Children of Paradise: A Novel by Fred D'Aguiar

at Trina and her mother. He steps close to Adam and presses one hand to the gorilla’s back and offers a banana with the other hand. Adam grabs the banana somewhat clumsily and allows the man to scratch his back as he peels and eats the fruit in one mouthful and hurls the peel at the three men holding his lead. The guards, armed with sticks and stationed at the exits, poke at anyone who does not return to a chair or take a seat on the floor and keep still. The preacher waits for the congregation to settle, and then he gestures to Trina and Joyce to approach him and Adam. Joyce steps forward ahead of Trina. The preacher urges them to step closer. He waits as they edge forward, holding on to each other. He hands mother and child one banana each and indicates that Trina should offer her banana to Adam. Trina holds the banana by the tip and stretches her hand toward Adam. The gorilla swipes the banana. He peels and scarfs it. Again he pelts the guards with the peel. The preacher points and says:
    —Now you, Joyce, offer your banana to this magnificent creature made by the Creator.
    Joyce closes her eyes and holds her banana up toward Adam, and he grabs at it, but his grasp is oddly timed and he overreaches and seizes Joyce’s left hand instead of the banana. Joyce screams and tries to pull away. Adam wants the banana. He simply tightens his grip on her hand for her to surrender the fruit. Joyce screams as Adam crushes her hand. The preacher steps away from the gorilla and gestures to his assistants to bring more fruit for Adam, but Adam appears to want just the fruit that Joyce offered him and none other. He releases her left hand and grabs at her other arm and looks around the stage to see what has become of the fruit. Not seeing it, he thinks Joyce has concealed it somewhere on her body. He proceeds to tear at her clothing. Trina screams along with her mother, and several of the women who stand near the front of the room add their cries to a chorus of panic. The guards beat people with their sticks to restore order in the room. The preacher signals the guards to drag Adam from the tent. When Adam slaps at them, he seems to be slow in his movements, awake but not fully alert.
    The preacher points at Trina and Joyce and says that one of them trusts him and the other does not, and he asks the congregation if they can guess which one is which.
    —Who trusts me? And who does not? Mother or child?
    Everyone points at Joyce, shouting that only the child, Trina, is full of trust. Trina hugs Joyce, who struggles not to whimper and shiver. Joyce’s torn dress reveals several scratches on her arms and body from Adam’s nails. The preacher asks two of his assistants to take Joyce to the infirmary, but he tells Trina, who tries to follow her mother, that she should remain by his side. He kisses Trina on top of her head and tells her that she is much too close to her mother. He places his index finger over his lips, which silences Trina and the congregation. He asks everyone to give Trina a round of applause for her bravery. She did not know what would be asked of her, he points out, but she withstood the test of her trust of him over her fear of what was asked of her. Again the congregation applauds.
    —Trust is so basic an instinct that even a gorilla can detect it. Imagine what God knows about our inner thoughts and feelings if a gorilla, a dumb beast, can detect if we trust him or not, or fear him more than we could ever trust him. Work on bolstering your trust, people.
    —Yes, Father.
    The preacher dismisses the congregation with a wave of his hand. He tells Trina that Joyce will be fine but that she must remain calm and remember everything they talked about earlier. He promptly leaves the tent with four guards and three assistants. The congregation sits for a moment, unsure about the abrupt end to the evening; they begin to move only when the guards point toward the exits with their long sticks. They walk slowly, drained by the