The Elephant's Tale

by Lauren St. John

The door opened briefly and a figure slipped into the room. Ben flicked the flashlight on. The intruder was the elephant whisperer. He blinked as the beam seared his pupils.

  Martine’s fear gave way to fury. “What do you think you’re doing, Joseph? You nearly gave me a heart attack.” But she softened once she saw that he was more frightened than she was.

  “Forgive me for disturbing you, and for frightening you,” he said. “I had to find a way to speak to you both alone. It has taken me up until now to find the key for your door. I beg you, please give me news of my son if you know anything at all. Although you denied it to Mr. James, I had the feeling that you’d met Gift or seen him.”

  Martine tried to harden her heart. “What do you care? According to Reuben James, you’re here of your own free will. He says he has a deal with you to look after Gift if you look after the elephants. Obviously it doesn’t matter to you that your son doesn’t know whether you’re dead or alive.”

  Joseph hung his head. “You are correct about the first thing. I have had the choice to walk out of here at any time and be reunited with my son. And in the beginning Mr. James would often offer to take me to him, provided, of course, that I never spoke of this place. He is not a wicked man. He genuinely believes in the Ark Project and the good that can come out of it. It is not him I am afraid of.”

  “Then who?” asked Ben.

  Joseph lowered his voice. “His business partner, Callum. It’s he who convinced Mr. James they should divert the stream in order to control all the water in Damaraland. Mr. James was very much against it but now he has agreed. I think Callum might have some kind of hold over him—perhaps to do with money. If they are allowed to succeed with this plan tomorrow, devastation will follow.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Martine. “You claim to love elephants, but you are helping these men with their sick experiments. You claim to love your son and say you’re free to go, yet you are still here.”

  The elephant whisperer sank onto a chair and put his head in his hands. “Do you know the expression ‘If you 180 make your bed, you must lie on it’? A long time ago, I made a terrible decision. I’m afraid I have to live with the consequences.”

  “Everyone makes mistakes,” Ben told him.

  Joseph looked up. “Not like this. My elephants are family to me. They are like my brothers and sisters and uncles. Do you know what it’s like to watch them die slowly in their hearts because the freedom of the desert winds has been taken from them; because they are confined? Elephants lose their minds in such a situation. They become so desperate to be free of captivity that they have been known to take their own lives. I thought I could help them endure this period with patience, play, and love, but I was wrong.”

  “You care for the elephants more than you care for your own son,” accused Martine.

  Joseph paled. “That is not true, and besides, it is not a competition. I love them all. Please don’t judge me until you know the facts.”

  “We’ve been searching for the facts ever since we came to Namibia,” Martine said a little sarcastically. “We’d love to know what they are.”

  A shudder went through Joseph. “One year ago, I had an argument with my son. I had noticed some changes in him since he started attending school in Windhoek and I felt they were not good ones. He was cocky. Cheeky. He had this notion to become a famous news photographer. To tell you the truth, I could not admit to him that I could no longer afford to pay for him to go to school, let alone college. I told him to get his head out of the clouds. He accused me of trying to take away his dream and destroy his future. He ran out of the house, threatening never to return.

  “During the long night I searched for him, I had much time to think. I realized that I was a stubborn old fool, stuck in my ways, and that the world is changing. I saw that I was a fortunate man to have a son with a dream to become a photographer when so many of my friends have sons who are bone idle and want nothing more than to hang about the town, stealing and drinking and causing trouble. I vowed to do whatever it took to find the money to help him achieve his goals.”

  Martine and Ben were riveted. They sat side by side in their gowns and listened to the gentle man.

  “Go on,” Martine encouraged.

  “Toward morning I was passing Moon Valley when Reuben James came by in his car. I have known him for many years and when he asked me what was wrong, I told him. After swearing me to secrecy, he brought me to Moon Valley and showed me the dome, which had just been completed. He told me of his ambition to create a super race of animals, ones that would survive global warming. He believed that this could be done by studying the desert elephants.

  “He offered me more money than I had earned in my whole career to manage, train, and take care of the elephants and, when I hesitated, he doubled it.”

  “But the money came with a price attached?” guessed Ben.

  Joseph nodded. “The Ark Project was top secret, which meant that if I wanted to be part of it I had to make a decision there and then. I could not even go home for one hour to explain everything to my son. I had to agree to cut off all contact with my former life for a period of twelve months. In return, Reuben said he would educate Gift and care for him as if he was his own son. He promised to do everything in his power to help him achieve his dream.”

  “So you signed on the dotted line,” said Martine.

  “I signed. The gates of Moon Valley closed and my life ended, all in the same moment.”

  Outside the hotel room, night had fallen. Martine listened for the crickets and frogs that made African nights so musical, but the crater was eerily still.

  Ben made them coffee and they sat at the dining table drinking it. Joseph’s story had made Martine worry again about Gift and why he’d never returned to the Welcome Center. There was a catch in her voice as she said, “If it’s any consolation, Reuben James has at least honored his promise about Gift.”

  Over the next half hour, she and Ben told Joseph every detail of the days they’d spent with Gift, starting with him rescuing them in the red dunes of Sossusvlei and ending with him dropping them off at the Stone Age etchings in Damaraland. Neither of them said anything about Gift failing to reappear and their concerns that something might have happened to him. Rather, they put the blame on themselves, saying they’d wandered off and gotten lost in the desert.

  Seldom had Martine seen a man so transformed by a piece of news. It was as if they’d given Joseph a tonic. He looked twenty years younger.

  “The way my son helped you makes me proud,” he said. “And this photography career you say he has and the home he has built, these are the best things a father could hear. Knowing that my boy has become a man and, not only that, a gentleman, these words are like the sunshine to me.”

  He stood up. “I am already in your debt and we don’t have much time, but I wonder if I can be permitted to ask you one more question.”

  “Go ahead,” said Ben with a smile.

  “I heard you talking to Mr. James about the elephant that was tortured and tormented by Lurk. You said she was living at Sawubona? Sawubona is your home in South Africa?”

  “It is,” said Martine. “It’s a game reserve near Storm Crossing. My grandfather and our game warden, Tendai, took Angel in and made her well again. She’s happy now, I think, but she always seems lonely.”

  She decided not to mention that, barring a miracle, in three days’ time Sawubona would be taken over by Reuben James and Angel would belong to him. So, agonizingly, would the white giraffe.

  “That is good to hear. They had sent her away a long time before I was brought to this place, but as soon as the other workers described her I knew they were talking of one of my favorite elephants—one I knew for over thirty years. I was heartbroken, imagining the worst. My comfort here has been the companionship of her sister.”

  Martine stared at him as if he’d grown wings. “Her sister!”

  Joseph nodded. “Ruby, the elephant you healed today. She is
the twin sister of your Angel.”

  He turned to leave.

  “I’m confused, Joseph,” said Ben. You signed up to be at Moon Valley for twelve months. That means you must be due to go home to Gift any day now?”

  The elephant whisperer looked down. “I have reached the end of my contract, yes, but there is a problem.”

  “I don’t suppose it has anything to do with Callum?” said Martine.

  Joseph reacted as if she’d poked him with a burning stick. “Please, Miss Martine, keep your voice down. A few months ago, Callum warned me that if I walked away from the Ark Project, I must do so knowing that one day—it could be tomorrow or in ten years—Gift would meet with an accident. I hope it is his idea of a joke, but I am afraid to test him. If it is a choice between my life and my son’s, I will choose to save Gift’s, even if it means he must grow up without a father.”

  There was a knock at the door. They almost jumped out of their skins.

  “What if that’s him?” Joseph fretted. “He must not find me here. He’ll think I’ve been telling you secrets.”

  “Hide in the closet,” said Martine. “Don’t worry. Whatever happens, we’ll protect you.”

  The knock came again, louder this time.

  Ben bounced up and went to the door. “Can I help you?” he mumbled in a polite but sleepy voice.

  “Housekeeping.”

  He opened up cautiously, scared it might be a trap. A smiling maid handed him a parcel. It was their ragged clothes, washed and ironed.

  “Good evening,” she said. “I am here with your laundry and a message from Reuben James. He sent me to ask if you would like some dinner.”

  29

  They were ready to go before first light. They’d done all they could to persuade Joseph to come with them, but he wouldn’t leave his elephants. If his elephant family was going to be moved, he wanted to be with them. And he refused to do anything that might endanger his son.

  After making Martine and Ben promise that they wouldn’t reveal his location to a living soul, he gave them an elephant hair bracelet and said, “If you see Gift, find some way to put this in his possessions so that he will come across it one day and know that I am alive and I love him.”

  “No,” said Martine. “You’re going to give it to him yourself.”

  Despite that, the elephant whisperer had agreed to tell them the code that opened the main gate, and the time the guards took their morning tea. He confessed that he’d memorized everything because he’d dreamed so often of escape, or of sneaking out to see Gift.

  Outside, the morning air was bracingly cold and the wooden walkways were slippery with dew. Martine rubbed her arms to try to generate some warmth as they crept through the still, quiet forest. She’d never realized that a world without birdsong could be so spooky or lonely or empty. She didn’t blame the local people for not wanting to come here.

  The sky was mauve above the black ring of volcanic rock as they neared the main gate. The guards were still there, but at 5:15 on the dot they disappeared into their guardhouse for tea, as Joseph had promised.

  “This seems too easy. I keep expecting something to go wrong,” Martine whispered as Ben typed the code into the keypad next to the gate.

  “It should be easy,” he said. “We’re not supposed to be prisoners, remember.”

  But the words were barely out of his mouth when Reuben James came running up. He was out of breath and unshaven and his clothes were disheveled, as if he’d been roused from sleep and dressed in a hurry.

  The gate clicked open. Standing on the other side, poised to ring the bell, were Lurk and Callum.

  Lurk’s eyes bulged. He lifted a finger and pointed. “Maxine!”

  As Callum stepped through the gate, the security men emerged from the guardhouse with crumbs on their faces, stammering excuses.

  “What are you up to now, Reuben?” Callum said. “Thought you’d give the local schoolkids a guided tour at the crack of dawn, did you?”

  His black eyes flickered over Martine like a lizard’s tongue. Up close, his chilly smile, blue-black crow’s feather hair, and thick black brows gave him the appearance of a movie hit man. Martine had never met anyone she could truly have described as evil before, but this man fit the bill.

  “Martine and Ben, meet my business partner, Callum,” said Reuben James, rattled but doing his best not to show it. “Lurk you already know. Callum, you’re earlier than expected, but it’s not a problem. I’ll wake the chef and organize you some breakfast.”

  Martine noticed that he didn’t answer Callum’s question. Callum must have noticed it too, because his gaze slid over to Martine, then Ben, and then back to Martine again.

  He said silkily, “Have we met before?”

  “I tole you she was not Anna,” Lurk said, glaring at Martine over Callum’s shoulder. “I tole you she was the one who made the elephant to chase me.”

  Reuben James said, “Shut up, Lurk. Of course you haven’t met her, Callum. She and her friend are not from Namibia. Don’t worry, they’re just leaving.”

  Callum continued to scrutinize Martine. “You’re the girl from the game reserve in South Africa, aren’t you? I’ve seen a newspaper photo of you and your white giraffe. For some reason, that rings alarm bells for me. I’m wondering what you might be doing at Moon Valley, which is a top secret project. Could someone enlighten me?”

  “I was showing them around the hotel and they know not to tell anyone about it,” said Reuben James. “They’re good kids and they’ve done nothing wrong, Callum. Come on, Martine and Ben, I’ll take you home.”

  Callum smiled his evil smile. “What’s the hurry, Reuben? Surely Martine and Ben would like some breakfast too. Maybe they’d also like to know what you have planned for their game reserve in South Africa?”

  Reuben James froze. “What are you playing at, Callum?”

  Callum put an arm around the other man’s shoulders. “I’m wondering the same thing about you, my friend. Why don’t we take a little walk to the pod and see what’s going on there? Oh, and Reuben, I wouldn’t bother trying to persuade the guards to have me removed from Moon Valley. Like Lurk, they’re all in my pay, and, as the old saying goes, the piper calls the tune.”

  A hush came over the dome when the door crashed open. The pod workers, who were stuffing elephant toys into boxes and dismantling laboratory equipment, halted where they were like freeze-framed figures in a film. Anything moveable had been cleared away, including the elephants, who were assembled in their shackles on the far side of the dome. Joseph was struggling to get them in order. As soon as he had them quieted, he stopped what he was doing and turned around.

  “Is it spring-cleaning day or are you and your workers going somewhere, Reuben?” asked Callum. He nodded to the men in white coats. “Gentlemen, would you leave us.” They scuttled out without a word.

  It was cold in the dome but Martine noticed diamonds of sweat had broken out on Reuben James’s forehead. He cleared his throat. “Callum, I told you that we were preparing to move the elephants to Sawubona today.”

  “You don’t have the right to do that,” cried Martine. “It’s our game reserve and my grandmother is in England right now making sure that you never get your hands on it.”

  Callum raised his eyebrows. “Your game reserve. Not for much longer, I’m afraid. You know the old Bible story about the Great Flood and Noah saving the animals by taking them two by two onto his ark. Well, Reuben plans to breed global-warming-resistant animals on our game reserve using the genes of species like the desert elephants and Oryx, who can live on a fraction of the food and water of ordinary wildlife. Hence the name: the Ark Project.”

  “Nothing wrong with preparing animals for the future,” Reuben James said defensively. “I’m doing my best to learn how to save them. It’s conservation.”

  Martine felt a chill go through her. “That depends on how you go about it.”

  Callum laughed. “Isn’t it obvious? You conduct experime
nts with the most unique and rare animals, animals with special powers, animals such as the white giraffe.”

  “No!” cried Martine.

  “It won’t be like that, Callum,” Reuben James said furiously.

  “It will when I take over Sawubona. Or maybe I’ll just auction the animals off to the highest bidder. The white giraffe alone should fetch a cool million. You haven’t forgotten, have you, Reuben, how much you are in my debt. If you don’t start remembering who’s boss around here, there’ll come a day when everything you own will be mine.”

  Reuben James curled his lip. “I’m finished with this, Callum. I want nothing more to do with you and your spy.” He glared pointedly at Lurk. “I convinced myself that by diverting the stream, we’d be doing more good for the people and animals of Damaraland than bad. Now I realize that you poison everything you touch. That you care nothing for anyone but yourself. I’ll have my lawyer contact yours to draw up some repayment plan with the money. Come, Martine and Ben, let’s go. I’m sorry you had to see this.”

  Startled at this turn of events, Martine and Ben moved to follow him, but Lurk and Nipper barred their way.

  “I don’t think so,” said Callum.

  Reuben James gave a harsh laugh. “How are you planning to stop us? Are you going to kill us?”

  On the other side of the dome, Martine saw Joseph go rigid. She tried to catch his eye, but he turned away and began fussing over Ruby.

  Callum flashed his business partner a smile. “You’ve been reading too much fiction, my friend. Of course I’m not going to kill you. Not only would that would be bad for my reputation as a businessman, it’s messy and unnecessary. I mean, we have a whole desert on our doorstep. Terrible things, deserts. Even the most experienced men could run out of petrol in the middle of nowhere on the very day that they’ve forgotten their water bottles. They could easily perish from heatstroke. It could be years before their bones are found. Elephant whisperers and small children can run into the same sort of trouble. It’s a shame, but these things happen.