Ok, so this is another sample of something in the works. It's just to see what you think of it and if I should post more. The concept of Planet of the Apes does not belong to me, but my OCs do.

This has just been updated so it's slightly different that what you might have rad before.

"Lily come to work today?"

"Yes!" I signed excitedly. It wasn't everyday that my mom let me come to work with her so today was an exciting day already.

My mom was a vet at the local zoo and was called in to take care of a snake who had swallowed a pen cap someone had thrown in its cage. When she was done she washed her hands and sent the snake back to its enclosure. While she was doing that, I slipped into the room where Caroline her coworker worked and saw her taking care of a chimp. The man with the chimp smiled at her as she worked on the chimp's leg.

"Ok, what's he saying?" she asked the man. I had known Caroline for a long time so she didn't have to sign for me all the time because I was able to read her lips. She was talking about the chimp. Chimps couldn't speak. Leaning over Caroline's shoulder, I saw the chimp signing to the man.

"He says we should have dinner. Hey," he looked up and saw me. "What's your name?"

I didn't understand all of what he said but I understood 'have dinner' and 'name'. "Lily." I spelled for him.

"You sign?" he signed as he spoke the words seeming excited.

I nodded leaning against the wall. "Deaf."

"This is great," the man said crouching in front of me. "Sign name?" I made an 'L' with my hand and brushed my index finger down my chin making my sign name.

"Name Will." He told me. He made a 'W' and brushed his fingers against and away from his temple. "Chimp Caesar." He made a 'C' and shook his hand back and forth over his ear. He looked p to Caroline excited. "I never thought I would get to use the sign names. This is exciting. Come." He took my hand and pulled me over to the table and lifted me so up I was on the same level as the chimp.

"Who girl?" Caesar the chimp asked.

"Lily, like the flower." Will answered for me and spoke so Caesar would understand. "She knows sign like you and me so she can talk with you."

Caesar seemed to understand the spoken language better than sign, but that was ok. Mom always said it was possible to speak, but it would be difficult. Now, I had an excuse to learn how to speak with my voice.

"What happened?" I asked Caesar and pointed to his leg.

He responded by making the motion of someone hitting his leg.

"Mean neighbor. Hit Caesar with bat." Will elaborated for me.

Someone must have walked in the door because all three heads turned in the same direction. I looked too and saw my mom.

"Who this?" she asked me.

"Will and Caesar," I answered her pointing to the man and his chimp.

"Hello, I am Doctor Will Rodman," Will introduced himself to my mother holding out his hand to shake still holding onto me.

"Doctor Sullivan," she shook his hand.

"Do you have a first name?"

Caroline laughed under her breath because she knew my mom was still a little embarrassed at her name because it was so odd.

"Yes," she sighed. "Nova Sullivan. My parents were astronomers. I must ask, what are you doing with my daughter?" She didn't ask it in a mean way just one of curiosity I could tell that by the expression on her face. It was easy to read my parents because I spent the most time with them.

"Oh, she's yours?" The look on Will's face changed to one of embarrassment. He was completely unaware that I was her daughter and was worried how it looked for my mom to walk in and see me in his arms.

"Yes."

"She can sign, my chimp can too. I thought it would be good for Caesar to speak with someone else who knew sign language instead of it just being me."

The light happy look on my mother's face changed to one of seriousness. "That sounds great. Would you like to sit and talk Mr. Rodman?"

"Sure," he said somewhat hesitantly.

"Play with Caesar," my mom told me as she offered Will a seat. Will set me down next to the operating table which was too tall for me to be able to reach Caesar without a step stool.

"Ice cream?" he asked me through sloppy movements.

I nodded. "Ice cream good." There was no way to know just how much sign he knew. Everybody was different in how much they knew. My mom knew more than me so she could teach me and I knew more than Caesar so I could teach him.

"I'm three," I signed to him.

"Me too."

"Handsome chimp," I signed looking at him. As far as chimpanzees went, I had not meet many and the ones I had meet were dirty and smelled funny. Caesar was pleasing to be around. He also knew sign. 'Handsome' was just the first words that came to mind when we spoke.

"What 'handsome?' " he asked me repeating my hand motion of brushing his fingers on his left cheek and then right cheek in a downward motion.

Worriedly, I looked to Caroline and spelled out 'handsome' to her. She then spoke to Caesar. "She says your handsome. Pretty."

It almost looked like Caesar blushed when Caroline told him what I said. He turned to me, tapped my shoulder with his long fingers, and signed "Pretty." He then pointed to my eyes individually. One green and one blue.

We talked for a little while longer talking about what we liked and what we watched on TV which wasn't much for me because I couldn't read that well. As we talked, Caroline finished stitching up his leg and my mother and Will talked.

When Caroline was done, all five of us went out for ice cream. Caesar had to hide in a baby carriage until we left the zoo. It was weird seeing how the chimpanzees acted when we went by. He poked his head out and the chimps in the inclosure fell silent. The sleeping ones woke up to look at him. The change in the chips was completely forgotten when the five of us went to the ice cream stand.

Looking up at Caesar from my mint ice cream, I saw his vanilla smeared all over his face and in his fur. I laughed at him and he smiled showing me all his teeth.

It was then that my mom told me I would be seeing Caesar again. Caesar and I were both excited about this because we liked each other quite a bit. She told me that she and Will had arranged for me to visit him once a week because it would be good for both of us and we would both learn a great deal.

Thanks for your time. Please let me know what you think.