you can get me the right information.
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To start off, he began to stake out the house of Billy, looking for an opening. Parked across the road, in his blue van, he noticed when Billy went to school and the mother went out. The first few days there was no real opportunity. Billy returned from school and only then did his mother go out on her errands. On the fifth day, Billy's mother went out shopping and the house was left empty.

PI Smith seized his opportunity. The little brat would be at school for another hour and the bitch mother had vamoosed. He waited for five minutes after Billy's mother had left, to make sure that she wouldn't return immediately because she'd forgotten something in the house. Then donning his workman's helmet, sunglasses and blue overalls he casually strolled across the road and knocked on the door. There was no answer, but it was always safer to be certain that no one was at home. He'd remembered once entering a seemingly empty house, only to encounter the wife's secrete lover, hiding in one of the closets. He looked up and down the road to make sure that he wasn't being observed, and then took out a metal instrument that looked something like a spoon. He used this to quickly prize open the latch and slip into the house.

He was inside. It was dark, all the light were off and the shutters were closed. That suited PI Smith fine. Donning his gloves, so that he would leave no fingerprints, he switched on the living room lights and began his search. Now where would the most likely place be to put a monkey?

The living room was clean, so he began to check systematically through the other rooms. Kitchen, pantry, laundry room, bedrooms - nothing. Ten minutes had passed. PI Smith looked towards the back door. So the monkey had to be kept in the back yard. It took him a minute to find the key for the back door and let himself out into the yard. A first glance did not reveal anything. He tried the back entrance to the garage, but there was nothing inside. He noticed a small shed at the far end of the yard. This had to be it. The shed was locked with a lock, but PI Smith didn't have the time to find the key. He took a mini-crowbar out from his toolbox and broke off the lock.

"Damn it!" he swore aloud and kicked the bag of compost inside. There was nothing here but gardening utensils.
Where was that damn monkey? Maybe on one of the side corridor's of the property? He ran quickly to the left side of the yard and made his way round. There as plenty of bushes, but not much space for a large adult, which meant that he had to stomp and trample on bushes. There was a kennel at the far side, and Smith thought that this must be it. Just as he was about to reach it, his leg caught on a stray piece of wire. Cursing, he tore himself loose, leaving a large hole in his pants.

Panting, he reached the kennel, but it was empty. What to do now? Smith calmed himself down quickly, allowing his innate slyness and keenly developed instinct for self-preservation to take over. There was nothing to worry about. He glanced at his watch. He had been here nearly twenty minutes, longer than he'd anticipated, but there was no sign of the bitch returning. Normally, he would have backed out now, but having come so close, he wasn't about to give up. He'd seen the boy bring the monkey inside, and so it had to be here. This close to his goal, he wasn't about to give up now. If the mother returned, there were other ways in which she could be dealt with.

Coming round the back of the house again and into the yard, he made for the other side. Looking up, he noticed the tree house. Of course! How could he have missed it. It had been right in front of him all the time. He'd been so intent on hunting his prey that he just hadn't bothered to look up.
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Melissa left school early that day and decided she'd stop over at Billy's house and give him a surprise. Larry dropped her off and waited outside while she ran up the path and rang the front doorbell. There was no reply. Damn! She'd expected Billy's Mom to be in. She debated with herself whether or not to return home, then reasoned that Billy would be home shortly. She could wait twenty minutes for him to arrive.

In the back yard, Smith did not hear the front doorbell ringing. He was finding it annoyingly difficult to get up into the tree house, which was built for children. The branches and leaves made it difficult and he kept on scratching himself. Eventually he got up and burst opened the door.

Melissa was just about to cross the road to tell Larry that she was going to wait for Billy, when she heard the sounds of Marvin screeching in fear and the sounds of banging. Something was wrong!
She ran across the road to Larry, crying out for help. "Larry! Larry! Something's wrong with Marvin."

Larry got out of the car, a concerned look on his face, and entered the front yard with Melissa. "Is there any way we can get into the back yard around the side entrance?" He asked her.

Melissa thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, there's a wall we can climb over on that side." She pointed.
"Then let's go!" said Larry.

Just as they were about to clamber over the wall, PI Smith was coming from the other side, carrying Marvin in a sack. It had been a brief but violent struggle to catch the monkey and put it in the sack. Marvin had put up a fierce fight, screeching in terror and running about the room. When Smith had finally caught him, he had fought back by scratching Smith in the face and then biting his hand. Even now, while in the bag, Marvin was struggling and whining. It was enough of a distraction for Smith not to hear Larry and Melissa coming from the other side. He was just about to climb over the wall when he saw Melissa's head poking up from the wall.

Melissa saw him at the same time and they stood staring at each other in shock for a moment. Smith was the first to react. Turning around with Marvin tucked firmly under his arm he fled back the way he had come.

"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing?" Melissa shouted after him. Larry poked his head up over the wall just in time to see the back of PI Smith as he dashed round the corner.

"Quickly, let's follow him," Melissa shouted to Larry, but Larry pulled her back, a worried look on his face.

"No! Melissa, No! He may be dangerous. Let's get back to the car and I'll call the police.
They rushed back to the car and Larry dialed the number.

They were just in time to see PI Smith run across the road, throw the sack with Marvin into the car, slam the door and drive off with screeching tires.

"Did you get the license plates?" Melissa asked Larry.

"Yes." Melissa nodded.

Larry reached for a pen in the glove compartment. "Let me write it down."
They were put on hold for five minutes before an officer answered and Larry gave him all the details. Shortly afterwards, Billy's mother returned home from her shopping trip.
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The telephone rang in the director's office.
The director himself picked up the phone. It was late in the evening, but the director was usually in the office until late. "Who is it?" He asked.

"Never mind who this is," said a voice on the other end. "I have your monkey and it's going to cost you to get it back!"

"Who is this? What are you talking about?" The director's voice rose in alarm.

"Oh you know exactly what I'm talking about," came the calm, cool voice on the other end, "subject 48A, the little Monkey Man. The one you stuffed with human brains and which disappeared from your labs a few months ago."

"Who the hell are you? What do you want?" The director shouted, rising to his feet in the silent office.

"Shut up and listen, dickface. I want two million dollars by the end of the week, for the monkey, or else."
The director sat down in shocked silence. His natural confidence quickly returned.

"Listen, whoever you are, I don't think you are in any position to blackmail me. If you have the monkey, then return it and we can discuss a suitable reward. If not, I'm going to have to report this matter to the police."

"Like fuck you are! Dickface. Listen to me carefully, because I'm not going to repeat myself. Get the money ready and I'll phone you in a few days to tell you where to make the exchange. That is of course, if you're interested. If you're not, I know the names of a few other labs that would love to get their hands on this specimen."
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Smith put down the phone and sat back in satisfaction. The voice transformation software enabled him to talk without having his voice recognized. It had come in really handy on several occasions in the past.

The monkey lay crumbled up in the corner of the room, collared and tied to the bedpost by a dog leash. Occasionally he whined and tugged at his leash and collar, but for the most part he observed Smith quietly with his large inquisitive eyes.
Smith stood up, ignoring the monkey, and went to the kitchen. Perhaps there was some dog food left over in one of the cupboards that the monkey could eat. Once, Smith had had a dog. He'd figured that in the detective business, a dog might come in handy, sniffing out clues and protecting the property. However, the dog had always been peeing in the house, howling and making a noise, even though it had been chained to the bed most of the time. Smith had constantly been giving it the boot and occasionally the dog had bitten his legs. When the dog started getting sick and vomiting in the house, Smith had had enough. He'd kicked the dog until his foot was sore, and when he saw that the dog was no longer moving, dragged it outside by the collar and shoved it into the bin.

A tin of dog food still remained, since Smith didn't believe in wasting anything.
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Billy was devastated when he learned that Marvin had been taken. He turned deathly pale, went up to his room without saying a word and locked the door. He wouldn't allow anyone to come inside.

Billy's Mom heard the story about the monkey from Melissa and was amazed to discover that her son had been hiding a monkey in the tree house for the last few months. When she asked Melissa where he'd gotten the monkey from, Melissa could only shake her head and say she didn't know. Billy had been oddly reticent about that point.

Billy's Mom felt incredibly guilty about the incident. She had been so busy wrapped up in her own problems that she'd missed what was happening under her nose during the last few months. She felt ashamed with herself, like a mother who discovers her child is doing drugs.

The police, in their usual slow and clumsy way, had not managed to connect the theft of the monkey to the missing laboratory monkey, a few months previously.

Larry was the most concerned about the theft. He had become very attached to Marvin over the past few months and he could imagine how much Billy missed him. He had not said much to the police, realizing that in the end this could possibly get Billy into trouble, if they found out from where he'd taken the monkey in the first place. The theft had been a professional job. The thief had only gone after the monkey, and left everything else, which meant that he had to have had some insider's information about the value of the monkey. Larry had some contacts amongst the local Russian community, and he decided that it was time to start making a few discrete inquiries of his own.
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A few days after the theft, Melissa called Billy. "Tell him it's important," she explained excitedly to Billy's mother, "we've found out some information about where Marvin may be."

"Can you come over now?" Melissa asked Billy when he arrived at the phone. "Larry's got some important information about Marvin and he wants to act on it right away."

Billy agreed. This time, his mom insisted on being part of it and coming with him. "I only wished you'd told me about Marvin sooner," she said, "we could have worked something out with him. Now I'm not letting you get into any trouble again with me around. I'm here for you Billy - and I really mean that."

"Thanks Mom!" Billy replied. They hugged.

Larry was waiting for them and quickly explained the information he had. "The van and license plates belong to a registered electrical company. However, a few extra inquiries I made through my resources indicate that this is a front for a detective agency, run by a Mr. Smith. I have the home address here and I can bet you anything that this is where we'll find the monkey."
"Then what are you waiting for? Why didn't you call the police?" Billy's mom cried.

Larry was silent and looked from Melissa to Billy for a moment. He coughed. "Well Mrs. Barnard, it's not that simple. You see, firstly, the police are not going to act on any unsubstantiated claims, without my revealing the source of my information, which I can't. Even if I did, they most likely would only call him in for interrogation. We are after all, talking about an 'alleged' theft of a monkey - it's not like it's a person who's been kidnapped. Also, this Mr. Smith could claim that the monkey belongs to him - and Billy has no proof of ownership."

Billy and Melissa looked crestfallen. "Then what do you suggest we do?" asked Billy's Mom, seeing the light of hope in Billy's eyes quickly fading.

"There's only one thing we can do," Larry looked embarrassed, "steal it back."
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"I don't know how on earth you convinced me to do this!" Billy's mother said, shaking her head in regret.

They were all bundled in the back seat of the limousine, across the road from PI Smith's property.
The others remained silent, not willing to bring on further objections.
Larry brought out a pair of binoculars and focused on the house. "I can see his blue van parked over there."

"Give that to me for a second". Melissa took the binoculars from Larry. Yes, that's definitely the one!" she agreed, remembering the van she'd seen.

"Now to see if we can't draw this Mr. Smith out," said Larry. He reached for the car phone and dialed, raising his finger to his lips, for the others to keep quiet.
The phone rang for a few minutes and was answered. "Hello, is that Mr. Smith? Yes. I understand that you do private detective work. What's that, your caseload is full at the moment? Perhaps a quick five thousand dollars would be of interest to you. You are interested now? Good. May I tell you some more about the case? Okay, good. I suspect my wife is having an affair, but I have no proof. Can we meet to discuss this? Okay, good, but not at my house. Can you suggest a place? Okay, I'll be there in fifteen minutes." Larry put down the phone, grinning.

"Let's wait a few minutes, to see if this Smith character goes out," Larry suggested.
A few minutes later, they saw Smith getting into the van and driving off.
As soon as he was gone, Larry got out of the car and told the others to stay in the car. "If you see Smith returning, then blow the hooter and start the engine," he told Billy's Mom. "Now, I am going to look for that monkey."

Ten minutes later he returned, with a huge grin on his face, and Marvin tucked snuggly under his arms. They all crowded around, patting and cooing Marvin in delight and concern. "It looks like we need to take him to a see a vet, Billy," his mom suggested. "Larry, please let's get out of here before that nasty man returns." They drove off.
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In The Spotlight

Tearfully, Billy showed Marvin to the vet. The fight with PI Smith had injured the monkey. He lay cowering and shivering.
Dr Marlow checked the monkey over, but could find no signs of broken bones or other external damage. He checked the monkey's eyes. The right eye was badly bruised and swollen, from a blow, but otherwise not serious.

He felt the head. It seemed to be somewhat enlarged. Perhaps from a concussion with internal bleeding? But this seemed to be asymptomatic. The monkey did not seem to be suffering from dizziness or nausea, its eyes weren't bloodshot and there were no signs of contusion on the skull. Perhaps an x-ray was in order?

"Has Marvin had his vaccination shots?" he asked Billy.
Billy shook his head. "I don't know."

"Where did you get the monkey from?" The vet asked.

Billy shifted uncomfortably. He could get into all sorts of trouble if anyone found out from where he'd taken the monkey. Worse - he'd have to return Marvin to the institute.
Larry once again came to the rescue. "A friend of mine bought him as a present for Billy," he said.

The vet nodded, accepting the story. "I'm going to take a blood sample and send it to the labs, just to see that everything is okay. I'd also like to do an x-ray of the skull, to make sure there are no cracks. It looks like this monkey has had a bad shock. What did you say happened to it again?"

"He ran away for a few days," Billy said, eyeing his mother who looked up at the ceiling, pretending she hadn't heard that white lie.

"A few days rest and he should be fine." The vet said, smiling reassuringly. "Now let's get those tests done."
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They decided that Billy's home was no longer safe for Marvin and that he'd have to stay with Larry, until things could be sorted out.

Larry was extremely worried, but didn't want to scare any of them further. This Smith character would be furious when he found out that the monkey was gone, and more than likely, he would come after the monkey again and extract some type of revenge on Billy or his mother if he couldn't find it.

Larry knew people in the Russian Mafia, and some owed his small favors. Perhaps it was time to collect on the debt.
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Smith was furious when he returned home to find Marvin gone. Firstly, he had waited nearly an hour for the guy to pitch, and he hadn't come. Coming home to find that he'd been conned and that the monkey was gone was the final straw.

For ten minutes he raged about the house, throwing and breaking things. Eventually he regained control of himself. Whoever had done this to him, he'd find out - and make that person pay.
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PI Smith woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. Something was wrong, he couldn't move his hands or legs. A flashlight shone in his face, blinding him. He struggled, but his arms and legs were restrained.

"Mr. Smith. Can you hear me?" A soft, sinister voice whispered out of the dark.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Smith stammered.

"I am your friend, Mr. Smith. I have come here to give you some good advice. Look over there." He pointed the flashlight at the far corner of the room. PI Smith could dimly make out the shapes of two tall, bulky men. They were dressed in black jackets and had ski masks over their faces, so that only their eyes were visible. Each carried a huge automatic rifle.
"These are my associates. I am going to let them introduce themselves to you soon, and get to know you better."

"What have I done? What do you want with me?" Smith stammered.

"To teach you a lesson and to give you a warning. "Stay away from the Barnard family. Forget about the monkey. It's not for you. Do you understand?"

"Who the hell do you think you are, breaking into my house and threatening me like this?" screamed Smith rashly, forgetting for a moment his cardinal rule of self-preservation.

He didn't see the blow descending on his jaw like a sledgehammer, but felt the rippling tear of pain. Then they were on top of him, pummeling his stomach, legs and face. They were efficient and professional about it, knowing just where to hit to cause pain, but not critical damage.

A piece of cloth was jammed into his mouth, to prevent him from screaming.

Mercifully, it was over soon enough. Smith thought he'd lost at least a few teeth. His gums were bleeding, his face was swollen, and they must have broken some of his fingers.

The pressure holding his arms and legs was released. The cool, calm voice spoke out of the dark again. "Stay away from the monkey. We'll be watching you. I don't want to have to come back here again."

The figures faded away into the darkness and were gone. Smith lay shivering. This case had taken a turning, which he wasn't prepared to follow. These were big league players - Mafioso by the sounds of them. It was time to cut his losses and call it quits. Maybe even leave town and start somewhere fresh.

Groaning, Smith crawled his way to the toilet, where he retched.
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Rucks was disappointed to hear that Mr. Smith was moving to Texas. He had thought the detective was really cool. Ruck's now knew what he wanted to do when he grew up. He'd be a Private Investigator, just like Mr. Smith.
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It was a week after the kidnapping incident when the veterinarian called. Billy answered.

"Hi, is that the Barnard family? Hello Billy. It's Dr. Marlow, the vet. I have the results of the blood test and X-ray with me. Don't worry, there's nothing to be alarmed about. I just have some questions and would like to run some more tests, if that's okay with you."

"I don't know," Billy responded suspiciously. "Why would you want to do more tests. I thought you said he was okay?"
"Yes. It appears however, that the skull is somewhat enlarged. More than normal. Also, some of the readings in the blood test were a little irregular. As I said, I don't want to alarm you, but it may be better just to do a few more tests. May I speak to your mother for a moment."

Reluctantly Billy passed the phone on to his mother.
The vet explained to Billy's mom in more detail. "Marvin may have hydrocephalus. It's a condition that can cause enlargement of the brain and pressure on the skull, due to enlarged water vesicles. It can be treated, but if it's not treated, it can lead to blindness and death. There's also the possibility that the monkey may have a tumor. I didn't want to alarm your son, but I think it's important that you bring the monkey in for some more tests.
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At first, Dr. Marlow wasn't aware of the real nature of Marvin. However, after reviewing the CAT scan, and observing Marvin's behavior, he began to suspect. The CAT scan revealed no signs of a tumor or hydrocephalus, but the brain matter was significantly more than what could be expected. In fact, the computer estimates put it at 16,000 cc, which was the equivalent of a human brain.

Observing Marvin and doing some basic reflex and other tests also revealed no psycho-neurological damage. On the contrary, Marvin's scores on intelligence were off the charts. It could do things that regular monkeys were not supposed to be able to do. Dr. Marlow had read reports on apes such as Lucy, who could identify perhaps 800 words, after years of intensive training. But Marvin was different. He could not only point to the correct pictures, when Dr. Marlow gave the name of an animal. He could identify colors and follow story sequences, such as Goldilocks and the three bears. No monkey had ever been able to do that. And apparently, according to the boy, the monkey could play chess! Incredible.

The boy, Billy had been evasive about where he'd obtained the monkey.

Dr. Marlow decided to run some genetic tests on the blood samples he had. This was an interesting case. This monkey was exceptional and deserved further investigation. Billy did not seem to be aware of the exceptional nature of Marvin.
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It took a long time for Marvin to recuperate from the kidnapping incident. On some nights he awoke whimpering and shivering. Billy understood that the monkey was dreaming of the "bad man".

Marvin now shared his time between Billy and Larry. When Marvin was with Larry, Billy came over regularly to visit and play.
In this sheltered, warm and stimulating environment, filled with love and safety, Marvin blossomed. He picked up more and more skills typical of little boys. Marvin learned to read and write from both Billy and Melissa. He also learned to count and do simple arithmetic. There seemed to be very few things that he couldn't achieve.

One element of language that Marvin would never be able to achieve was that of human speech. He didn't have the necessary vocal ability. But he was able to make his needs known by using sign language, and even writing down simple words, although it was difficult for him to write. Lacking the fifth index finger of humans, he held the pen curled in his four fingers and could scribble with some difficulty. On the computer, he could touch-type.

Gradually, with time Billy and Larry began to feel that it was safe again to take Marvin out. It was nearly a year since Billy had first found Marvin that they decided to enter Marvin into a chess tournament. Marvin loved chess, and kept asking them to let him play.
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The 'Bitch' was working in the laboratory when the director entered. She looked up and noticed immediately the somber, brooding look in his eyes.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Have you seen the morning paper?" He threw the newspaper he was holding onto her table. "Take a look."

Dr Genison glanced at the paper and here eyes widened in recognition. It was a picture of Marvin the monkey, sitting at a table, playing chess, under the headlines "Monkey Genius wins at chess."

There was a moment of silence as she and the director exchanged glances. Over a year had passed since Marvin had disappeared from the laboratory. They had both given him up for lost and continued with their experiments. Regrettably, they had not been able to repeat what they'd achieved with Marvin. It had been a once-off fluke.

Jean read the rest of the article with growing excitement. It explained how Billy had brought up the monkey and trained it to play chess - and apparently it could fully understand human speech, read and count.
She looked up at the director. "We must get that monkey back."

"How are we going to do that? The director responded.

"I don't know. Hire someone to steal it."

"We can't do that," the director shook his head. "Firstly, the boy might come back to the institute and attempt to take it back - and we can't afford any bad publicity over this. Secondly, it's not a good idea to get a third party involved." The director still remembered the incident with PI Smith and later the blackmail threat. Of course he'd realized that it had to have been Smith who was blackmailing him. Nobody else knew about the monkey, and even though Smith could hide his voice, he couldn't hide his mannerisms and foul language, which the director had immediately identified. But Smith had never contacted him again, and when he'd tried to reach Smith a few weeks later, the man had left town. "Finally, if we ever want to go public with our findings, there nay be questions about how we obtained the monkey from the boy," he concluded.

The bitch scoffed. "You've always been something of a coward, haven't you?" she challenged.

"Well then, if we can't steal it, then let's claim it! After all, it is our property. It was stolen from our laboratory. Legally, he has no claim to the monkey."

The director thought for a moment. "Yes. That's true. But if we take this to court, the truth about the monkey could come out."
Jean scoffed again. "Yes, and what truth is that? That it's a monkey with human genes. We are after all, licensed to do our experiments on monkeys, using human genes."

"Yes, but we crossed some ethical boundaries. We didn't just add a gene - we gave the monkey human intelligence. The public may not appreciate our playing god."

"Pah! The public!" Snorted Jean. "What do the public know? Most of them can't look beyond their own faces. They'll see a monkey - that's all. If it looks like a monkey and acts like a monkey, it's a monkey! Scientific details, Pah! Do you think the public has the time for that? Look at this article - it's a circus act!"

The director considered for a moment. "You may have a point. Let me think about it some more, perhaps speak to our lawyers."
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Billy was sitting with his mother when the subpoena came. He was to present himself in court. The rightful owners of subject 48A, Marvin the monkey, were suing for his return.

Melissa's mother was a high-powered lawyer. Melissa convinced Billy agreed to show her mother the subpoena. If there was anyone who could help, her mother could.

Billy and Melissa explain the entire story to Mrs. Brown. Billy's mother, Larry and Janet filled in the missing details. Mrs. Brown was more than happy to help - and not just because this was her daughter's best friend involved. She had been somewhat surprised to find out that Marvin had been in and out of her house, under her nose for the past year, and she had hardly been aware of it. She had known that Larry occasionally brought a monkey over, which belonged to a friend, but she hadn't realized all the details. After speaking to her husband about the case, she decided that she would take it on personally. This was indeed a high profile, high publicity case, given the surprising facts about the monkey. The tests from the veterinarian, Dr. Marlow, had indicated that Marvin contained human genes, most probably related to brain development. Her husband, an MD and trained surgeon, had himself examined Marvin and been amazed by the monkey's ability. It was obvious that someone had been running some questionable genetic experiments that possibly went beyond the legal boundaries allowed for genetic research. With her husband's help, she was checking into the legal aspects of this line of research. Secondly, if it could be proven that the monkey had human-like intelligence, then surely it was entitled to the freedom and civil rights of any other citizen? In that case, it couldn't be the "property" of anyone, at least not in this country, where slavery was illegal. It was a fascinating case.
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Mrs. Brown, Billy, Billy's mother, Melissa, Marvin, Larry, Janet sat in the front row of the court, which was packed with reporters and cameras. On the other end sat Dr Genison and the director.

This was a preliminary hearing, to determine whether the institute could have immediate custody of Marvin, or if the case would be taken to trial. The judge took the stand and asked the prosecuting and defending lawyers to give their statements.

The lawyer from the genetic institute stood up for his opening statement.
"Your honor, the matter before the court's today is simple and we are surprised at the amount of publicity that this has generated. Subject 48A, otherwise known as Marvin, was stolen from the Institute for Advanced Genetic Research on February the first, last year. The matter was duly reported to the police. This is the same monkey that is currently being withheld from us. Our request is that the subject be returned to the institute immediately. A great deal of groundbreaking research and funding has gone into the upbringing of this subject, which is the institute's lawful property. This research may have profound potential benefit for medical research worldwide." The lawyer sat down.

Now it was the turn of Marvin's lawyers to present their case. Mrs. Brown stood up and paced for a moment in silence, allowing the suspense to build up. "Your honor, in all due respect to the institute, not only does it have much to answer for in terms of its questionable, if not illegal ethical practices, but Marvin is not the "property" of anyone. Marvin is a sentient being with the IQ of a normal six year old child. He is not some specimen in a laboratory. According to DNA tests, Marvin has the same brain material as you and I. During his stay at the institute, he was badly mistreated and subject to deprivation and torture. In fact, he was due to be terminated when he was rescued from the institute. It is only the love and gentle care of the Barnard family that has enabled Marvin to flourish. This case has much more to it than meets the eye. My client, Marvin is not a subject. He is entitled to all the protection that the law has to offer. He should not be returned to the deprivation of the laboratory. He should be allowed to chose where he wants to stay." She sat down.

The judge turned to the institute's lawyer. "Do you want to respond to Mrs. Brown's opening statement?"

After a brief consultation with his clients, the lawyer for the institute stood up.
"Yes, your honor. If I may. This does not change the nature of the case. The institute still represents Marvin's legal guardians. The claim that Marvin was mistreated is totally unfounded and unsubstantiated. The institute conforms to the most stringent standards of quality and medical care. The institute is Marvin's home - you may think of it as an 'orphanage' if you wish to use these terms. Marvin should be in a medical center, which can adequately attend to his needs. I don't think that the Barnard family, with all due respect to their ability, have the resources to adequately take care of Marvin's special needs. One more thing. Even if we assume, for a moment, that Marvin understands his situation, he still remains a minor and hence under the jurisdiction of his legal guardians."

The judge turned to Mrs. Brown. "Do you have a final statement?"

Melissa's mother stood up, confident and glowing in the attention. The cameras were snapping away, and she knew that this case was going to make national TV.
"Your honor, there are not just legal, but also moral and ethical principles involved. We have independent witness testimony, from a laboratory assistant that worked at the institute, to support our claim that Marvin and the other primates were subject to inhumane treatment, such as shock therapy, that the Marvin suffered from severe withdrawal symptoms and that the lab assistant was ordered to terminate him. In addition, over the last year Marvin has developed a deep attachment to not only the Barnard family, but also to our own family, and visa versa. Severing this link now and forcing Marvin to return to the institute would cause great emotional trauma and damage."

"Thank you Mrs. Brown. You can sit down now." Judge Mathews considered for a moment. He as well aware of the great interest this case was generating. The medical institutes were keen to get their hands on Marvin, for further testing. On the other hand, human and animal rights groups had picked up on the case and were making a large amount of noise in the media. This case needed to be handled with kids gloves, both from a legal and political point of view.
He addressed Mrs. Brown.
"All this fuss over one monkey. I would like, if I may, to hear for myself what Marvin has to say. Would he understand if I asked him some questions?"

"Yes your honor." Mrs. Brown nodded. "But remember, this is a six-year-old with not that much understanding of human society. Speak slowly and clearly, and use simple sentences and he should understand."

The judge nodded. "Marvin, would you like to approach the bench please."

Billy and Melissa had trained Marvin how to respond to this situation. He was very nervous with all the lights and people in the room. He glanced for reassurance from Billy, and held out his hand. Billy led him up to the judge.

"Marvin, do you know who I am?" The judge asked.

Billy gave Marvin his notepad and pencil. Slowly and painstakingly, Marvin wrote down a word and held it up to the judge. The cameras clicked away. The word said "JUDGE".

The judge bent over to see clearer what Marvin had written. "That's really good. I'm impressed Marvin. How do you feel about being here?"

Again, Marvin wrote on a piece of paper. "FEEL SCARED".

"Do you want to stay with Billy or go back to the institute Marvin?"

Marvin considered for a moment, then wrote:
"LOVE BILLY. NO WANT GO BAD PLACE".

The judge smiled. "Thank you Marvin, you can sit down now."
He waited for a minute then addressed the audience. "Although the institute currently remains Marvin's legal guardians, there are some accusations of abuse and neglect that need to be addressed before he can be returned. In addition, in light of Marvin's advanced intelligence, all care should be taken to take into consideration his emotional and psychological needs. Plaintiff's request for immediate custody is denied. The courts will set a suitable date for trial."
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Billy and Melissa were ecstatic with the judge's decision. It was a small victory, which meant they could keep Marvin for the moment. Of course, there would be a major trial in a few months, but in the meantime they were free to be together.

Well sort of.

The media, research institutes and just about every nut out there was eager to get their hands on Marvin. Marvin was more than just a curiosity. He was at the center of a huge debate about what it meant to be human.

The phone never stopped ringing. Reporters waited outside, twenty-four hours a day, to snoop and get a glimpse of Marvin. Bobby was hounded at school and Mrs. Brown was bombarded by calls at work, including from high-powered senators in Washington.

It was a traumatic time for all of them.

Dr. Genison and the director were at the center of a different kind of storm. On the one hand, reporters and other researchers were clambering for more information on the nature of their research with Marvin. They both received hundreds of guest speaking options at prestigious universities. On the other hand, they were at the center of a political storm and potential scandal. Human and animal rights groups marched outside the institute's doors, demanding that the institute be closed immediately. More worrying was a congressional inquiry, seeking to clarify the precise nature of their experiments on Marvin, and their legality.
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The Trial

The lights and cameras were focused on Marvin.

The announcer spoke breathlessly into the microphone. "The question before us today is whether Marvin is a human or an ape. Do we classify him according to his outer appearance as an ape, or do we define him according to his human intelligence and ability to communicate?

More fundamentally, if he is considered human, then he has all the fundamental rights classified under the Geneva Convention - the right to freedom from slavery and persecution. As a human or sapient being, he can no longer be subjected to the type of experimentation carried out on animal subjects, such as orangutans.

If you put a dozen monkeys into a room for a million years, you could not come up with one Marvin. Like Shakespeare, he is a unique individual in his own right, surpassing his peers and rising to the level of humanity.
Although Marvin may never be fully human, in the sense that we know it, he is nevertheless able to participate in part of the human experience. He has acquired the ability to read and write and count. He has the human ability to learn and to adapt from his experiences.
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"We would like to call as our first witness Marvin the Monkey," said Melissa's mother.
All eyes were focused on Marvin as he took the witness stand.

"Do you promise to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" the court officer asked.
Marvin nodded his head vigorously.

The case was taken all the way up to the supreme court, which determined that Marvin be given the full rights and civil liberties of a citizen, including a passport and school education. The institute was removed of all rights to Marvin, in light of the testimony that the fired lab assistant gave in court.

Billy's mother was given full custody of Marvin, including formal adoption papers. Mrs. Brown agreed to provide full assistance in the upbringing of Marvin. A special tutor was brought in to teach Marvin on a regular basis. A host of research and newspaper articles were written about Marvin and his family, and Marvin was listed as Times Magazine's "Man of the Year."
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Epilogue

Dr. Genison and the director were fired from the institute for their unethical practices and their failure to disclose the true nature of subject 48A. No criminal charges were brought against them. The director retired, bought a small coastal cottage, and spent his days fishing - something he'd always wanted to do.

Dr. Genison found a highly suitable job in a top quality Japanese laboratory, enabling her to continue the same line of research.

PI Smith set up a successful Private Detective agency in Texas, snooping on stray husbands, wives and their lovers. The boy Rucks still kept in touch with Smith, and went down to Texas during the summer holidays, to assist him in his investigations. Smith was only to happy to teach him the tricks of the trade.

Billy and Melissa remained very good friends throughout high school.

As for Marvin, he continued to progress and eventually enrolled in university, where he majored in computer science and became the first MBA (Monkey with a BA).