Summary

Chapters 11 and 12 cover Day 8 in the novel. As Chapter 11 begins, early in the morning, Frankie enjoyed some saltine crackers, which had been forbidden food before her surgery. Her E-musement screen showed a scene with soil that was light beige, dusty, and dry. She disliked watching the news because she already spent much of her day looking at screens and tolerating pain.

On this day, Mama began styling the bonobos’ hair, as inspired by the book of hairstyles she had seen. She styled Adele’s hair into a Mohawk.

Stotts continued to work with Goliath, but the bonobo made no real progress. He banged the rocks together with a lot of force but no particular strategy to create a sharp edge. Goliath’s palm was bruised and scraped.

Chapter 12 continues with the afternoon of Day 8. Id climbed up Goliath’s back and sat on his...