kudzoo

I pick my way through the debris, trying to lock on the sound. It ain’t easy.

“Please help us!”

Climbing over the remains of the wall, the one I was sitting on what seems like moments ago, I find myself at the bank of the moat.

“Ruby?” I call at the top of my lungs.

“Uncle Bob!” The sound of my name cuts through the gloom like a shaft of sun. Ruby runs to the opposite edge of the water. She’s maybe eight feet away, but I can barely make her out in the torrential rain.

“You stay there,” I yell, trying to be heard over the wind. “I’ll come to you.”

I follow the bank until I come to a spot where several chunks of wall have tumbled into the water. Three careful leaps and I’m across.

Ruby runs to greet me. She wraps her mud-coated trunk around my neck, and boy oh boy, am I happy to see that sweet little elephant.

“You hurt, Ruby?” I ask. “Is everyone all right?”

Ruby sniffles. “Yes, but—come quick.” She dashes off before I can ask anything more.

Five of Ruby’s aunts stand by the elephant side of the moat. Each one has her trunk plunged deep in the dark, muddy water. They look like a bunch of kids trying to find a lost toy in a swimming pool.

It’s almost funny. Until I see what they’re reaching for.

A baby gorilla is in the moat.

The tiny gal keeps grabbing for a trunk to hold on to, then slipping free. Her terrified screeches fill the air.

It’s Kudzoo. Ivan’s favorite.