Almost Human

After three weeks, the doctor has given me a clean bill of health. Barlow and Gary had both been STD free. Lord willing, I hope I will never set eyes on either of them again. In the meantime, Xanthus and I have been growing closer and closer. There has been a lot of hugging, kissing and cuddling as well as some soft petting. I have never wanted a man so desperately before in my life. And never has a man's arms felt so perfect around me.

Xanthus was at the construction site when the doctor gave me my clean bill of health. The doctor also gave me the names and numbers of a couple of psychologists if I felt I needed to talk to someone and was having trouble coping with the ****. Maybe if I had still been a virgin, I would be having trouble coping with it. But I know that while **** is not a rare crime, that it is no reflection on me as a person. It could happen to anybody.

When Xanthus gets back from the construction site, he has a shower and we head over to the mess tent for dinner with everyone else. As usual, Vala, Susan and Terry eat with us, but our little group has grown. Susan and Terry now each have a male associate they're getting to know. A few of Vala's regulars eat with us too. The staring at me stopped nearly two weeks ago.

"So, how was your day today, Eli," ask Susan.

"Good," I answer. Then I share, "Got a clean bill of health from the doctor today and worked a few hours in the medical trailer. Felt good to be busy."

"That's wonderful," comments Terry.

"She's definitely someone who likes to be busy," shares Vala. "She reads almost constantly, and it's not fun stuff like trashy smutty love novels."

"So, Eli," calls one of the male associates, who's name I can't recall, "Are you really, Attorney Richards' daughter?"

I nod, "Yeah."

"So what are you doing working here," the male associate asks me, "Didn't your dad want you to go to college to be an attorney so you could follow in his footsteps? Richards and Richards Attorneys is a family thing, right?"

I nod my head, "Yeah, but all six of my cousins studied law. They didn't need me to do it too. I just wasn't interested in being an attorney. I majored in anthropology and minored in zoology," it certainly can't hurt to share that since they all know who my father is now.

"No wonder you got hundreds on everything," comments Terry. "Again you have an unfair advantage."

"I don't see how I have an unfair advantage," I respond to Terry. "Anthropology and Zoology didn't prepare me for heavy equipment operation and truck driving."

"She's just smart," Vala defends me in a pleasant tone.

The male associate asks again, "So what are you doing here? What do your parents think of this?"

I'm not about to tell them I'm here to observe for my master's thesis. If they know I'm observing, they won't behave naturally. "My mother would have a cow," I admit. "But we're not close, so she's used to me not telling her anything. My dad knows what I'm up to," he knows I'm doing research for my master's thesis and trust me to do what I need to do. Of course if he knew I'd been raped, he'd own this company. "But I don't expect my dad to pay for everything for me. I usually work for my dad to earn money for school, but I needed to do something different, get away for a while."

"Are you a little burned out," ask Xanthus concerned.

"Not from my studies," I answer, "I love anthropology and zoology. But I think I needed to get away from my everyday life, stop holding onto daddy's coat tails and I'm tired of being the weird one in the family. They love me, but they don't understand me, except my dad." My dad loves me just the way I am.

"So you're still going to school," inquires Susan, "Shouldn't you have your bachelor's by now? Or have you only been going part-time?"

"I went full-time and have my bachelor's," I share, "I'm working on my master's part-time," and that's true. I haven't been dishonest with anyone.

Vala has men to service, so she goes with them when we're finished eating.

"We're going to play cards," says Susan, "You two going to play?"

"Nah," is my answer, "I don't feel like playing card. How about you, Xan?"

Xanthus shakes his head, "No thanks. See you guys tomorrow."

As Xanthus and I hold hands, we take our time walking back to his tent. We stop so he can check his motorcycle and the attached trailer. It's not his everyday motorcycle. It's his travel motorcycle. It has three storage compartments, two on either side of the passenger seat and one behind the passenger seat above the trailer hitch. The trailer is about half the size of a small trailer that one would tow with a car. But it allowed him to bring everything he needed so he wouldn't have to sleep on a cot in the men's tent. Plus, he got to choose where he set up his tent and put it right under a mature tree to help keep it from getting too hot. A little solar generator, runs a small air cooler in the tent and charges our phones. We run the cooler at night when it won't have to work as hard.

As we step into the tent it is still reasonably comfortable inside from being in the shade of the tree and running the cooler at night. Xanthus turns the cooler on low for the night. I slip my shoes off. And as Xanthus slips off his shoes, I step up to him.

I look Xanthus in his hypnotic blue eyes. He's nearly as tall as my father, around six feet tall. I pull his hair tie off his ponytail, freeing his beautiful thick dark blond hair. He pushes one of his large competent hands back into my thick wavy black hair and kisses me deeply.

As children we had played naked in the wading fountain. But we're not playing now, we're very serious. We take our time undressing each other. His feet always make me smile. I don't remember he's a chimp until I see his bare feet with their opposable big toes, then it just kind of pops into my head for a moment that he's a chimp. Body hair wise, he really isn't much hairier than a human guy. His penis is a little different, the head is more tapered and no foreskin. And he's more well hung than any man I've ever been with, willingly that is.

Despite our urgency for one another, we manage to make love slowly. I think he's being careful because he's afraid he might hurt me. Of course I'm not exactly a delicate flower. Yet it's so nice to have my body treated like it's precious. I have several little orgasms before I build to a massive earth shattering orgasm. I've never had such an explosive orgasm before.

"I'm sorry," Xanthus apologizes.

I kiss him and ask, "Sorry for what? It was incredible."

"I meant to pull out," he tells me. "I don't have any condoms because I don't use the service maidens and I just wasn't expecting to need any, so I meant to pull out. But your orgasm..., it was so mind blowing. It took me by surprise and I came with you."

"We came together, that makes it perfect," I tell him smiling, "nothing to be sorry about." I don't know why he's apologizing. It's not like he can get me pregnant. I'm human and he's an advanced chimp. We can't make babies together. And that thought makes me sad as I cuddle up to him. I love Xanthus so much, but we'll never have children together. The morning after shot the doctor gave me would have been because of Barlow, not Gary. Gary is an advanced gorilla. He couldn't get me pregnant either.

As he's holding me, Xanthus asks, "Do you think you and your mother would be closer if you weren't adopted."

"Adopted," I repeat in disbelief. "I'm not adopted."

"Don't tell me your parents haven't told you that either," says Xanthus with a touch of frustration in his voice.

I sit up and look at him, "Xanthus, I'm not adopted. Why would you think that?"

"Do you remember that we all thought you were a pet," Xanthus asks me.

I nod, "Yes, I remember that. It never made sense to me, but I remember."

"My Aunt Yana was sure you were a pet," Xanthus informs me. "Before they freed us, humans often took advanced chimp babies and kept them as pets, usually raising them like they were their own children. Buying an advanced chimp baby was a lot cheaper and easier than adopting a human baby. That's what triggered the revolt. They had sold a woman's baby and were trying to take it from her. The advanced gorillas were supposed to help get the chimps under control and get the baby so her new owners could have her. Except, one of the gorillas was the father and he wasn't about to let them take his daughter away."

"That's impossible, Xanthus," I respond, "Gorillas and chimps can't have children together."

"Wild gorillas and chimps don't breed together." Then he informs me, "But advanced chimps and advanced gorillas can and do. Each usually sticks to their own kind, but love is blind, deaf and dumb... Eleanor, I love you. I would never lie to you."

"I love you too. I know you wouldn't lie to me. But that doesn't explain why they thought I was a pet or why you think I'm adopted? And just what else do you think my parents haven't told me?"

"Eleanor, we all thought you were a pet because you're a chimp," states Xanthus.

I laugh for a moment. "Xanthus, that's silly. I'm human."

Xanthus shakes his head seriously, "No, Eleanor, you're not. When you're crying in distress, you sound and smell like a chimp... I found you in that crowd because I heard another chimp child crying in distress. I rushed into Barlow's tent to help you because I heard a chimp woman crying like she'd been wounded. And Barlow's game of Chimp or Human, Gary was confused. He couldn't tell, and he should have been able to tell by your scent. We all thought you were a pet and they weren't going to let your parents take you. Except your father met with the elders and he explained that you were adopted, not a pet. Yana said he even pulled up your adoption records on line to prove it."

"Even if I am adopted," I respond in denial, "I don't believe my parents wouldn't tell me something like that. But I am human." I hold up one of my feet, "See, human foot."

"Do you remember Yana looking at your feet," Xanthus asks me.

I nod, "Yes, I remember. But I have no earthly clue what she was looking for."

"Between your big toes and second toes, there's a scar," Xanthus informs me. "Look for yourself."

I sit up, pick up my right foot and I'm not expecting to find anything. I look between my big toe and second toe and I am flabbergasted to find a small scar there. I check between my big toe and second toe on my left foot and find the same small scar that I had never been aware of.

"I don't understand," I tell Xanthus, "What does it mean?"

"You were born with chimp feet," states Xanthus. "Yana said you were probably just a tiny baby when the surgery was performed to make your feet look human."

I don't know what to think. Xanthus would never lie to me and he definitely believes what he's telling me. I sit there dumbfounded trying to make sense of what he's told me. Would my parents really never tell me I'm adopted? Am I really a chimp?

"Eleanor," Xanthus says in a gentle tone, "I know this is a shock. Maybe if you talked to your parents. I know you've said you're not close to your mother, but how about your father. Maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe he can explain. But it doesn't matter to me either way. I love you."

Am I upset? Should I be upset? I'm definitely confused. If any of this is true, what does it mean? Does it change who I am? I think Xanthus is right. I need to talk to my dad. "Where's my phone?"

"Here," Xanthus reaching over and picking it up, "It's right by mine." He hands me my phone.

"Call Dad," I tell my phone and a moment later, my dad's personal phone rings.