Elephant Angel
Peter Nourjian
eBook
(STUDIO POETS, Aug. 13, 2012)
A young boy sneaks into the zoo at night and discovers that all the animals are teary-eyed and sad. He hides as two zoo keepers push a large cart with a heavy load to the edge of the property. There the boy witnesses the burial of an elephant. Once the grave is covered with dirt the keepers leave. It's then that the ground starts quaking and shaking, and the elephant rises through the soil, a few feet into the air, then drops to the earth again, landing hard. The boy helps the confused and frustrated elephant angel who is simply too fat for his flight to heaven. They become fast friends, the boy convincing his new pal that he has to workout if he wants to lose enough weight to fly. They begin a training program, but the boy has to get home before his parents wake up. Hiding an elephant is tricky, especially in a tree.The training continues, sweat beading off his elephant skin, ribs beginning to show, and with the boy on-board to make the workout even more grueling, the elephant angel finally lifts off the ground. Soaring and gliding, this airborne team is quickly called into action when they spot a house on fire. Diving toward a small pond, the elephant angel fills his cheeks and hoses down the flames with his trunk. Eye witnesses swear they saw it, but who's going to believe an elephant can fly? "If I can hide down here maybe I can hide from heaven too," he decides, and the two heroes begin an adventurous partnership protecting their neighborhood and beyond.