Milo does a lot of tricks, a lot more than Koba. And he almost never gets hit or shocked with the stick.
One day Koba notices a little thing like a mirror. He sees some very small people in it. The people look like the normal-sized people, who he also can see, and there is one who looks like Milo. They’re doing the same things that the normal-sized people are doing. He wonders if the little people are learning what to do from the big ones.
One night, Tommy lets them out of their cages, but he doesn’t teach them anything. Instead he watches one of the squares with little people inside, and drinks something. Koba doesn’t like the smell of the drink—it smells like the stuff Roger was drinking before he hit Koba and his mother with the oranges in the bag.
Koba looks for Milo and Alice in the screen, but these are different people.
Milo nudges him.
Come, he signs.
He leads Koba to the room where they learn things. He goes over to a big black hoop hanging from a rope and starts to swing on it. Koba jumps on and begins to swing, too. It feels good to let his muscles stretch outside of the cage. For the first time since leaving where his mother was he feels a little happy. There are other things to play on and climb on. There is a ball that Milo teaches him to roll, and they play a game with it.
Koba sees a leash and hands it to Milo. He motions for Milo to put it on him. At first Milo does not understand. He puts the leash down. But then Koba tries again. Milo tentatively comes forward with the leash. Koba hoots and jumps back. Milo tries again, and once more Koba hops back, hooting laughter.
Then Milo starts laughing, too, and the chase begins. They run all around the room. Milo eventually catches Koba, and they tussle on the floor. Only once, when Koba playfully grabs at Milo’s ear, does Milo get angry. He scowls and pushes Koba away. But then Koba tickles him, and they start playing again.
After a while, they grow tired, and Milo leads Koba around the house. Tommy is where he was, but now he is asleep, a can of the stuff he was drinking still in his hand. Milo makes the sign for “quiet.”
In one room there is a big white box, like the one he was supposed to get the bananas off of, at the place where he and Milo do their tricks. This one is smaller though, and has food in it. So do some other boxes—each one a different size. Milo finds them sweet things to eat. They play some more and then curl up next to each other to sleep. It feels good to sleep lying down, and not standing up in the cage.
Koba wakes with Milo plucking at him. He sees light coming through the windows. Something is making a ringing noise, and Tommy is stirring on the long chair.
Milo pulls him frantically toward the cages.
Tommy, he signs. Stick, stick—come in cage. Quick!
Koba remembers that it was Tommy that let them out of the cages, but he does what Milo says. The cage doors click shut.
A moment later, Tommy appears, the stick in his hand. He looks at them.
“Huh,” he says, and then scratches his head. He walks off.
It is the next night, and Tommy lets them out again. This time he watches them play. Koba does the trick they have been practicing; he pretends to be crying, and then Milo comes and gives him a hug. Koba is hoping for a cookie, but instead Tommy offers him the stuff he is drinking. It still smells bad to Koba, and he does not want to drink it, but Tommy shows him the stick and tells him to drink it.
It burns in his nose and throat, and he wants to spit it out, but Tommy has the stick. And so he swallows it.
After it stops burning, it sits in his stomach, turning warm. It feels a little like being groomed, and he remembers his mother. He remembers outside, and the wind, and soon he feels a little warm wind in his head. Milo drinks some too, and then they play together some more. Things are funny that shouldn’t be, like when Koba misses his handhold and cracks his head on the floor.
Milo laughs, and so does Koba, although it hurts.
Like the night before, they find Tommy asleep in front of the tiny moving people, and like before Milo finds them some things to eat and they curl up together.
But this time they wake up with Tommy hitting them and yelling at them. He chases them to their cages and makes them get in. Koba stands there, cramped and miserable. Something is wrong with his head. It hurts, and his stomach feels wrong. He can see that Milo doesn’t feel well, either.
It is the next morning, and they are at the place where the little people copy the big ones. Milo is trying to do his trick, but he keeps falling. Tommy hits him again and again, but he doesn’t get it right. Tommy leaves to put one of the smoking sticks in his mouth. Most of the other people wander off. Milo is sulking.
A boy Koba has only seen today goes over to Milo and pokes him with his finger.
“Come on,” he says. “Do something.” Milo just backs up a little.
The boy pokes him again.
“Come on, you stupid monkey, do a trick.”
Koba can see that Milo is getting agitated. The boy is challenging him, threatening him. But the boy is not Tommy. The boy does not have the stick.
“You’re such a dumb monkey,” the boy says. “I bet you eat your own shit, don’t you.” He pushes Milo on the head. Milo looks confused, and then he is suddenly angry. He screams and lunges forward, biting the boy on the nose. It isn’t much of a bite—most of the nose is still there—but it bleeds a lot. The boy starts screaming, and Milo goes behind a chair and puts his hands over his head.
All the people come back, including Tommy.
Tommy hits Milo many times with the stick. Then he puts them in their cages on the truck and they go home. When they get home, Tommy takes Koba from the truck and puts him in his cage in the house, but he leaves Milo in the truck. Then Tommy leaves Koba again, and he is alone.
Koba doesn’t like being alone. Being in the cage was bad, but at least Milo had been close. Koba grips the cage and shakes it. He jumps and bangs his head on the top, where the food comes down. He begins to think that Milo and Tommy will never come back.
Milo and Tommy do come back, and Tommy puts Milo in his cage. Milo is asleep. His face looks strange, swollen. Koba tries to wake him up, but Milo doesn’t hear him, and after a while Tommy comes in with the stick.
“Shut up,” he says. “Or you’re next.”
Koba does not know what Tommy means.
After a long time, Milo does wake up. He looks around and sees Koba. Milo tries to hoot-pant, or at least that’s what Koba thinks he’s doing, but it comes out muffled because Milo is not opening his mouth. Milo starts to panic. He shakes the cage, and claws at his face. He pulls his lips up and does the “smile,” and when he does, Koba can see something shiny toward the back of Milo’s jaw.
After a long time, Milo tires out. He looks desperately at Koba.
Mouth not open, he signs.
Koba doesn’t understand. What has happened to Milo’s mouth?
It is the next day, and Tommy is making them practice their tricks. Milo seems to feel better, but he still can’t open his mouth. Tommy feeds him through a straw. Tommy looks at Koba.
“This is what happens,” he said. “This is what happens when you don’t behave. You get your goddamn jaw wired shut. You remember that, you little pissant.”
Milo is still able to do most of his tricks. He can even “smile”, although he can no longer “talk.” Koba does most of the talking now.
Tommy still lets them out sometimes, but Milo isn’t the same. He doesn’t play long. He doesn’t look for food in Tommy’s boxes. He goes back to his cage. He doesn’t sign very much, and even with Milo there, Koba feels lonely.