It seemed strange for the last few days. Annie missed Hannah in her dreams. She felt a suffocation.
Annie sat on the branch of her tree house, when Kit flew in, making few panicked squeak
“What is it?”
“Squeak, squeak” It cried. The bird slowly flew out again. It is expecting me to follow him. Annie understood its language. She put her leather boots on and moved through the branches. In her land, since the forest was thick and deep, these branches made easy routes than the ground down below. Annie struggled hard to keep in pace with the flying bird. She had to cross few mountains and a large creek until Kit managed to stop.
“What is it?” Annie asked to the bird.
Then she saw something on the ground, between rocks, there laid an injured chimpanzee. The chimp was pooled in blood. Annie went down. She checked the chimpanzee, it was a she and it was still breathing. On seeing Annie, it tried to open her eyes. Annie just looked at it.
The Chimpanzee then moved its hands apart and on its chest laid a new born baby Chimpanzee.
Then the mother took its last breathe. Annie stood thinking “what to do?”
Kit squeaked again and again. Annie just checked the mother, she felt as if it had been chased away from its congress by some wild creature. Annie saw the infant lying helplessly on the chest of its dead mom.
She slowly lifted the baby, but the infant was in no mood to leave its dead mother. Annie then kissed the infant. She unhooked her blouse and exposed her chest. Then made the infant hear her heartbeat. The Chimp then slowly went inside her blouse. She then hooked back her blouse, enclosing the infant closer to her breast.
Before leaving the dead mother alone, she buried her body with leaves, twigs, stones and branches.
Annie then moved carefully through the branches and then climbed back into her tree house with the baby chimp and her flying pet.
Annie then made a small cradle out of tortoise shell, which was actually used as a decorative piece on the walls. Then a cozy blanket was placed in it. When Annie tried to keep the baby inside it, the infant showed its hesitation to leave Annie’s warmth.
“Oh come on Haffy”
She thus called the infant.
It actually took few months for Haffy to move out of Annie’s blouse. As he grew up, he turned out to be very mischievous. Habba and Meswa really wanted their daughter Annie to desert the chimp back to the wilderness. But seeing the admiration her little pet bestowed on Annie, made them flicker with their decision. With Haffy added in her life, Annie also drifted a bit away from meeting Hannah in her dreams.
One night, when Annie was drowned in her studies, Haffy climbed out of the window and went sat at one of the branches. Kit also flew near him. The night had a bright red moon shining in the sky. In their land the moon appeared red most of the times.
Suddenly a pink fluorescent colour smashed out of the darkness from deep down below near there tree.
That was the ‘Willows’ which usually bloomed in the darkness. When its inflorescence opens in the night, it just splashes colours like an iridescent lamp.
Haffy was seeing it for the first time. So out of joy, it jumped and finally resulted in the shaking of the tree house.
“Haffy, Haffy just calm down boy, you are disturbing my studies.”
Annie yelled from inside “Annie! Annie! Look.”
Annie heard someone calling out her name.
“Strange” she thought as she walked towards Haffy and Kit.
“Who called out my name?”
Annie looked around, but none was found other than her pets. There to her surprise, she heard it again.
“Annie! Annie! Look.”
“Oh my Haffy! You can talk?”
Haffy merrily pointed his fingers towards the pink flowers that bloomed below their tree house.
It came as a surprise for Annie that her chimp could talk.
“Am I dreaming? Am I missing Hannah?”
