“Seriously? When did sleeping with elephants become part of my chores here?” She flipped onto her side, shoving away the dirty, smelly blanket rubbing her cheek. She’d never felt dirtier or smelled worse, but she had to admit there’d been few moments in her life when she’d felt as happy.
Sophie had taken on Apsara, the orphan, as though the little one were her own kin. No one at the sanctuary could believe the transformation in the old cow. Though Sophie had improved both physically and emotionally, Natalie hadn’t seen such softness in the elephant since they’d first met. If there were such a thing as pachyderm love at first sight, it had manifested itself in the relationship Sophie and Apsara had formed from the very beginning. Yet with the bond they had, Apsara still wanted—and needed—Natalie around. And Sophie had no problem sharing both her young charge and her human friend. Over the span of a few short weeks, the three of them became inseparable.
Deep into the summer season, the relentless Thai sun burnt skins more quickly than a hot toaster burnt bread, so Natalie, Khalan, and Chanchai took turns feeding the infant elephant and covering her with a constant coat of sunscreen. She needed round-the-clock attention and feeding, one thing Sophie couldn’t do. Though she tolerated the mahouts when they invaded her space to feed Apsara, when the other elephants were around, Sophie acted like the proud aunt, sheltering the precocious baby and making sure to guard her against the other adult elephants.
Natalie and Mali often sat and watched the herd as they encircled the baby in the mud pit. The two women entertained themselves by taking turns attributing human voices and commentary to the elephant group’s antics, dissolving in hysterical laughter on more than one occasion when their fabricated commentary almost matched the movement of the elephants’ mouths.
Like any toddler, Apsara endeared everyone to her, and as the only baby at the sanctuary, the group spoiled her—and she loved it. The only cloud over the baby’s arrival was that Sophie would not let Seth—who’d postponed his departure date over the past couple of weeks—anywhere near Apsara. For some reason, Sophie didn’t trust him, and her determination to keep him away from the baby convinced Natalie that it truly was dangerous for him to stay. Sophie’s maternal instincts ruled her now, and Natalie knew better than to leave Sophie with someone like Seth, who couldn’t read her noises and body language.
When the hour finally came that Seth meant to leave for good, Natalie joined everyone else in wishing him good fortune. She stood at the back of the small crowd as everyone said goodbye and felt torn. He had done nothing mean to her. She couldn’t fault him for doing his job, even though using her past as “color” for the show about Sophie truly ripped her in half. Still, he’d opened her up to the possibility of love, and that was something she hadn’t considered as an option for the rest of her life. That was a positive take-away. There would be times they might run into each other at conferences or seminars. He’d be a good friend.
He climbed into the truck, and she reached for his hand through the window. “Can’t wait to see the show. Thank you, and I wish you the best.”
He smiled, that same dazzling smile she’d noticed the first night they’d met. “You’ll be the first one to see the edited version. Hope you like it, Natalie.” His eyes searched hers for a deeper conversation, but finding none, he smiled resolutely.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she replied and withdrew her hand as the truck started. She stood with the rest of the group in the road as the truck left them in a cloud of dust, and she remained there when everyone else dispersed for a long while before heading back to Apsara’s pen.
It was days later when Natalie glanced out at the pouring rain from inside the enclosure and told the tiny elephant, “Seth got out of here just in time.”
Though the baby couldn’t understand what she said, she had started to understand the word for “come,” and whenever they walked, Natalie repeated, “Ma, ma, ma.” Whether she came because she had learned the word or because she was playing, Natalie couldn’t tell, but at least Apsara responded.
Sophie spent most of the day with the calf, rescuing the little one when she slipped on the slope into the river and making sure she didn’t wander off when it was time for her feeding. She’d become a wonderful surrogate mother, though she had nothing to give to Apsara from her dry teats.
Sophie now stood outside the enclosure, clearly enjoying the soaking that the afternoon rains provided. She lifted her trunk occasionally to the roof, knowing exactly where to place herself to get the steady runoff. She drank as though her trunk had become one large straw. It wouldn’t last much longer, according to what Natalie could see of the sky. By the way the dark clouds moved quickly over the mountains, the rain would stop for at least a couple of hours. But it never stopped for long during rainy season, which made everything at the sanctuary slippery and moldy. At least Natalie didn’t need to worry about Apsara getting sunburnt.
As she awaited the end of the storm, Natalie fed Apsara and ran over her chores in her mind. Next week, she would conduct the monthly dog clinic that she and Peter used to do together. She mentally reviewed what meds she had on hand and planned what inventory she’d need to replace after the clinic. She also made note to order replacement parts for the large freezer and talk to Andrew about what he wanted her to accomplish while he was in Africa. He departed next week for almost three months, which left her in charge of the sanctuary until she was ready to go home. Originally, her year would have ended next month, but since no one else could take over in Andrew’s absence, she agreed to stay until his return. Maybe by then, Apsara would be more stable and the other mahouts could take on her feedings and care.
Andrew had been in regular contact with his people in Africa, asking for advice, especially regarding the ingredients for Apsara’s formula, and for the warning signs to watch for that might indicate the calf was on a rapid downhill slide. He reminded Natalie that caring for infant elephants was risky, at best, but Natalie refused to think about how she would deal with the sudden death of baby Apsara.
The rain stopped as Sophie came toward the fence. Somehow she sensed that Natalie had waited for a pause in the rain to walk with Apsara, and Sophie wanted to tag along, though she thought she led the pack.
Apsara skipped ahead, giving karate-like kicks as she chased birds and tossed her trunk. The rain had invigorated her senses, evoking happy squeaks. Natalie couldn’t help but smile at the little girl because everything was always new to her. She could sit for hours exploring Natalie’s face with her bristly little trunk, then she’d be off down the road, mock-charging whoever might be coming the other way. Sophie, on the other hand, moped along, in a way that made her appear blasé and indifferent.
At times, Natalie thought of Sophie as lifting one eyebrow when she looked at the world, like a French gallery owner might look askance at a beginner’s imitation of a Monet water lilies painting. Like the gallery owner, she had seen it and experienced it all, but she, too, was enamored by the happy baby elephant frolicking before them.
Content and preoccupied by her thoughts, Natalie had almost tuned out her surroundings, so Sophie’s abrupt right hand turn caught her off guard. Then she saw Apsara trotting in the same direction, and when Sophie’s big rear end shifted, Natalie could see why both elephants veered off the path.
Decha and Anurak trotted toward them. Apsara did her happy dance, tripping on her feet and tooting an imitation of Sophie’s much louder trumpeting. Sophie, not happy at all, would never be friendly with any dog, and barely tolerated Decha. The only reason she didn’t trample the yellow mongrel was because Apsara played with him as though he were another baby elephant. Usually Anurak gravitated directly to Apsara and would press his face right against the elephant’s head, but today he headed for Natalie, his bare feet slapping against the muddy path. The closer he got, the more evident that he was upset.
His hands gesticulating wildly, he grunted and squeaked, the only sounds he could make, and frantically pulled on her hand, pointing again and again, as if demanding she come with him.
“Okay, okay, sweetie. Let me take Sophie and Apsara back to the pen. They’ll only be in the way.”
Anurak and Decha followed them back down the road, waiting impatiently while Natalie got the elephants settled. Anurak danced from one foot to the other, pantomiming the whole time, though she still couldn’t understand what he tried to tell her.
Hand-in-hand they ran up the road, sliding in the mud and almost falling several times. When they rounded the corner by the clinic, Anurak grabbed her arm and pulled her inside, pointing to the medicine cabinet. She got it now: there had been some sort of accident.
“What do I need? I have no idea what’s happened. Goddamnit, I wish you could talk.” She grabbed the bag she always kept packed, knowing it contained a tranquilizer, some antibiotics, bandage materials, and a splint. “Do I need something else? Crap, you couldn’t tell me even if you
knew . . .”
Anurak’s dark eyes widened and his brow knit for a moment, then he brightened as if he’d had a brilliant idea and ran to her desk, grabbing a pen and paper. In seconds, he’d sketched something, then held it up for her to see.
Her heart stopped.
A cobra.
She grabbed some syringes and a bottle of the anti-venom always on hand from the fridge, shoved them in her bag and the three of them flew out the door.