Erica's Elephant by Sylvia Bishop

Author:Sylvia Bishop
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic UK
Published: 2016-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

Erica began to feel very foolish. It was true that Miss Pritchett was prickly and a little rude. But it was clear that Erica hadn’t been listening to her properly – and not just about the Elephant. It dawned on her that all that nosy muttering over the fence at Uncle Jeff had probably been Miss Pritchett’s way of looking out for her. “Oh,” she said. “I misunderstood.”

“Don’t look so much like a slapped fish,” said Miss Pritchett. “Lord knows, I don’t speak poetry. You wouldn’t be the first person to think I’m a nasty old fool.” Erica felt like she should say sorry, but Miss Pritchett seemed perfectly cheerful about it. She brought the teapot over and sat down across the table from Erica, looking at her without smiling, but not unkindly. “It’s one of the hazards of being human, Erica. Take ants. They’re deaf, and some species are blind. They tell each other what’s going on with chemical signals – one for danger, one for food, and what have you. Simple. Meanwhile we tie ourselves in knots trying to understand each other, and half the time we get it wrong.” She poured the tea and Erica sipped hers, suddenly feeling very tired. The Elephant was staying very still, concentrating on not smashing any glass boxes, and eyeing the ants suspiciously.

“Now,” said Miss Pritchett – and it was the sort of “now” that made Erica put down her tea and the Elephant straighten his trunk importantly – “when are these meddlers coming?”

“Any time this afternoon.”

“Right, then we’ve no time to lose. You,” she said to the Elephant, “need to leave prints through your garden and smash up the back fence, then get inside my bathroom. That’s the only room where they can’t spot you through a window. You” – she turned back to Erica – “need to go next door and tell them he’s run away.”

“Will they believe me?” asked Erica.

“Oh, I doubt it,” she replied. “But as long as they can’t find the Elephant, there won’t be very much they can do about it. You might have to stay here a few days, you know,” she warned the Elephant, “and then we will come up with something else.”

Soon two humans and one elephant were scuttling about as busily as the worker ants. The Elephant, slowly and a little painfully, smashed his way out of the garden. Erica was delighted to see that he could already walk for longer before taking a rest, and she thanked heaven for Oliver and his medicine. Miss Pritchett tidied up the signs that an elephant had been in the kitchen while Erica ran to the shops for cabbage supplies.

The Elephant made himself as small as he could in Miss Pritchett’s bathroom.

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