To the Kennels by Hye-young Pyun

Author:Hye-young Pyun
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781648210617
Publisher: Arcade
Published: 2024-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

—Translated by Sora Kim-Russell

PARADE

The trouble started with the elephants. Originally from Laos, they had just recently been transferred from the Songdo amusement park, which had a magnificent Ferris wheel that towered two hundred feet in the air and never stopped spinning from the time the park opened in the morning to when it closed at night. If you timed your ride right, you could watch the Yellow Sea turn bloodred at sunset.

Twice a day, the elephants would put on a show in the middle of the park. First, all six would raise their trunks in unison to greet the visitors, then the youngest would dribble a soccer ball. Another would unfurl the Korean flag with its trunk to great applause. The show ended with a dance party, the elephants swaying their enormous bodies in time to music. Weekends were packed with families and couples, but weekdays saw nearly zero guests. They had once performed to a crowd of fewer than ten people. Before each show, the elephants had to parade around the park to draw in spectators.

That day the sun set earlier than usual. The red waves of the sea where the sun had begun its descent cast their glow onto the parading elephants. The two bringing up the rear came to a sudden halt. The four in front kept going, the sunset at their backs, but the other two flapped their ears like giant fans and directed their heavy steps away from their usual route. When the elephant handler, likewise from Laos, noticed and approached, the elephants took off running, and the handler had a hard time catching them. Since it was a weekday, with few guests, there were no casualties. But the park management put an immediate halt to the elephant parade and show. All six elephants were sold to U Park on the cheap.

U Park put the elephants to work the very same day they were transferred from Songdo. The plan, if all went well, was to make them the park’s new mascots. Another large theme park had opened nearby, and the search for a mascot had gained in urgency because of it. The competition had an artificial savanna where lions, tigers, bears, zebras, and other large animals were allowed to roam free. Visitors rode in cars through well-maintained wilderness and watched the animals go about their business. Lions and tigers mingled freely and would pause to turn and stare until the passing cars were out of view. Bears loped along on all fours, then stood on their hind legs to walk or to clap their front paws together in thanks for the army biscuits the drivers would toss to them. The sheer size of the competing park made it truly world class. It also had the country’s longest, steepest roller coaster. The same glorious red as the sun, it was given pride of place in the center of the park. The coaster featured a vertical drop, two full loop-the-loops, and another vertical drop right at the end like an exclamation point.

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