Dreams of freedom are never captive
Above, the white clouds drift past in an ocean of blue, peacefully playing in the sun's golden rays. So free yet so captive, they sail to the horizon, but must be enslaved by the slightest breeze. Here though, their serene beauty is impaired through a foggy window pane and the steel row of bars that are forever encaging.
A shadow presently falls across the deep brown eyes of the macaque monkey who, with inspired wonder still stares toward the sky. Crossing the sterile-mute laboratory linoleum the professor, intrigued, studies the clipboard on which is inscribed the experiment he will soon be conducting, then glances upward for one moment at the monkey contained in its cage.
He is proud of his work and achievements in the scientific field, and believes his modern life has no connection with these primitive primates he experiments on daily. Although he is endowed with the virtue of compassion, a monkey, even though a creature with emotions, has little equality in the eyes of man.
The macaque, whose name is proclaimed to be "Algernon" on the label of his cage, clings to the professor trustingly for protection and is brought to a clean lab bench. His innocent, soft eyes are, however, shattered with fright when the shining needle of a syringe pushes liquid into his bloodstream. He screams in despair and is returned to captivity.
Images form, form like night drizzle falling upon the roof of a deep green canopy, channelled on to alternate leaves until the large droplets, with soft tones, finally reach the ground. Harmony breathes in this green, damp world. Adults, the males with their long canine teeth, forage for food - plants and meat; the obese and quarrelsome elders fight amongst themselves, and the mothers care for their young in solitude and peace. For our poor Algernon there could be no greater comfort than resting in the damp, woolly and warm fur of his mother in these surroundings.
In the lab, under the intrusive lights of reality, the professor tilts his glasses in a thought that excludes anything but a clinical understanding of this creature and ticks a box which is marked: 'Drowsiness and possible hallucinations indicated by physical reaction'. Completing this observation, he passes the wall of caged monkeys and, without saying anything, returns home to his family.
The balance is upset in Algernon's world of beauty and poetry. Something that moves in the shadows slowly wakes the macaques from their peace. Large, questioning eyes pass to each other as mysterious, foreign sounds echo in the silence. Then they come.
Monkeys squeal in terror as they try to escape the nets, they swing with agility but only a few in the group avoid capture. The forest reverberates with this mournful symphony, of macaques screaming for their mates and of mothers screaming for their children. Algernon alone screams for nothing but the gentle touch of his mother. Then, as a net wraps around his small, fragile frame, she returns in the hope of saving him, and is shot.
Algernon now lies, wrapped around himself in his cage. Clumps of his matted woolly fur fall from his head to the pillow and his face, pitted and sorrowful, has lost its sweet softness. The shallow tone of flesh against steel drones very deep in his mind when the professor taps the cage bars. He then ticks the box marked: 'Physical deterioration'. Later he returns to tick the box: 'Fate'.
Dreams evolved from the most inner heart of the soul are let fly, as white clouds in an ocean of blue, then they die as they are held captive together in a sea of grey. Tears fall. The clouds are buried. And man gives praise for the rain.
Caroline Rorke, year 9, Tennyson Vic
This story comes from the collection New Voices for the Animals - Young Australian Writers Speak out on Issues of Animal Welfare .
Animal Liberation SA holds the copyright to this work. Permission is granted to teachers to make copies for their own students.