quietus - noun
1.Something that serves to suppress, check, or eliminate.
2.Release from life; death.
3. A final discharge, as of a duty or debt.

Fantasy, original story.

But I'll swear it is true. Somewhere.

Rated R for language.

~*~

( He held out a feather and three pebbles. The immigration official stared at his palm, then looked up at him. )

The gorilla in the flat upstairs came down at lunchtime to borrow my blender. I had a bit of trouble understanding him, as I never learned gorilla sign language, but after a slight misunderstanding about the bananas he was waving about, I invited him in to make use of the kitchen.

The poor chap's just moved here recently, after ten years in Europe spent on the run from his tamers in the Russian circus. (They were rather too fond of him, if I understood his gestures correctly. Then again he might have just been offering to show me how they peel bananas in Bangkok.) He stowed away on a cargo ship and was so miserable for 3 months at sea that when he got out at Singapore port in sailor-garb, just to stretch his legs, he was pale enough to be mistaken for an ang mo man who needed to be shown that Singapore's 'correct hair length for men' laws are not meant to be flouted. So he received a partial depilatory at the hands of two tight-lipped customs officials and soon found himself footloose and facial hair-less at the quay. He then joined a party of law-abiding Norwegian sailors who were going to the zoo.

For reasons I won't mention - since I couldn't quite translate my neighbour's gestures - after that afternoon at the zoo, the gorilla decided to stay in Singapore for the foreseeable future. The depilatory effect lasted long enough for him to get a job, cleaning windows, and rent a flat - cheque's in the mail, his landlord never sees him. The job is still in effect, in fact he gave my windows a free cleaning after lunch, just to thank me for the use of my blender.

You may be wondering why a gorilla needs to blend his bananas. So was I, though I figured out soon enough that his jaw hurt mightily, in fact he might have dislocated it. Doing what? you ask. Well, I don't really know... but I do know that todays Home News featured the amazing Ah Meng, the Singapore Zoo's most famous orangutan, who has been caught sticking flowers behind his ear and avoiding the attentions of his numerous wives and concubines.

Talk about a love that cannot speak its name...