I am so happy! I am finally giving a ride to the frightened girl, Bill’s granddaughter, Lily.
I like the weight of the child on my back. I enjoy feeling strong and helpful, walking along carefully so as not to fall. I will take care of her, for my best friend, Bill. I am very good at taking care of people.
I was twenty-eight when I came to my nice people, sweet Bill the Giant and his tiny wife, Violet. They are kind. Both have gentle eyes. I do like my life these days. And now I am fifty-eight!
Bill is my trainer, my caretaker, my mahout. He saved me, rescued me from people who did not know how to treat an elephant. I adore my mahout.
I work in the circus, at fairs, sometimes at schools. We are called “The Amazing Queenie Grace and Her Best Friend, Bill the Giant!” We travel. I do tricks, like picking up someone to carry, folded soft and warm as a towel inside my trunk, or kneeling to say a prayer. I paint. I hold the brush carefully. The people cheer and clap. They buy my paintings.
My keeper Bill taught me to paint. He taught me to paint and to pray and to pick someone up so gently in my trunk. Bill has taught me many things, and I like to think I have taught him things, too.
Like now: I am teaching Bill the Giant how to make his granddaughter be brave. I am being so careful with the girl Lily Rose Pruitt.
And she might be starting to like me, maybe just a teeny bit. I wonder if we will ever be friends.
“Good girl,” Lily whispers. She pats my skin, gingerly, lightly. “Good girl. Don’t let me fall, okay?”
I will not let her fall. I would never let her fall.