Velociworld

Gorilla

I mention my father quite a bit on this site, and I cherish his memory, but he was an enigmatic creature. Brilliant, brilliant, and also capable of more base behaviours. He was a man of great appetites: intellectual, metaphysical, corporeal. Between me and my two brothers I was lucky, I suppose. I inherited the corporeal side. I tell you, though: I'll always protect his paradoxical nature, he not being here to defend himself, and listen: he could really shake you up.

When I was a wee bairn my parents used to entertain a lot, or, shall I say, be entertained a lot. They went out nearly every night, to tuxedo and dinner jacket affairs; my mother was heavily invested in Dior gowns. We didn't miss our parents at night. Perish the thought. We did, however struggle mightily to stay awake for the homecoming, because sometimes we could entice the Senator to play Gorilla upon their return.

I never understood at the time why my mother hated this game, but we were enthralled when Dad would assent to play the role. Stripping his jacket, he would assume a knuckle-dragging form with his massive frame, assume a scowl incredibly horrifying, swing his arms from side to side like a simian metronome, and attack us.

I mistook his inhuman countenance for Method Acting, being five or so. I didn't realize at the time it was liquor overload. That was my mother's fear. He'd successfully managed to drive home, only to possibly kill one of his children in an ape game gone awry.

We were oblivious, of course, and would squeal in delight as he assumed his ape posture, arms swaying, and would bolt after us with alarming alacrity. He would scoop you up in one arm, then scoop up a brother in the other. Terrifying, and great fun.

By the time I was eight or so he either lost steam, or the will to buck my mother. Gorilla was a very rare game, if indeed it occurred at all.

I resurrected Gorilla with my daughters when they were little ones, but they didn't revel in the fear, and the chase, like boys do, and the Wrath of the Indignant Mother prevailed, so I quit years ago. Just as well. I didn't have the game, the chops, to be the Gorilla my old man was.