Ponters voice was cold. Because you stopped hunting them to extremes.
Mary thought about protesting that it wasnt all the result of hunting; much of it had to do with the destruction by humans of the natural habitats of these creaturesbut somehow that didnt seem any better.
What what other species are still endangered? asked Ponter.
Mary shrugged a little. Lots of kinds of birds. Giant tortoises. Panda bears. Sperm whales. Chim
Chim? said Ponter. What are? He tilted his head, perhaps listening to Hak providing its best guess at the word Mary had started to say. Oh, no. No. Chimpanzees? But but these are our cousins. You hunt our cousins?
Mary felt all of two feet tall. How could she tell him that chimps were killed for food, that gorillas were murdered so their hands could be made into exotic ashtrays?
They are invaluable, continued Ponter. Surely you, as a geneticist, must know that. They are the only close living relatives we have; we can learn much about ourselves by studying them in the wild, by examining their DNA.
I know, said Mary, softly. I know.
Ponter looked at Reuben, then at Louise, and then at Mary, sizing them up, it seemed, as if he were seeing themreally seeing themfor the first time.
You kill with abandon, he said. You kill entire species. You even kill other primates. He paused and looked from face to face again, as if giving them a chance to forestall what he was about to say, to come up with a logical explanation, a mitigating factor. But Mary said nothing, and neither did the other two, and so Ponter went on. And, on this world, my kind is extinct.
Yes, said Mary, very softly. She knew what had happened. Although not every paleoanthropologist agreed, many shared her view that between 40,000 and 27,000 years ago, Homo sapiensanatomically modern humanscompleted the first of what would be many deliberate or inadvertent genocides, wiping the planet free of the only other extant member of the same genus, a separate, more gentle species that perhaps had been better entitled to the double meaning of the word humanity.
Did you kill us? asked Ponter.
Thats a much-debated question, said Mary. Not everyone agrees on the answer.
What do you think happened? asked Ponter, golden eyes locked on Marys own.
Mary took a deep breath. Iyes, yes, thats what I think happened.
You wiped us out, said Ponter, his own tone, and Haks rendition of it, clearly being controlled with difficulty.
Mary nodded. Im sorry, she said. Really, I am. It happened long ago. We were savages then. We
Just then, the phone rang. Reuben, looking relieved at the interruption, jumped up from the table and lifted a handset. Hello? he said.
Mary looked up as Reubens voice became more excited. But thats terrific! continued the doctor. Thats wonderful! Yes, noyes, yes, thats fine. Thank you! Right. Bye.
Well? said Louise.
Reuben was clearly suppressing a grin. Ponter has distemper, he said, replacing the phones handset.
Distemper? repeated Mary. But humans dont get distemper.
Thats right, said Reuben. Were naturally immune. But Ponter isnt, because his kind hasnt lived with our domesticated animals for generations. To be precise, hes got the horse version of distemper; vets call it strangles when it happens to a young horse. Its caused by a bacterium, Streptococcus equii. Fortunately, penicillin is the usual treatment given to horses, and thats one of the antibiotics Ive been giving Ponter. He should be fine.
So we dont have to worry about getting sick? asked Louise.
Not only that, said Reuben, smiling broadly now, but theyre lifting the quarantine! Assuming the final set of culturesdue later tonightcomes back negative, we can leave here tomorrow morning!
Louise clapped her hands together. Mary was delighted, too. She looked over at Ponter, but he had his head bowed, presumably still thinking about the extinction of his kind on this world.
Mary reached over and touched his arm. Hey, Ponter, she said gently. Isnt that great news? Tomorrow, youll get to go out and see our world!
Ponter lifted his head slowly and looked at Mary. She was still learning to read the subtleties of his expressions, but the words, Do I have to? seemed to fit with his widened eyes and slightly open mouth.
But finally he just nodded, as if in resignation.
Chapter 39
Ponter spent most of the evening alone, just staring out the kitchen window at Reubens large backyard, a sad look on his large face.
Louise and Mary were both sitting in the living room. Mary was sorry shed left her current book down in Toronto. Shed been in the middle of Scott Turows latest and really wanted to get back to it, but had to content herself with leafing through the current Time. President Bush was on the cover this week; Mary thought it possible that Ponter might be on the cover of the next issue. She preferred The Economist herself, but Reuben didnt subscribe to it. Still, Mary did always enjoy Richard Corlisss film reviews, even if she had no one to go to the movies with these days.
Louise, in the adjacent armchair, was writing a letterin French, Mary had notedin longhand on a yellow pad. Louise wore track shorts and an INXS T-shirt, her long legs tucked sideways beneath her body.
Reuben came into the room and crouched down between the two women, addressing them both in hushed tones. Im concerned about our boy Ponter, he said.
Louise set down her yellow pad. Mary closed her magazine. Me, too, said Mary. He didnt seem to take that news about the extinction of his kind very well.
No, he didnt, said Reuben. And hes been under a lot of stress, which is just going to get worse tomorrow. The media will be all over him, not to mention government officials, religious kooks, and more.
Louise nodded. I suppose thats true.
What can we do about it? asked Mary.
Reuben frowned for a time, as if thinking about how to express something. Finally, he said, There arent many people of my color here in Sudbury. Things are better down in Toronto, Im told, but even there, black men get hassled by the police from time to time. What are you doing here? Is this your car? Can we see some ID? Reuben shook his head. You learn something going through that. You learn youve got rights. Ponter isnt a criminal, and he isnt a threat to anyone. Hes not at a border station, so no one can legally demand that he prove he should be allowed to be in Canada. The government may want to control him, the police may want to keep him under surveillancebut that doesnt matter. Ponters got rights.
I certainly agree with that, said Mary.
Either of you ever been to Japan? asked Reuben.
Mary shook her head. So did Louise.
Its a wonderful country, but therere almost no non-Japanese there, said Reuben. You can go all day without seeing a white face, let alone a black oneI saw precisely two other blacks during the entire week I was there. But I remember walking through downtown Tokyo one day: I must have passed 10,000 people that morning, and they were all Japanese. Then, as Im walking along, I see this white guy coming toward me. And he smiles at mehe doesnt know me from Adam, but he sees that Im a fellow Westerner. And he gives me this smile, like to say Im so glad to see a brothera brother! And I suddenly realize that Im smiling at him, too, and thinking the same thing. Ive never forgotten that moment. He looked at Louise, then at Mary. Well, old Ponter can search all he wants, all over the world, and hes not going to see a single face that he recognizes as being like him. That white guy and Iand all those Japanese and mewe have much more in common than Ponter does with any of the six billion people on this globe.