How to Hug an Elephant #6 by Henry Winkler

Author:Henry Winkler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2015-10-04T16:00:00+00:00

I can tell you this. That wasn’t the sign I was waiting for!

Elsie looked down at the puddle, then raised her trunk and let out a happy trumpet.

“I understand,” I said to her. “If I were you, I’d feel much better, too.”

Elsie turned back to her lunch, pulling a giant clump of hay off the bale and shoving it into her mouth with her trunk. I knew that if I wanted to get her attention, it was going to have to involve hay. Here’s a tip for you: You don’t mess with an elephant when she’s hungry.

I walked over to Elsie’s lunch spot and grabbed a fistful of hay. No, I wasn’t going to eat it. Like I said, I’m more of a hot dog guy. I held the hay out for Elsie to sniff. The tip of her long trunk nuzzled my hand—it actually felt like fingers tickling my palm. You’d be amazed how gentle such a huge animal can be. She took the hay and, curling her trunk toward her mouth, popped the whole handful in at once. I listened while she chewed. Then she burped.

“Well of course that’s going to happen,” I said. “You put too much in your mouth at one time. The same thing happens to me when I’m sharing a pickle with my grandfather, Papa Pete. I love pickles so much, I shove the whole thing in my mouth at once. Then it’s Burp City.”

Elsie was more interested in the hay than in my story. I picked up another fistful and she reached out for it with her trunk. This time, I took a few steps backward, and she followed me. I took a few more steps toward the fence that surrounded her enclosure. She followed me again. I kept repeating this until we were almost touching the fence.

“That’s a good girl,” I said to Elsie. “Now comes the hard part. But I know you can do it. My mom always says ‘if you can imagine it, you can make it happen.’ Of course, I don’t know if that applies to elephants, but I’m going to be positive here and say that it does.”

I held the hay in front of me, and Elsie stretched out her long trunk. Instead of giving her the hay, I took hold of her trunk with my hands. Then she did the most amazing thing. She curled up her trunk so that it was in the shape of a hook—the perfect place for me to put my feet. I stepped onto her trunk, wrapped my arms around it, and held on tight.

“Now lift me up and put me down on the other side of the fence,” I told her. “When I’m on the other side, you’ll get your hay.”

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