Elephant Tantrum

“RAAAAAH HA AH HA MAAAH BLAAAH HOOOOONK” screamed the elephant who was throwing quite the tantrum in the center of Time Square.  Spectators kept their distance, but they couldn’t seem to look away from the wrinkly, two ton creature who was stomping his feet and flailing in trunk in the street.

Cars screeched like little girls, as they tried to avoid being crushed under the elephant’s massive paws.  “I WANT…. MT STUFFY!” roared the elephant, who had taken to calling the oversized bobcat in Toys R Us his “stuffy.”  Of course, the by-standers only heard, “OB GOB RAAAH SMUMPH!” when the elephant cried out in desperation.

Three frantic mounted policemen approached the elephant, their horses rearing and bucking beneath them.  “Ready,” shouted the chief policeman, “aim… fire!”  His second hand man sucked in a huge gulp of air, put the blowgun to his mouth, and sent the oversized dart flying into the elephant’s shaking leg.

“We got him!” called policeman number three, who had, in fact, not done much to “get him.”

The young elephant quivered, dizzied, quieted, and fell.  The crowd fell silent as well, as did the horses, as did the cars.  Slowly, people gathered around the unconscious beast, and began to realize that he could not stay laying in the middle of the road.  “Where should we put him?” asked the third policeman, who was still beaming with pride for having been a part of the team who defeated the elephant.

“Call animal control!” offered a woman in the crowd.

“What if he wakes up before they arrive?”countered policeman number two, his dart gun still clutched in his hand.

“Let’s move him somewhere big,” said the always clever third policeman.

“And how would we do that?” asked the chief of police.

The crowd stood and thought for a moment.  The cars watched silently, frowning at the dilemma.

“We can push him!” said a man from the back right of the group of people surrounding the elephant.  “We will all go to the back of the elephant, and roll him into that building over there.”  He pointed to the gigantic building straight ahead.

After a moment of discussion, the people of Time Square nodded in agreement and prepared to push the elephant into the store.  The crowd huffed and puffed and together they rolled the grey beast through the huge doors.  They slammed the doors shut behind the elephant and cheered in success.

 

Epilogue

 

Late that night, the elephant woke up in a huge store, surrounded by shelves of toys and games.  The elephant shook his head, relieving the remaining dizziness in his eyes.  Looking up, the elephant saw the entire row of stuffed animals in the “wild” collection, and sitting in front, at the top of the pile, he saw the stuffy. His stuffy.  With a grin, the elephant bounded over to the stuffed bobcat, who waited for him with wide eyes.  He nuzzled her nose with his trunk, and for the rest of that night, through the early morning, the elephant slept silently with his stuffy by his side.