Colossus was a lowland gorilla I studied for a college internship, recording his behaviors. Once, my professor took a group of us to see him in his nighttime enclosure. “Who wants to give Colossus a snack?” my professor asked. Without hesitation, I volunteered. He and I stood face-to-face with only cage bars between us: Colossus sitting at nearly six-hundred pounds, me standing at under five feet tall. Our eyes locked and lingered. I outstretched my arm to the bars, an apple in my palm. Colossus reached for the fruit, his fingers gently brushing mine, both of us suspended in time.
Sonya Ewan has written a memoir about her eccentric childhood and mother. A Minneapolis transplant, she spends as much time outdoors as possible.