He was tall, dark & handsome. The strong silent type that I always fell for…except that he was a gorilla. He was Chris.

I met Chris early on as an assistant zoo keeper. Linda, his every day keeper, introduced us. It was early morning and I helped to prepare the buckets of fruits & vegetables that made up Chris’ daily diet. I believe he also ate the Monkey Pellets, but its been too long ago for me to remember his diet exactly.

On the way to his enclosure Linda explained how to behave around Chris, “…keep your eyes lowered, no direct eye contact”  etc. She explained that he lived alone because he had murdered all of the potential mates they had tried to give him. I was sipping my morning coffee as we walked, excited and understandably nervous to finally be up close and personal with one of the most powerful of primates.

Linda said, “Get a good grip on your coffee. He can make a lot of noise the first time he meets you.” I felt I was prepared. She unlocked the steel door and we stepped into the dimly lit room. I can’t describe the overpowering smell of a large primate. Beyond the bars of the inner cage light filtered through a small opening. There was a soft shuffle and his massive head looked in at us. I was careful to glance away and he politely did the same.

I turned to help Linda when the air suddenly exploded with a sound like a train wreck! My coffee went flying. The reverberating echo of his booming fists on the iron doors of his inner cage vibrated through my chest and ears. Linda was saying something that I couldn’t hear. I wasn’t sure if I was deaf from the noise or from the pounding of my heart.

I was still shaking when Chris sat calmly on his bed of straw reaching out his huge hands for breakfast. We had been properly cowed. Linda smiled at me, ” No one is ever prepard.”

***********

Chris came to know me quickly. Both my husband and I worked as volunteers and Chris could easily pick us out of a crowd. Chris was a celebrity in his own right and it gave me a small sense of pride to be singled out from the large group of visitors that always lingered in front of his cement enclosure. He would be sitting with his head turned away from his admirers, but the moment he caught my scent or recognized the sound of my work boots his head would whip around and he would scan the crowd for my face. Once he caught site of me his eyes would follow until I was out of site.

Occasionally we were allowed to give him bananas as a special treat. By now I was better prepared for his awesome display of power. I would enter the room quietly and sit on the floor next to the bars of his cage. I would keep my head bowed and glance towards the day-lit opening, waiting. Eventually the light would be blocked by his massive head. He would stand that way for a moment and then make his grand charge, pounding the doors, the booming sound of iron echoing through the room and in my ears, then he would slam against the bars and slide to a stop, sitting calmly beside me. I would hold out the banana and his huge hand would reach out and take it gently. He sat quietly while he peeled and ate his treat. He was always a gentleman…on the other side of the bars.