Keeping to the shadows as much as I could, I tailed Chongo, a curiously large chimp, after he left the fawnng baboon. After the ruckus we had overheard coming from his room, complete with bangings and bullets, there was no way I was going to get close enough to him to be espied. Chongo had a nasty temper, no doubt about it, but this was the first time he had gone this far over the top. Who knew how much more he was capable of.

He shambled- there's no other word for it - down the street about a block ahead of me, apparently in as straight a line as his gait could manage. Given my orders, one last time, to discover where the chimp got to each day about this time, I made sure he didn't disappear from my line of sight.

Chicago the Dirty, was even more unkempt today than usual. The streets and sidewalks were mostly bare but every corner, every wall, every alley, was packed with blown debris. A wilted refrigerator carton huddled against a listing railing. Inside the box, as I passed, I saw a shoe attached to what appeared to be a human leg. My spine crawled. No way was I going to investigate whether the body was alive.

Ahead of me, Chongo, the Chimp, halted. He looked back. I shrank against the wall.