Whistling for the Elephants (31 page)

‘What’s
that about?’ asked Aunt Bonnie.

‘Patently
she doesn’t like
Bewitched,’
said Miss Strange as Cosmos retuned the TV
again.

‘Really?’
I asked.

‘We’ll
never know, Sugar.’

Artemesia
and Cosmos finally settled down to
The Johnny Carson Show
and there was
quiet. Whether it was because they were exhausted or corsetless, the women sat
more relaxed than I had ever seen them. Artemesia too seemed entirely content.
She stood with her trunk curled and resting on her tusks. Her body stood easy
but the folded tip of her trunk seemed to form two eyes, endlessly watching,
perhaps smelling what went on. She seemed very old to me. Vast and grey like
old Father Time. Betsy slept below her. She lay flat out, in the exhausted
sleep of the puppy or the baby. She had covered her eyes with one ear folded
over her head. From her trunk came small bubbly, snoring noises. I wondered
what she dreamed of. Whether she dreamed at all. Could an elephant dream of
possible happiness in the future? She was a baby but seemed to me to have been
born old. She looked as if she had already been let in on some great secret.
Perry lay near by, snuggled down in some hay.

Aunt
Bonnie pulled on her cigarette. ‘Aren’t those tusks incredible?’ She had never
been much for animals, but sitting this close no one could help but admire.

Miss
Strange looked at the lengths of ivory on which Artemesia rested her trunk. I
knew it was smooth and cool to the touch. It was a funny word, ‘ivory’. Made it
sound like it was nothing to do with the elephant.

‘Pistol
grips, baubles, bracelets, baroque beer mugs, hairbrushes, opulent fans,
chess—pieces, dice boxes, knife handles, figurines, furniture, combs, perfume
flasks, joints in bagpipes, well—balanced billiard balls, piano keys, mah-jong
sets, carvings and trinkets, holy crosses, umbrella stands, rosary beads,
bookends, porno scenes on ivory plaques … that’s what people see when they
see ivory. More blood, human and elephant, has been spilled in the quest for
this “white gold” than any other raw material.’

If I
hadn’t known it before, I knew then that I would fight for Artemesia and Betsy.
That no one would make billiard balls out of them. I think that is when I
thought of the telegram. I know I didn’t tell anybody, but I think that’s when
it was.

Helen
had found an extraordinary book in the library. It was the
All Purpose
Swahili Phrase Book from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
She
was giggling as she read. ‘I don’t think this is going to help, Cosmos.’

Cosmos
dragged herself from the TV. ‘No, really,’ she said. ‘It might be comforting. Artemesia
came from Africa. Swahili was probably like, the first language she heard.’

Helen
read out a phrase.

‘What
does that mean?’ I asked.

‘The
idle slaves are scratching themselves.’

Miss
Strange nodded. ‘Now that is useful.’

‘How
about this? “Six drunken Europeans have killed the cook. Do not pour treacle
into the engine.”‘ We all grinned although I wasn’t quite sure why it was
funny.

I was
reading one of the huge leather-bound books about elephants. I wanted to know
everything about them. Wanted to speak to them. I read out loud.

‘Did
you know that the area a bull elephant sniffs to ensure a female is ready for
mounting is called Jacobson’s organ?’

The
women fell about.

‘We’ll
have to tell Gabriel!’ roared Miss Strange, weeping with laughter.

I didn’t
get it. There was such helpless jollity when Joey came in that I’m sure he
thought it was about him. He shuffled in the door in his uniform looking hot
and tired. He paused at the sight of Artemesia watching TV with Cosmos, but he
didn’t say anything about it.

‘I
caught the dog,’ he declared. ‘The one that killed the goose.’ Judith stroked
Troilus at the news. Joey smiled at her and she smiled back. It was the first
normal thing she had done since she arrived.

‘Uh …
Miss Strange … I have kind of a strange announcement I have to make.’ Joey
cleared his throat, unaccustomed to quite so much attention. ‘I want you to
know that I don’t think it’s right. I have tried to phone the state office for
advice but no one seemed to know and…’

Little
Joey was sweating as he shifted from foot to foot. It was Judith who finally
smiled at him and asked, ‘What is it, Jocy?’

Joey
pulled his pants up and brushed back his hair for an official announcement. ‘As
dog catcher it is my duty to inform you that the Mayor of Sassaspaneck has
today issued an order in relation to all domestic pets and their licenses. From
today all animals in the town will be classified as domestic pets and will
require a license.’

Miss
Strange looked at him. ‘What do you mean, all animals?’

‘All,’
muttered Joey.

‘I see.
And who provides these… licenses?’

‘That
would be the Mayor.’

Miss
Strange carried on. ‘So an elephant would now be a domestic pet?’ Joey nodded. ‘And
if I don’t have a license for, say… an elephant?’

Joey
carried on nodding as if he was trying to get the idea into his own head. ‘I
would be required to bring the animal in … and have it destroyed.’ Joey
looked desperate. ‘I’m sorry, Judith. I don’t know what else to…’

It was
brilliant. Not only could Harry close down the zoo by refusing all the
licenses, he could humiliate Joey at the same time with the task of enforcing a
ridiculous local law. It was a beautiful piece of work. But so was my telegram.

Chapter
Thirteen

Maybe it was the heat
toward the end of that summer, but everyone in the town seemed to go kind of
deranged. Judith still refused to go home. She sat sewing and sewing. She and
Troilus were quite a couple now. I didn’t think it was one of Joey’s rainbow
bridges, but it was pretty close. It had been a couple of weeks since the
enclosure was finished. Aunt Bonnie had been back to defrost stuff for Uncle
Eddie and see he was okay. I went along to check on Father and Perry came for
the ride. Straight across the harbour from the Dapolitos’ house was Harbour
Island. A small island on the harbour which had not been named by a literary
genius. The island sported the only piece of almost-beach in the area and it
was here that kids when not at camp were sent for swimming lessons. A series of
floating docks, like Uncle Eddie’s, had been anchored in place to box in the
beach and make a safe area for the lessons.

Father
and I had tried to have a conversation. He had grown very thin over the summer
and for the first time I thought he looked old. I guess I should have paid him
more attention. Been a better daughter.

‘I’ve
been thinking about school,’ he said. ‘You need a proper school.’ I wanted to
talk about my place in the cosmos and not being an Et cetera, but it didn’t
seem like the moment.

‘When’s
Mother coming back?’

‘Yes.
She isn’t.’

‘Why?’

‘Yes.
She needs some time.’ We sat not speaking for a little.

‘I have
to go now,’ I said.

‘Yes.’

As I
got up and walked past Father he took my hand. ‘I’m sorry, Dorothy,’ he said. I
should have hugged him, something, but I couldn’t.

I went
across Sweetheart’s yard to the Dapolitos’ to get a ride back with Aunt Bonnie.
She was sitting in the garden with Uncle Eddie. Perry was playing by the back
stoop.

‘Bonnie,
Judith needs to come home. You know Harry is all talk. He needs her to come
back. It’s making him crazy.’ It was a long speech for Uncle Eddie. Aunt Bonnie
sat with her usual cigarette but she wasn’t drinking. She didn’t drink half so
much now.

‘Harry
has to back off the zoo. You should come, Eddie, it’s — well, it’s wonderful.’

‘He’s
mad, honey. Pearl … it’s all made him a little crazy.’

Harry
came round the corner. He was wearing one of his election boaters, but not with
any confidence. It drooped on the back of his head and he looked terrible. I
thought he was just going to sit down but as soon as he saw Bonnie he started
yelling.

‘What
the fuck have you done to my wife? She won’t fucking come home. I thought you
were my friend and look at you — out there with that crazy old broad. What’s
the matter with you? I thought you were on my side. Hey, Eddie, you know I’ve
been fucking your wife? You know that?’ Uncle Eddie stood up real quiet but it
didn’t feel good. Perry had looked up at the commotion from his screaming
grandfather. Now he ran to Aunt Bonnie for protection. Harry grabbed him by the
arm and held the boy out to Aunt Bonnie.

‘What
are you doing with that nigger kid? Huh? Are you trying to wreck my life?’

‘He’s
your flesh and blood,’ yelled Aunt Bonnie.

Harry
screamed back. ‘He is not. Look at him, for God’s sake. He is nothing to do
with me.’

Uncle
Eddie had his own agenda. ‘Have you been sleeping with Harry?’ he asked, his
voice beginning to rise.

The
shouting went on. I hid behind a bush and waited for it all to be over. People,
grown-up people, are supposed to keep an eye on kids. That’s how it’s supposed
to work. They’re supposed to love you and make sure you’re okay otherwise
something might happen. In Sassaspaneck all the kids went to camp. They got
sent away to be looked after. All of them except me and Perry. No one was
watching us. If you don’t watch people then something will happen. I don’t know
whether Perry thought he wanted to swim or he just fell. Anyhow it seems he
swam under the floating dock and never found his way up again.

It was
a while before anyone noticed Perry was missing. They looked everywhere for
him. Then, when it was getting dark, Uncle Eddie called out the volunteer fire
brigade to help. The blasts measuring out the signal for our street hollered
across the harbour and over at Main Street you could just see the lights going
on at Torchinsky’s. The Dapolitos’ garden was all lit up with the Japanese
lanterns Aunt Bonnie had got on special the summer before. I stood on the patio
with the lanterns playing orange and red figures in the water. The night was
still and it should have been real pretty. I guess after a while everyone knew
Perry had to be in the water. It was Uncle Eddie who found him. Uncle Eddie,
the son of a gondolier, who dragged him from the water. The tide had turned and
they had been dragging a grappling hook behind the boat to stop Perry floating
out to sea. We could see him pull the little guy up from the deep, his shiny
skin glistening in the lantern light. Uncle Eddie held him in his huge arms. He
came ashore crying. For some reason that was the worst thing of all.

Harry
stood watching the whole time. He never moved. Uncle Eddie walked across the
lawn with Perry in his arms, tears streaming silently down his face. He got to
Harry and reached out to give him the child. Harry looked down and then he
turned and walked away. I was sobbing and I didn’t understand. I didn’t even
know where Perry had gone. He never even had a chance to find his place on the
list. What was that all about? I had heard about death with Billie and Phoebe
and Pearl, and had even seen the dead Cressida, but this was different. Aunt
Bonnie and Uncle Eddie watched Harry go. Then Aunt Bonnie reached out her arms
and pulled me in. We stood for a while under the Japanese lanterns. In the harbour
the water was still. It had done its bit.

Aunt
Bonnie took me with her when she drove out to the zoo with the news. There was
silence as Judith sat sewing and sewing. Sweetheart and Cosmos started weeping.
Miss Strange looked very odd. Pale and angry. No one said anything till she got
to her feet and went to stand in front of Judith. Judith didn’t look up until
Miss Strange reached out and tore her needlework from her hand. She threw it on
the floor.

‘You
have lost your daughter and your grandson. What does it take with you?’

Judith
cowered as if Miss Strange was going to hit her. ‘Don’t. I lost my dog. I lost
my dog.’ Judith reached out to pull her loyal Troilus toward her. It set Miss
Strange off.

‘Who
gives a fuck? Stop grieving over a fucking animal. There are people involved
here. What’s the matter with you? Didn’t he look right? Is that it? Didn’t
Perry look right for you? What kind of person are you? Look at me. Do looks
matter so much to you? Do they?’

Sweetheart
moved to stem the tide. ‘Grace,’ she said quietly but there was no holding Miss
Strange.

‘Look
at me,’ she demanded to Judith. ‘Look at me. I never looked right for you, did
I? The scary mother. Look at me!’

She
grabbed Judith’s face and pulled it up, drawing a thin line of blood with her
fingernail as she did so. Judith looked her straight in the face and hit out.
The blow came from nowhere. It hit the right side of Miss Strange’s face and
sent her reeling back. Judith stood shocked for a moment and then a complete
change went over her face. It crumpled and she ran to Miss Strange. She knelt
and put her arms around her.