Human Nature Page #6

Faded colors. Ten year old Nathan in a bow tie and shortpanted

suit walks along with his uptight, British parents.

They arrive at the ape pen. Nathan is excited. He jumps up

and down. The apes jump up and down also.

NATHAN AS A BOY:

Monkeys! Look, mama, monkeys!

MOTHER:

(clamping down on his

shoulder)

Nathan, those are not monkeys. Those

are apes. Mountain Gorillas to be

precise.

There is a commotion off screen. Two uniformed attendants

drag Puff's father, straitjacketed and kicking and screaming

like an ape, past Nathan and his parents.

PUFF'S FATHER

I am not a human being! I am an

animal!

Nathan, his father, and the other zoo patrons look on

curiously, a little frightened. Nathan's mother chooses to

ignore it.

MOTHER:

And furthermore... Tell him, Harold.

FATHER:

(distracted)

Uh...

(then by rote)

We must never act like apes, son.

For you see, The ape is our closest

biological relative -- specifically

the pygmy chimp.

(holds up the same

illustration of a

pygmy chimp that

Puff showed the

congressional

committee)

A single chromosome separates us.

But you know what truly separates us

from the apes, what makes us better

than apes?

NATHAN AS A BOY:

No, papa. What?

FATHER:

Culture. Civilization. Refinement.

If we do not have these as humans,

then we might as well be living in

pens and throwing our feces about,

masturbating in public...

(beat, a reverie)

...sniffing red swollen female rump...

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