Fiction

Everything Important in Life Comes With a Gorilla

A Michael Bouvier intervention

Of all odd and unexpected assignments that had come to Michael Bouvier via one of Loretta Spiegel’s postcards, he would have considered the most unusual one that came just days after he arrived in New York from Paris. He hadn’t even finished unpacking and he had yet to make a phone to his friends in New York to tell them he had arrived, when he received a small package along with a postcard both postmarked from Cleveland Ohio. Like all of the others, this had come without a name or return address, just one word where the return address would be was written, ‘AVOGADRO.’

The card read “Go to the Los Angeles Zoo and speak to the Gorilla house caretaker, Richard Parker. He has an unusual problem.”

Michael had received many postcards in the last two years, on errands that had taken him all over the world, to Bangladesh, to London, to Paris, and many more, and each time he travelled, it would bring a new revelation, a new expectation, and the grief that he felt in the wake of his second wife’s death was ameliorated.

That evening he booked a flight to Los Angeles, and as he sat in the aeroplane seat with the unopened package on his lap, he pondered what new discovery awaited him.

A young woman sat next to him, staring at the small package. He also had a small bag sitting on the floor for his camera. He was always prepared to take a photograph if the occasion arose. The young woman was reading a poetry book by Emily Dickinson.

“I see you like poetry,” he told her, as she quietly read.

“I love poetry,” she pulled a copy of ‘The Sonnets from The Portuguese’ from her bag and showed it to him.

“I love poetry as well,” he responded and pulled a Robert Frost poetry book from his bag. “I find it relaxes me.”

“So where are you going in Los Angeles?” she asked. “If you don’t mind talking about it.”

“I am going to the zoo,” he responded emphatically.

“The zoo,” she repeated. She hesitated. “I don’t think I’ve ever been told someone was going to the zoo.”

“How often do you fly?” he asked her.

“About once a week. I am a civil engineer. I oversee building projects all over the country.”

“Good for you,” he responded. He reached his hand toward her. “I'm Michael Bouvier. I am a photographer.”

“Allison Hargrave,” she answered him, and gently shook his hand.

So began a conversation that lasted the whole flight. She talked about her family, about why she had become an engineer, about how she had grown up in Pittsburgh and had moved to New York after college. He talked about his photography career, about both his wives, about many of the famous people he had photographed, among them Presidents and movie stars, and how much he cherished the so-called common people above all others. At one point he told her that he had taken over 10,000 photographs, of everything from war stories to flowers. It was as if their friendship was blossoming right in front of their eyes. She told him about her family, her sisters Margaret and Ann. Her father had been a pharmacist but was now retired, and her mother was a painter. She reached into her bag and showed him photos of some of her mother’s paintings. She pointed out a photo of a Scottish Terrier named George, and two landscapes of the Poconos, that her mother had painted.

“They are all very beautiful,” he told her. “Thank you so much for sharing this time with me.”

“Do you have children, Mr Bouvier?” she asked him.

He sighed. “Unfortunately, No. Neither of my wives could have children. But I have had several proteges who helped me fill the gap.”

He remembered Veronica Glen, who had been like a daughter to him.

“I hate to have this end,” she told after the plane landed and they were disembarking the plane. “You wouldn’t mind if I joined you on your trip to the zoo?”

“You’re sure you have the time?”

“My meeting is tomorrow,” she replied. “I was supposed to fly tomorrow. But the airline changed my flight.”

“Of course,” he responded. “I would love the company.”

They both went to the baggage claims and retrieved their suitcases. To their surprise, they both had identical bags which confused them, and they had to exchange their bags. This would not be the last coincidence that happened on that day.

After securing their bags, Michael arranged to rent a car. After Michael put their bags into the back of the car, he put their carry on bags in the back seat and tossed the small package on the console between the front seats. Then they were on their way to the Los Angeles Zoo. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

As they were driving towards the Zoo from the LAX airport, Allison picked up the package and began to look at it. There was no writing anywhere on the outside of the package.

“Do you know what this is?” she asked him.

“It’s not for me. I don’t ask any questions,” he answered.

She seemed intrigued by his remarks. She set the package down on the console.

“Has this happened before? Delivering unknown packages?”

“Many times. But I usually find out what is inside. I find it exciting, in a way like a Christmas gift.”

His answer produced even more questions in her mind.

“Thank you for letting me come along for the ride. This is kind of exciting.”

“Thank you, it’s nice to have company for a change.”

The ride to the zoo took them 33 minutes. When they parked in the main parking lot, Michael took his camera out of his bag and looked through the lens.

“I have a camera in my bag. Nothing that fancy. Do you mind if I bring it along?”

“You don’t have to ask me permission for every move you make. So far we still live in a free country.”

“My mother trained me to show deference and respect.”

“She did a good deed.” He paused. “Now let’s go find out why ‘we’ have been sent here.”

She noticed his emphasis on the word “we.”

Since this epoch in his life had begun with a postcard from Baltimore, Michael had begun to pay attention to all the details of his life. He had begun to notice patterns everywhere. When they arrived at the admission gate, Michael paid for both of them.

“Are you going to take pictures of the animals?” she asked him.

“If you want me to,” he answered. “What are you building here in Los Angeles?”

“I think I’ll let it surprise you,” she told him.

As they began to walk through the gate, she asked him, “What is your most famous picture?”

“Of a person or an object?” he retorted.

“How about both.”

“Of a person Neil Armstrong, the first after he came back from the moon. Of an object, the Berlin wall immediately after it was torn down.”

“I’ve seen those pictures,” she responded. “That was you.”

“My favourite picture of all is of that girl who fell in the well and was rescued after so many hours.”

“I saw that picture,” she acknowledged.

“They were just moments. I lived my life to capture those moments. But I’ve learned now that some of the most precious moments come when no one else is looking when your whole world is changed in a heartbeat.” His eyes swelled with tears. He sensed in his heart that they were approaching one of those such moments.

He began to take pictures of the animals in the zoo. They walked around for twenty minutes before they finally reached the gorilla habitat, a large outside environment that resembled an African plain. Michael took several photographs of the gorillas gathered together.

“So we are here. No, we must find Richard Parker.”

“Who is Richard Parker?” she asked him.

“Never met him. He must be here somewhere.”

Michael began to look around the area in multiple directions, even putting the camera to his face to look through the lens. He finally focused on an image of a man in a jumpsuit near the back of the exhibit. He snapped a picture of him. He dropped his camera to his side. “I think I’ve found our Mister Parker.”

Michael pointed to the man’s position.

“Does he expect you coming?” she asked Michael.

“He hasn’t got a clue. Not the first time.”

After about fifteen minutes the man in the jumpsuit left the enclosure and began walking toward the administration buildings. Michael slowly approached him from behind and confronted him.

“Are you Richard Parker?” Michael asked him.

The man seemed both fearful and annoyed.

“Yes,” he slowly answered. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Michael removed the small package from his bag and held it out toward the man.

“I have been asked to give you something.”

“Asked by whom?” He was reluctant to take it from Michael. “I am not being sued by someone, am I? You’re not a process server, are you?”

“No, I have just been sent to give you this package. I’ve come all the way from New York.”

Allison stood by watching it all, as the man reluctantly took the package.

“Please open it,” Michael encouraged him.

Then reluctantly and awkwardly, Richard began to rip the paper off the package. Inside he found a smaller package and what looked like a greeting card envelope. The greeting card envelope had the name Allison Hargrave written across its face. Michael took the envelope from the stranger and handed it to Allison.

Richard then began to open the smaller package. Inside was a small notebook. He took the notebook and began to flip through it. His face began to change expression through many emotions. Allison held the card in her hands, shocked that it would have her name on it. She was reluctant to open it.

I, Jonathan, knew as she held this card in her hand that on which Loretta had written her name, her mind could not have comprehended what was happening to her. When I was twelve the thought of this excited me, that someone would take so much interest in me, when at the Spellman School everyone ignored me. But as I grew older I came to understand that not everyone could deal with such revelations. I could see her, as she struggled to open the envelope, finally finding the courage to read it.

Richard Parker was staring at the notebook, filled with details about his life, details only I could have known, details that I hoped, about his circumstances that he would reveal to Michael Bouvier, whom I knew I could trust with my life. Of all the people that I could have sent to Richard, Michael was the first whom I believed could help him with his circumstances. After Richard finished perusing through the notebook, he spoke in a firm voice to Michael, “I’m unstuck in time.”

At first, it didn’t register with Michael, and Richard repeated himself, “I’m unstuck in time. I don’t live from moment to moment as other people do. I can suddenly jump forward and backwards and be in another time period outside my own. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But I’m here now in this moment.”

He paused. “While in this moment, have been asked to tell you something.” He turned around and pointed to the gorillas sitting a hundred yards away. “The two large gorillas over there are named Michael and Allison, I didn’t name them, some children did, in a contest.”

Allison was mesmerized staring at the open envelope, not paying attention to anything else.

“So what do we do now?” Richard asked Michael.

“Are you still working?” Michael asked him.

“No, I’m off for the day.”

“Then let’s go get something to eat. I’m sure we have a lot to talk about.”

Then Michael turned to Allison, who was still fixated on the envelope.

“Allison, It’s time to go. We’re leaving the zoo now.”

He gently grabbed her left elbow and began to lead her out of the zoo. The three of them then walked toward the main entrance and then left the zoo together.

“Have a nice evening, Dr Parker, one of the security guards greeted him as they departed.

Allison still hadn’t read the card, when Michael opened the car doors. Richard climbed into the back seat and Michael and Allison returned to their seats. There was an awkward silence as Michael turned on the engine.

“So you’re a doctor, Dr Parker?” Michael asked him.

“Veterinary medicine. I specialise in primates.”

“Have you been to Africa, Doctor?”

“Many times,” he answered.

“Did you know my friend, Mark Hanson?”

“The photographer? I knew about him, but it was before my time. Awful, what happened to him.”

“I’m sure we’ll have a lot to talk about.”

Michael began to pull the car away. Everyone in the car could sense they were on the threshold of something extraordinary. Allison sat pensively, staring at the envelope.

“Why don't you read it?” Michael questioned. “I found it is easier to get it over with.”

“How many times have you been through this?” she asked.

“Personally or as a witness. Too many times to keep a count. I’ve been very busy these past few months.”

“Here goes,” she spoke. She slid the card out of its envelope.

“So, where do you want to go now?” he asked her.

“Take us to my project.”

She reached into her pocket and removed a card with the address.

“That’s your project, a dam,” he answered. “You’re building a dam.”

“Yes,” she answered. “Have you been there?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. Is that OK with you, Dr Parker, we’re going to see her dam.”

Then the three of them began their sojourn northward to Allison’s dam.

Allison began to read her card. On the other was a photo of the gorilla named Allison from the Los Angeles zoo she had just seen, with the words printed beneath in cursive script, “Learning to Live in Another World!” Inside the card was printed the words, “None of us know what awaits us tomorrow, what has been planned for us to experience. We need to enter our new world with new eyes and an open heart.” Beneath these words in a handwritten script, were the words, “Welcome to Omega, Jonathan,” and the Greek word ‘Oiktirmia’.

“I have no idea what any of this means,” she told herself.

She slid the card into its envelope. Within what seemed like a very short time, they found themselves at the sire of the dam, like a majestic concrete wall standing between two mountains. Michael stopped the car and got out to take pictures. Allison turned around to look at Richard. She was eager to learn what he meant by his words that he was unstuck in time. They were about to get a crash course in what time really is.