ENOCH AND THE GORILLA ENOCH EMERY / TUTORIALOUTLET DOT COM ENOCH AND THE GORILLA ENOCH EMERY / TUTORIALOUTLET | Page 5

the first ten children brave enough to step up and shake hands.
The gorilla ignored the children entirely and followed the man over to
the other side of the entrance
where there was a small platform raised about a foot off the ground.
He stepped up on it and turned
facing the children and began to growl. His growls were not so much
loud as poisonous; they appeared
to issue from a black heart. Enoch was terrified and if he had not been
surrounded by the children, he
would have run away. “Who’ll step up first?” the man said. “Come on
come on, who’ll step up first? A
free pass to the first kid stepping up.” There was no movement from
the group of children. The man
glared at them. “What’s the matter with you kids?” he barked. “You
yellow? He won’t hurt you as long as
I got him by this chain.” He tightened his grip on the chain and
jangled it at them to show he was holding
it securely.
After a minute a little girl separated herself from the group. She had
long wood-shaving curls and a
fierce triangular face. She moved up to within four feet of the star.
“Okay okay,” the man said, rattling the chain, “make it snappy.”
The ape reached out and gave her hand a quick shake. By this time
there was another little girl ready
and then two boys. The line re-formed and began to move up. The
gorilla kept his hand extended and turned his head away with a bored
look at the rain. Enoch had