Friday, April 5, 2013

Eloise the Eccentric Elephant

Note:  I'm traveling this weekend and won't have much access to the Internet. I'll catch up on blog visits and comments starting Monday evening when I return.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge

 The ABCs of Behavior and Emotions




Eloise the Eccentric Elephant

“I’ve lost my herd again,” Eloise complained. “I’m so absent-minded.”

“It’s not just that you’re absent-minded,” said Herman the Helpful Heron, “you’re also a distracted, poorly attired non-conformist.”

“Poorly attired? What do you mean?”

“Eloise, darling, you have mud caked in your wrinkles and a dead fish hanging from one of your tusks. I don’t think you’ve bathed in more than a month.”

“Perhaps,” Eloise said as she splashed into the river and sprayed herself all over. “Is that better?”

“A little,” said Herman. “But there’s more. All the other elephants have wonderful memories. You can’t remember which direction you were supposed to go to keep up with your herd, sometimes you forget to eat, and yesterday you attempted to talk a giraffe into hoisting you into a tree so you could see farther in all directions. You should know a giraffe cannot lift an elephant, and it’s just silly to think of an elephant in a tree.”

Eloise shrugged. “It was worth a try.”

“Look,” said Herman (because he was a very helpful heron), I’ll find the herd and then come back to get you. But you need to promise me you’ll do better in the future. I won’t always be here to bail you out.”

“Okay, I promise.”

But as soon as Herman wobbled into the sky and soared away, Eloise decided to have a little un-elephant like fun. She sat down in the mud, skidded down the bank into the muddy water squealing "Whee," all the way, and was eaten by crocodiles.

Sometimes being an eccentric non-conformist and not following the crowd is a good thing…but for Eloise, it was a terrible mistake.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pat - Oh, poor Eloise! I do have sympathy for the way she thinks about things differently. But I suppose even an eccentric non-concomformist has to do some things the way others do...

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

And was eaten by crocodiles - funny!

Unknown said...

Eloise-- wow.. I was all ready for a nice little moral about being true to ourselves when, snap, that idea got digested in the bellies of crocs. Nice twist!

LD Masterson said...

Aw, eaten by crocs? Really? Poor Eloise.

Julie Flanders said...

Oh my goodness, I wasn't expecting the crocs. Great twist but poor Eloise!

Enjoy your weekend! :)

Silvia Writes said...

Oh, my, what a way to go. :) Well written piece and quite the twist there. Kept my attention.
Silvia @ Silvia Writes

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Pat .. that's a great story .. loved the content and the ending - poor old Eloise!

Cheers Hilary

Anstice Brown said...

Ha ha, this is hilarious! I think Eloise might be my soul-mate. Shame she got eaten in the end!