Back in the days of old, people shared telephones among different households. It was called a ‘party line.’ Everyone on the same party line could hear everyone else talking. This required a certain cooperation among neighbors. If you picked up the phone and heard, not a dialtone, but your next door neighbor talking, you quietly put down the phone and waited until later to make your call. The earliest phones would ring in every household, sometimes with a different pattern of rings so the correct household knew to pick up.

Viki was fascinated by the telephone. She would pick it up, listen for neighbors talking and then start hooting excitedly. The neighbors weren’t so excited about their unwelcome company. When Viki’s exploits were discovered, Cathy or Keith would grab the phone from her. Cathy reported hearing their neighbors say in disgust: “Oh, it’s that d___ chimpanzee again!”