Gibbon's Decline and Fall (56 page)

“Thank you, Doctor.”

Jagger rose, his jaw set.

“Doctor, you say this girl was all alone, half-frozen. Why?”

“Because there was no one with her and the weather was cold.”

“Wasn't she alone so no one would see what she did? Didn't she go there because it was a good place to get rid of the baby?”

“She didn't know what was going on.”

His lip curled. “Come now, Doctor. We have sex freely discussed on television, all day and all night. We have the most esoteric details concerning reproduction fully covered on talk shows. What do you mean, she didn't know what was going on?”

Ophy turned pink. Her lips thinned. “I know of no obstetrician who has ever recommended that a woman get her childbirth information from Oprah, Mr. Jagger. Expectant mothers attend childbirth classes for weeks in order to learn what goes on during labor. They see films; they are instructed and drilled; and they practice. They even have labor coaches to help them. If they could pick it up from talk shows, none of that would be necessary.”

“Dr. Gheist …”

“I'm not finished. Lolly Ashaler had none of that. She was told she was pregnant, but nobody told her about labor. She was in pain. She was afraid because she'd been threatened. She went back to the same place she'd been raped and had the baby there because she wanted to hide. She literally didn't know what was happening.”

“Was that rational, to go into a cold alley and give birth on a rotten mattress?”

“Of course it wasn't rational, she wasn't rational. When a creature is sick and in pain and scared, it is instinctive to crawl away and hide, which is what she did.”

“And you have seen mothers leave their newborns and just walk away?” His tone accused her of lying.

“I have, yes.”

“Where?”

“During times of civil war in Africa, and I've also seen it in documentary films.”

“What a pity we do not have them here,” he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

“I think the court will have an opportunity to see them,” Ophy said angrily.

Jagger turned, standing where he was, and stared at Carolyn. She caught his gaze full, the dead depth of his eyes regarding her incuriously, as though she had ceased to matter, as though in that instant he had disposed of her.

“Ms. Crespin?” asked the judge.

“No further questions, Your Honor.” Her throat was dry. She barely got the words out. He's only a man, she told herself. Only a man.

Rombauer glanced at his watch, mumbled something about having an appointment and recessing early for lunch, to reconvene at two. Carolyn told Ophy and Jessamine she'd meet them out front, then went out into the hall on her way to the rest room. She needed a private moment. She felt as if she'd been running a marathon.

She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Jerry.

“What are you doing over here?” she asked.

“Came to see you, Carolyn. Come on over here.” He led her around a corner in the hallway, out of sight of the people milling around outside the courtroom. “I heard it on the car radio, so I thought I'd better tell you.”

“What? I've got people waiting, Jerry—”

“Emmet Swinter. They found his body just before noon. Southeast of town somewhere, out in the desert, off a side road.”

The urge to pee vanished. She swallowed. “Murder?”

“The report said a car accident. He'd been dead for days. Open bottles in the car. Possibly alcohol related. I knew old Emmet fairly well. I never thought he had a drinking problem.”

“First the kid who broke into my house, who had a map in his pocket. Now Emmet Swinter, who labeled the map for him.” She felt her face grow tight. “It wasn't an accident, Jerry. You'll say I'm being paranoid. Damn it, I know it wasn't an accident.”

“Who, Carolyn?”

“Jagger.” She almost whispered the name.

“Surely he wouldn't …”

“Himself? Maybe not, but he's got people who would. According to my sources he's got a guy named Martin who does his dirty work. Disposals included.”

He regarded her soberly, took off his glasses, polished them on his tie, put them back, rubbed his head. All the usual Jerry gestures. “Be careful,” he murmured. “Damn it, Carolyn. Be careful.”

How does one be careful? she asked herself on the way to lunch. Be careful of what, whom? Be careful when? One might as well try to be careful of falling asteroids, or earthquakes. She moved automatically, ordered food without thought. When they had been served, she pushed her food around, unable to eat it.

“What's the matter?” asked Jessamine. “Don't you like the way it's going? I thought Ophy was great. She had every person in that courtroom thinking.”

“Ophy was great, but I hate long breaks in testimony,” Carolyn muttered. “You just get rolling and then everything stops.”

She could not see her own face, which was tight, pale, and apprehensive.

“It's all right,” said Jessamine. “We'll get up steam again.” She shared a worried look with Ophy. Both of them watched Carolyn, but Carolyn was focused somewhere else.

When court reconvened, Carolyn called Jessamine to the stand. “Will you tell the jury your professional qualifications?”

“I have a Ph.D. in molecular genetics. My recent work has focused upon the genetic components of behavior.”

“Can you explain what that means?”

“We inherit some behavior, some we learn. We inherit breathing, for instance, but we have to learn to blow a trumpet. When we're born, we already know how to cry or laugh or giggle, but we have to learn words. We're born knowing how to eat, but we have to learn table manners. We inherit sexuality, we have to learn parenting.”

“Can you tell us how these matters are studied—parenting, for example?”

“Studying primates tells us a great deal about humans.…”

Jagger was on his feet. “Objection, Your Honor. What
monkeys do is what monkeys do. Is counsel suggesting that the defendant is a monkey?”

“Your Honor, if we may proceed, the connection will be clear.”

Rombauer opened his mouth, closed it, checked his tally sheet, and said fretfully, “I will allow it for the moment, counselor.”

“Before you talk about primate research, Dr. Ortiz, perhaps it would help to clarify the connection and similarities between primates and people.”

“I have some charts that will show you the genetic similarities. Humans and primates are genetically alike in many respects.”

The charts were admitted in evidence and put on easels where the jury could see them. Faye had outdone herself; she had taken the information provided by Jessamine and made it seem simple and understandable. The charts showed overlaps in genetic material, similarities in behaviors, diet, life span, child rearing.

“We share ninety-nine percent of our DNA with chimps. Even with siamangs we share a very high percentage, ninety-five to ninety-seven percent. Both animals are very closely related to us; chimps are the closest. We have the same blood types. We are different from chimps by only one percent. That one percent accounts for our hip and leg structure, which allows upright striding, and for our throat, tongue, and brain structure, which allows us to create and learn complex language. Other differences are actually rather minor. Most important in this case: Chimp babies and human babies are very much alike when they're born; they can suckle, make noises, wave their hands and feet; they have to learn almost everything else. Whatever apes have to learn when they're born, we have to learn when we're born.”

“So we can look at the chimp for clues to our own behavior.”

“Exactly. Our behavior and our development. If we take a female baby chimpanzee and raise it in isolation, where it gets no affection and has no opportunity to see others, it never learns how to relate to others. If we then put it with others of its kind, it will mate and give birth, but almost certainly it will not parent. We learn from this that mating and birth are instinctive, but parenting is not.”

“So a primate raised in isolation cannot be a good mother.”

“That's true. The degree of neglect may vary, but there is always neglect. It is true of apes, it is true of people. And it's not only true of parenting, it's true of other behaviors. I have a film that will illustrate some of the similarities.”

Carolyn took the tape from her table. “Your Honor, we would like this film entered as defense exhibit B.”

Jagger rose. “We have not seen this film, Your Honor. We have no way of knowing what it represents.”

Carolyn said, “Though the film was ordered some time ago, it arrived only recently. It is a documentary, drawn from news clips and nature films.”

Jagger said, “We have only defense counsel's word for that!”

“Approach,” Rombauer ordered. When they were close before him, he said, almost in a whine, “Counselor, if this tape illustrates the point your witness just made, why is a film necessary?”

“Your Honor, the prosecution is alleging first-degree murder with a possible penalty of death. They have shown pictures of the dead infant. My client deserves the best possible defense, including evidence that may offset the prosecution's use of pictorial evidence. We have no pictures of the defendant being raped or in childbirth. We do have pictures of similar situations, however, and they are the next best thing.”

Rombauer chewed his lip, obviously thinking. Would this or wouldn't it lead to reversal on appeal? Silently, Carolyn blessed Judge Frieze. At least the old man was having to think about it. Jake obviously didn't like that fact. He was fuming.

Rombauer said, “I will allow the tape to be run. I have your word, counselor, that there is nothing on this tape but what you have described.”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

The tape was put into the courtroom visual system, appearing on a large screen beside the witness chair.

Jessamine gave a running commentary. “We'll start with a couple of sequences that illustrate the similarities in instinctive behavior. This first section was taken several decades ago, before chimps went extinct in the wild. This is a small troop of wild chimpanzees. To the right of the picture you will see a leopard. When the leopard gets closer, watch the faces and behavior of the chimpanzees.”

The leopard was noticed. Chimp eyes opened wide. Chimp lips drew back in a fanged grimace. Panic there. Fear. Anger. The apes screamed defiance, showing their teeth, their noses wrinkled, arms drawn back, some holding sticks as weapons, a bouncing, screaming display, apes advancing and retreating, hit and run, panic, anger.

Jessamine said, “The next sequence shows this same group being approached by a stranger, a chimpanzee who is not a member of this troop.”

The expressions were similar to the first time, panic and fear and anger. The larger males ran toward the stranger, struck him, retreated, while the females and young screamed from safe vantage points. The intruder stood his ground only briefly, then retreated.

“Please note these individuals,” said Jessamine as images of single chimps were removed from the context and placed one by one in a line across the top of the screen. Females. Males. Fear. Anger. Attack. Arms raised to throw missiles. Lips pulled back, noses wrinkled. “Remember those six faces. We'll be coming back to them.

“This next film was taken in Boston decades ago, when the Boston schools were integrated and black children were bused into Southy, a white neighborhood. Please observe the faces in the crowd.”

Policemen holding back crowds. Buses carrying black children. White people massed behind the police showing panic, rage, and fear; lips drawn back to show teeth, arms raised to hit or throw. The film centered on one particular view while the head and shoulders of a middle-aged woman were circled; then other views were held while other persons, male and female, were circled. Six heads and torsos were removed from the context and lined up on the screen under those of the previously selected apes. The expressions and stance were similar, and when the human figures were rotated slightly, then moved up and superimposed on the apes, it could be seen that, allowing for the difference in anatomy, they were virtually identical.

“These Bostonians were civilized people,” said Jessamine. “They had language, literacy, and religion, but when their familiar world was threatened, they forgot language, literacy, and religion and responded instinctively in the same way a chimpanzee would. We might find the same facial expressions, the same physical reaction, among people anywhere in the
world. Chimps raiding a food store look much like looters raiding a TV store. Apes killing one of their own do it furtively, just as people would. Apes killing a stranger are like lynchers—hooting, yelling, urging one another on. I have thousands of feet of tape showing similar faces: in Guatemala, where a mob attacked a woman they believed to be a kidnapper; in Serbia during the Balkan wars; in Somalia and Rwanda during tribal conflicts; in Armenia, Algeria, and Ireland during religious conflicts; here in the U.S. outside abortion clinics. They are the purely animal expressions one sees in any mob.

“The next sequence covers reproduction.” The film went on. Clips of chimps mating, chimps giving birth, mothers licking the babies clean, cuddling them while other females watched, babies being passed around for all the females to hold. “Notice the young female to the left,” said Jessamine. “Sitting next to the mother with the newborn. Notice her face, notice how she smells the baby and touches it. Notice how closely she follows the mother, watching the baby all the time. In a few days she will start borrowing the baby, carrying it around as she practices caring for it. She will watch and practice like this for months, until the baby is able to move on its own; then she will start borrowing another baby. This is how apes learn to parent. They can't do it unless they've learned to do it.