(A Short Story: 7th of 8 Installments)

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

This is the seventh installment of an 8-installment story of how things will end up if we do not STOP killing elephants NOW!

The Last African Elephant page 7 of 8 pages

But suddenly all of our trunks began waving wildly in the air. Mukami, the sole yearling in the troup I was visiting that day, jumped into our midst filled with terror. The terror was well-founded for the first volley of shots brought my precious little friend to the ground, tuskless though she was! Those shots had been intended for me. I do believe that the apes or apes who had done the shooting had been so unnerved by the sheer size of my tusks that the fool or fools had not been able to take careful aim.

Luck was with me a few seconds later too. I turned to see a gun pointed straight up at my face, the ape showing his teeth as he exuded happiness -- his gun jammed, thank God! I saw my nephew Pyotor rushing to my aid, trumpeting, bellowing. He was so afraid to see his uncle die, for he had already seen his father poisoned only three months earlier. The ape had time only to turn and fire -- this time the gun fired smoothly and Pyotor died.

In the ensuing panic of the attack by the poachers, our group splintered into individuals or into

twos and threes. I never did learn what happened to precious Meili on that day, but I am certain

that it was not good...

I am confused and I am running. The national park where I grew up is not safe after all. The poachers outnumber and outgun the park rangers. And many of the rangers accept bribes and then let the poachers go about their business unhampered. What a bloody business it is! The poachers, funded by apes from East Asia, kill elephant, rhinoceroses, antelopes -- and sometimes, just for fun, they will kill even animals without tusks, horns, or other so-called ‘valuable’ body parts.

I have been in this zoo for three or four months and I can’t take it any more. I was brought here by a group of apes who tranquilized me just after I climbed out of a lake I had swum across in search of food. The tranquilizer took effect quickly on my starving body, and somehow the apes were able to bring me to this zoo and nurse me back to health. At first I didn’t want to eat. I just wanted to die -- but then I heard others of my kind in the adjoining enclosure. They sounded happy and secure. One evening as I listened to the voices of my kind next door, a bolt of lightning struck nearby and caused the lights at the zoo to go out for a few seconds, not enough to do any damage; however, when the lights went out, the voices of my next door neighbors stopped. I had been duped!! There were no elephants next door!!!

(continued in tomorrow’s installment)

Steve Walker

Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.