Read Online God's Grace by Bernard Malamud - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Bernard Malamud
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accept heartfelt thanks.”
The gorilla blinked as though he wasn’t sure he understood
the question. He stared at Cohn as if he might have helped him, or he might not; he had his mystery.
Cohn cautiously approached the huge animal—he weighed a good five hundred pounds—with extended hand, his gaze on the ground.
The gorilla rose on his short legs, as he watched the man coming toward him, and modestly raised his own right arm. But Buz, spying the gesture, ran between them, screeching, before the extended arms could become a handclasp.
Although Cohn tried to restrain the jealous chimp, Buz chattered at the gorilla, taunting him.
The chimp pretend-charged, backed off, lunged forward as if to attack, but the gorilla patiently fended him off with his meaty long arm. Grunting at the chimp, he knuckle-walked away. He lifted himself into an acacia tree and sat on a low bough in the dappled sunlight, peacefully observing the scene below.
A true gentleman, Cohn thought.
“If it’s all right with you,” he addressed the gorilla in gratitude, “I’d like to call you George, after my late wife’s father, who was an accomplished dentist, a wonderful man. He often fixed people’s teeth for nothing.”
He told the gorilla they three were alone in the world and must look after each other.
George seemed to agree, but Buz had clapped both hands over his ears and was mockingly hooting.
One early morning Cohn, on awaking, stealthily drew aside the vines and let in the light. Since Buz was asleep in his cage, he tiptoed over with a pair of small scissors, and
reaching between the wooden bars before the ape was thoroughly awake, snipped off his fetid, decomposing neck cloth.
The wound he expected to see was totally healed, and from it two flattened copper wires grew out of the scar where a man’s Adam’s apple would be.
Buz, awaking startled, hoarsely protested the loss of his loving compress, but Cohn argued it needed a washing and dropped it into the dirty-laundry basket. Buz then did his business outside the cave, as he had been taught; and when he returned, Cohn, before serving him his banana-rice porridge, got the chimp to play tickle.
As he tickled Buz under the arms, he lifted the hilarious ape into a chair, and deftly twisted together the two exposed copper wires on his neck. There was a momentary crackling as the chimp, grinning sickly, stared at Cohn, and Cohn, smiling sheepishly, observed him. After a rasping cough, followed by a metallic gasp that startled him, Buz spoke as though reciting a miracle.
“Fontostisch/// I con hear myzelv speag/// pong-pong.” Hearing his words, Buz in joy jumped off and on his chair in celebration. Displaying proudly, he socked his chest with both fists. The chimp, then emitting a piercing hoot, rushed out of the cave, shinnied up a nearby palm tree, tore off a fan-shaped leafy branch, and charged up the rocky slope, dragging the swishing branch behind him.
“Fontostisch///” he exclaimed as he knuckle-galloped down the slope with his palm branch. “I con talg/// pong-pong.”
Calvin Cohn, flushed with the excitement of unexpected adventure, could almost not believe what he had heard.
“A miracle,” he conceded. “But what do you mean by pong-pong?”
“Thot’s nod me/// Thot’s the sound the copper wires mage when they vibrate ot the end of a sendence/// I hov on artifiziol lorynch/// pong-pong.”
His voice was metallic, as if he were a deaf person talking, who had never before heard himself articulate. Buz spoke with his juicy tongue awash in his mouth. His speech, reminiscent of Dr. Bünder’s, sounded like a metachimp’s, given that possibility. In any case, that the ape could speak had fired Cohn’s imagination.
“How do you know what a sentence is?”
“I con understond and speag only words I hov formerly heard/// pong-pong. I con say whot I hov heard you say to me/// I con alzo say those words thot Dr. Bünder taught me/// For instonze, I know
The gorilla blinked as though he wasn’t sure he understood
the question. He stared at Cohn as if he might have helped him, or he might not; he had his mystery.
Cohn cautiously approached the huge animal—he weighed a good five hundred pounds—with extended hand, his gaze on the ground.
The gorilla rose on his short legs, as he watched the man coming toward him, and modestly raised his own right arm. But Buz, spying the gesture, ran between them, screeching, before the extended arms could become a handclasp.
Although Cohn tried to restrain the jealous chimp, Buz chattered at the gorilla, taunting him.
The chimp pretend-charged, backed off, lunged forward as if to attack, but the gorilla patiently fended him off with his meaty long arm. Grunting at the chimp, he knuckle-walked away. He lifted himself into an acacia tree and sat on a low bough in the dappled sunlight, peacefully observing the scene below.
A true gentleman, Cohn thought.
“If it’s all right with you,” he addressed the gorilla in gratitude, “I’d like to call you George, after my late wife’s father, who was an accomplished dentist, a wonderful man. He often fixed people’s teeth for nothing.”
He told the gorilla they three were alone in the world and must look after each other.
George seemed to agree, but Buz had clapped both hands over his ears and was mockingly hooting.
One early morning Cohn, on awaking, stealthily drew aside the vines and let in the light. Since Buz was asleep in his cage, he tiptoed over with a pair of small scissors, and
reaching between the wooden bars before the ape was thoroughly awake, snipped off his fetid, decomposing neck cloth.
The wound he expected to see was totally healed, and from it two flattened copper wires grew out of the scar where a man’s Adam’s apple would be.
Buz, awaking startled, hoarsely protested the loss of his loving compress, but Cohn argued it needed a washing and dropped it into the dirty-laundry basket. Buz then did his business outside the cave, as he had been taught; and when he returned, Cohn, before serving him his banana-rice porridge, got the chimp to play tickle.
As he tickled Buz under the arms, he lifted the hilarious ape into a chair, and deftly twisted together the two exposed copper wires on his neck. There was a momentary crackling as the chimp, grinning sickly, stared at Cohn, and Cohn, smiling sheepishly, observed him. After a rasping cough, followed by a metallic gasp that startled him, Buz spoke as though reciting a miracle.
“Fontostisch/// I con hear myzelv speag/// pong-pong.” Hearing his words, Buz in joy jumped off and on his chair in celebration. Displaying proudly, he socked his chest with both fists. The chimp, then emitting a piercing hoot, rushed out of the cave, shinnied up a nearby palm tree, tore off a fan-shaped leafy branch, and charged up the rocky slope, dragging the swishing branch behind him.
“Fontostisch///” he exclaimed as he knuckle-galloped down the slope with his palm branch. “I con talg/// pong-pong.”
Calvin Cohn, flushed with the excitement of unexpected adventure, could almost not believe what he had heard.
“A miracle,” he conceded. “But what do you mean by pong-pong?”
“Thot’s nod me/// Thot’s the sound the copper wires mage when they vibrate ot the end of a sendence/// I hov on artifiziol lorynch/// pong-pong.”
His voice was metallic, as if he were a deaf person talking, who had never before heard himself articulate. Buz spoke with his juicy tongue awash in his mouth. His speech, reminiscent of Dr. Bünder’s, sounded like a metachimp’s, given that possibility. In any case, that the ape could speak had fired Cohn’s imagination.
“How do you know what a sentence is?”
“I con understond and speag only words I hov formerly heard/// pong-pong. I con say whot I hov heard you say to me/// I con alzo say those words thot Dr. Bünder taught me/// For instonze, I know
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