The Creature in the Rain Forest

It extended its trunk toward her and touched her knee.  She was still scared, but she didn't want to frighten the thing.  And perhaps, just perhaps, it was trying to make friends.

"What is your name?" she asked.  As the animal didn't respond, she decided it didn't have one.  "Don't you have one?  Okay, I'll give you a name."

She leaned forward, her chin on both fists, and stared hard at her discovery.  What would be a good name for an elephant? "Can I call you Boopah?" she asked.  "After all, that's the sound you make when you burp."  She motioned with her arms for the elephant to come.  "Come, Boopah."

Much to her surprise, the elephant got to its feet and came closer, then stood watching her.  She hastily backed up.  She just wasn't comfortable getting too close when an elephant was walking around.  Suppose it stumbled?  She'd look like a roti, round and very, very flat.

A cloud passed over the sun.  Gemma glanced at the sky, saw heavy rain clouds creeping in from the Caribbean.  She sighed, knowing she'd have to get back home.  When it looked rainy, Fred's mother always insisted that Darius come home.  She didn't want him getting hurt when he came down the steep path from their home to the road by the lake at Rabot.

She took a hesitant step toward her new friend, and the elephant stood quietly.  Gemma reached out, stroked the animal's trunk, then reluctantly turned to go.

"I'll see you again, Boopah," she said.  "You be a good elephant until then, okay?"

As she made her way through the bush, he followed.

She thought what a silly picture they made—a little brown girl followed by an enormous elephant.  She laughed, and turned to find him only a few yards behind her.  "Boopah, you can't go home with me.  You have to stay.  Stay!”

She ran until she was out of breath, then turned again to look.  Boopah was right behind her.  Gasping to catch her breath, she pondered.  What could she do?  If she walked to the road with this creature at her heels, she'd scare everyone she met.  Many of the older people had never gone to school, and they'd think Boopah a monster even worse than Le Gran Lezard.

And she'd probably get into trouble.  She'd heard that the estate owner wasn't very pleasant, and if he was in St. Lucia, she sure didn't want to run afoul of him.  She might even be arrested.  Boy, then her poopa would lash her bumpsie!  No one in the family had ever been arrested.

"You can't come with me," she explained desperately.  "You have to stay here, otherwise I'll be put in jail."  Then she spied more food nearby.  She hurried through the bush, gathered the fruits, and lay them in a small pile before the elephant.  Then she touched its trunk to get its attention.  When the creature looked at her, she bowed from the waist.

The elephant again sat down.

Gemma turned and fled.

That evening when they sat outside after supper, Mooma kept watching Gemma as if she suspected something was amiss.  She pretended not to notice her mother's sharp looks, hoping that nothing would be said.  She didn't want to be forced to tell a lie.  Her mother had told her she couldn't go to Jalousie again.  And her father had forbidden it.  If they found out she was so disobedient, she didn't know what they'd do.

"Gemma, why are you so quiet?" her father asked.

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