The Sign Of The Guardian

The heckler stood on his seat, loving the attention of the crowd, and began screeching and jumping up and down in imitation of a monkey. Jinks’ face stretched into the taut chimpanzee grin of fear. Marty shouted for the student to stop, but her pleas were drowned out. More and more students began screeching and howling. Jinks jumped up and down violently, hurling the tangerine into the unruly crowd. Laughing, the heckler jumped from the seats, and came loping monkey-like toward the stage, hooting back at Jinks.

“No! Don’t!” Marty shouted, her hand out against the oncoming student, but already Jinks’ demeanor had changed. Enraged, he rose to his full height—over four feet—and the long hair covering him rose until it was on end all over his body. Then, his yellowish fangs bared, the ape emitted a piercing howl and lunged toward the edge of the stage at the advancing heckler. Suddenly frightened, the student stopped.  He stumbled backwards and fell into the front row of seats. Marty frantically grabbed Jinks’ arm and, in a commanding voice, shouted to divert the animal’s attention.

At the very edge of the stage, the chimpanzee stopped. Several of the students ran from their seats, screaming. The atmosphere of the lecture hail dissolved into chaos. Jinks continued to strain at Marty’s grasp, snarling and screeching down into the auditorium. His dull, yellowish-white rimmed eyes bulged, and white flecks of saliva dripped from his curled open lips. No longer was Jinks a refined, friendly chimpanzee, but rather a savage, primitive beast. . .