Chapter 18
Dumb Monkeys - Link
Link continued to insult the gorillas. “I think Conquest should change his name to Capitulate. If face he should do it even now.”
Max expected one of the gorillas to run over and begin beating the otter. Some of the gorillas might not know that capitulate meant admitting defeat, but Max, as certain Conquest did and would beat the otter senseless if he heard it. Link, however, was just getting started with the insults.
"Yeah, dumb monkeys. That's all you guys are.” Link repeated, “In fact, I would say dumb monkeys are smarter than you."
Max's eyes went wide reflectively because calling someone a dumb monkey was the ultimate insult. Max still remembered the one time that he had used the term. His father was nearby, and the tongue lashing he got from his father made Max determined never to say anything like it again.
One thing that stuck in his mind was his father saying, "If you cannot say something without referring to people in words like that, then you need to learn to speak better. If your vocabulary is limited to using words such as that. You should keep quiet." There was a lot more that Max's father had said, but that was the part that stuck in his mind. "Max, did you know that was wrong?" Wen Max said he did his father just looked at him and said, “Max, you’re better than that.”
Now hearing Link, who grew up in the same circles, talking like this, just shocked Max and almost caused him to say something. When Max began to say something, Link removed a paw from where it was tied and brought it to his mouth in the universal symbol to be silent.
Link was not silent. He went on to describe other ways the gorillas were awful in ways that anyone would find insulting. Link went even further and began insulting their families. And after a couple of minutes, Link sighed and apologized in a whisper, "I'm sorry about the language, but I have to make sure that they weren’t listening. We can’t let them know who you are. And I guessed that if somebody was listening, to me saying those things would have brought some sort of response."
Max started to say something, but Link shook his head and paws.
"No, just one of us. Don't even think about talking. Your silence is one thing that can save you and maybe even me. The fact that they think you're nothing but a regular non-talking elephant may have been what the Creator was hoping for."
Max didn’t know if this was the Creator’s plan, especially with Jezreel possibly dead. Max looked at the sky, and Link understood.
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"I think Jezreel is okay. She's tougher than she looks, and I doubt that a bola, no matter how hard it was thrown, would have kept her down.” Link paused, “I don't know why we haven't seen her, but if we haven't seen her, they haven't seen her."
When he said the word "they," Link looked past Max to the gorillas, huddled together in the distance. Though Max was sure that Link wasn’t being heard by the gorillas, her unintelligible words came back from the gorillas gathering.
Link continued. "As I said, Max, keep quiet. It's the key to everything. And the very fact that they're taking us to where the other elephants are being held means that we don't have to wander around hoping to find them. They're taking us exactly where we want to go. This is good."
Max stared at Link, thinking, you're tied up, and I'm pretending to be mute, and this is good? Max shook his head, not sure if Link was right. He did agree that he shouldn't say anything.
"Don't worry," Link said, "I’m not tied up.”
To prove it, Link pulled another of his paws out of the ropes surrounding him and held it up. Link waved his hand at Max and said, "I can get out of these any time I want to. It's part of the plan. It's a good plan. We're going to go exactly where they want, we're going to be taking exactly where we need to, and they're going to do all the work." Link smiled as if everything was going exactly to plan.
Max stared intently at Link, trying to indicate with his eyes that he still wasn't sure this was as great a plan as Link was making it out to be. But Max thought, it's the only plan we've got. And with that, they both became silent as they heard the gorillas heading back toward them.
"Come on, Bond, we need to get some rest," Conquest grumbled.
Bond came over and tried to get Max to lie back, but Max didn’t move at first, confused as to why the gorilla wanted him to lie down, when he didn’t need to do that to sleep.
"Get it settled," Conquest said.
“Yes, get the dumb thing to lie down,” Storm screamed.
Bond didn’t look at Storm but at Conquest.
“We need to calm that thing down, so shush it," Conquest said in a whisper that carried a threat that Max was sure a non-talking elephant could have understood.
Max understood they wanted to lie down, but Max waited to try to act as he thought one of the herd might. As expected, Bond walked over and rubbed his trunk liberally with the ointment.
"Take it easy," Ash said. "That stuff's strong enough to make me sick."
Bond looked over and whispered, "Do you want him to roll over on you in the night?"
The gorilla grunted. And with that, Max felt that the sedative being put on was stronger than before. Max guessed that had he been a regular elephant, at this point, he would have wanted to go to sleep. As it was, he was struggling to keep his eyes open before he realized that all the gorillas were moving in around him, leaning up, lying up next against him. Even Bond lay close to his head. As if an afterthought, Bond got up, grabbed Mac, Link brought him over, and set him between Max and himself.
The gorillas huddled in closely around Max. By this time, the sun had gone down, and the stars were coming out. Max could tell the air was beginning to cool. Max had a suspicion that the reason the gorillas were close was that they were hoping to use him to help stay warm.
Max almost yawned, but instead let out a long sigh, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
