Elephant Eyelashes

We walked out the wooden plank and jumped onto the hefty grey abyss. Taylor’s feet disappeared behind floppy ears as she straddled her neck. I climbed on next, holding on between a plastic bar and deeply wrinkled flesh.

Down between sets of trees we descended to the river. Our elephant walked right in and let us down. The trainer handed over brushes for the bath. We scrubbed roughly on the belly and underneath the ears.

They let us climb back on and stood up tall, telling us the animal couldn’t feel a thing. She pulled us up and down and dropped us in the water, spraying thick mist with her trunk.

And before the ride was over, we pushed our bodies into the mighty grayness for one last mammoth hug.