Amelia Earhart: Lady Lindy by Ann Hood Read Free Book Online

remember everything he knew about gorillas. They lived in Africa, so he and Maisie had definitely landed in Africa. Something needled at him, something he was forgetting. But Felix ignored it. When five gorillas were standing this close, there was no need to worry over something forgotten.
Gorillas,
he reminded himself.
What do I know about gorillas?
They were endangered. But of course, not here in this place at this time.
    The gorillas peeled bark off trees, examined it in their very humanlike hands, then ate it. One burped. One farted.
    Despite herself, Maisie giggled.
    Felix glared at her, like a warning.
    She turned her attention back to the gorillas.
    Each of their faces looked different, just like people’s do. One gorilla had a thoughtful expression, another seemed happy. The third gorilla had the face of an old man, and the fourth seemed bored. The fifth . . . the fifth wore a cocky expression that reminded her of an older boy who had lived near them on Bethune Street. The boy’s name was Ethan, and he used to ride his skateboard up and down the neighborhood like it was the easiest, coolest thing ever. He wore bright orange shoes made out of plastic. Once Maisie asked him about those shoes and he’d said, as if she was the dumbest person on the planet, “They’re skateboarding shoes.”
    The cocky gorilla stopped eating bark and turned his big, cocky face toward Maisie and Felix.
    To Felix, it seemed like the gorilla tilted his head and stared right at them. Felix gulped. No matter how hard he tried, he could not remember anything else about gorillas. They lived in Africa. And they were endangered. That was it. He couldn’t remember if they were dangerous, like hippopotamuses. He couldn’t remember if they were carnivores. Nothing.
    â€œHe acts like that kid, Ethan,” Maisie said out of the side of her mouth.
    â€œSsshhh,” Felix hushed.
    â€œThe skateboarder,” Maisie added.
    The gorilla took a few steps toward them, then stopped.
    Stop talking!
Felix told his sister silently, hoping mental telepathy might work.
    â€œDoesn’t he?” Maisie said. “Not just his expression, either. His
face
looks like Ethan.”
    Apparently, she had forgotten to be quiet altogether because she was talking in her regular tone of voice.
    And the gorilla was walking toward them again.
    The gorilla did not speed up or slow down. He just kept moving toward them with his big gorilla steps, his gorilla arms swaying as he moved, just like a cartoon gorilla.
    The other gorillas kept eating bark and scratching themselves, and burping and passing gas. The old-looking one leaned against a tree, folded his arms across his hairy belly, and went to sleep. Immediately, he began to snore. Loudly.
    And the gorilla that looked like Ethan the skateboarder kept moving toward Maisie and Felix, his head bent quizzically.
    Felix, already sweating in the oppressive jungle heat, began to tremble.
    Maisie, however, was not afraid. As the gorilla got closer and closer, excitement swelled in her. She had never seen a gorilla before, not even in the zoo. And now she was almost ready to touch one, although she figured that probably wasn’t a very good idea.
    â€œDon’t make eye contact,” Felix whispered, his voice dry and cracked.
    â€œWhy not?” Maisie asked.
    The gorilla stopped and looked at her, frowning.
    Maisie grinned at him. His fur was coarse and black, but his stomach was pink and the hair on his back was tipped with silver.
    Felix noticed these things, too. He noticed that the gorilla’s face looked like a rubber gorilla mask and that his black eyes looked like a person’s eyes peering out through a Halloween mask. Then he remembered one more gorilla fact: Silverback gorillas acted like teenagers. Big and playful and, Felix thought as he sized up this silverback gorilla, probably weighing seven or eight hundred pounds. He could crush them. Easily. He could