by Karen Rispin
I might actually get to go! My stomach felt odd. I couldn't hold still. "Let it happen," I whispered, shifting from one foot to the other. "Please let it work."
As soon as Rick and Daddy were gone Sandy blurted, "That's no fair! How come Anika gets to do everything?"
"Maybe I can ask if she can come too," I said to Mom. I felt sorry for Sandy. She already felt bad. Now she had to get left out.
"I don't think Dr. Webb is the kind of person we can ask to take another child," Mom said. I sighed with relief. She went on, "If it does work out, you'll have to act very grown-up, Anika. Make sure you don't ask too many questions. I have the feeling Dr. Webb doesn't have much patience with foolishness."
"I won't," I said. "Mom, I do know some things—"
"It's not fair!" Sandy exclaimed stubbornly.
"Maybe you and Daddy and I can do something special together," Mom said. "The main thing is that this gives us all a little time. This could help Rick to feel better. I don't want him to leave while he is angry and rejecting us. Anika, you'll be a witness for God and for our family. Daddy and I will be praying for you."
I swallowed hard. How could I be a good witness for God? I mean, I didn't feel that sure of things myself. Well, sometimes I did, like when I could feel God loving me. Other times it was really confusing.
Rick and Daddy found out that we could still go. That night before I went to sleep I prayed hard. I pulled my sleeping bag over my head so Sandy wouldn't hear.
"Dear God," I whispered softly. I took a breath of stuffy air and kept on, "I'm really confused. I did something bad when I left without permission to look for Dr. Field. Mom said maybe you're going to make something good out of my mistake. Like that verse, Romans 8:28 or whatever. She said maybe getting to go with Dr. Webb can help Rick. She said I have to be your witness there. I'm scared. Please help me. Especially help me make Rick not mad at you. Let him see you really care about how people treat creation. And let him quit being mad at Mom because we're missionaries."
I sighed and felt better. Then I thought of some other things I should pray about. Before I was done, I fell asleep.
The next morning Rick called softly through our door. "Wake up, Sis. Hey! Anika!"
I sat bolt upright. Rick chuckled, then said, "Come on, we'd better not keep them waiting."
He left. It was still pitch dark outside. I shivered with excitement as I reached for my clothes. I was brushing my hair when Sandy said, "Anika?" She sounded sleepy. I looked over at her underneath her mosquito net. She propped herself up on her elbow and said, "I'm going to pray for you too, OK?"
"Thanks!" I said. "Sorry I was such a jerk yesterday."
She nodded and said, "Yeah, me too. Remember you're supposed to wear shoes, not thongs."
I rolled my eyes. She always had to be right. But I did put my runners on. It turned out it was a good thing I did, too.
Outside I could still see the stars. Kilimanjaro was a dark shadow with a silver top. Rick was waiting for me with a flashlight. We walked out toward the road. Something dove through the flashlight beam that looked like a black handkerchief blowing in the wind. I jumped. Rick laughed softly. "Just a bat after a moth."
The night was full of live, silent air. Little bugs made dizzy spirals in the light of the flashlight. The bat dodged in and out after another bug. Rick's light made the rest of the night seem even darker. Something small moved on the edge of the road ahead of us. Rick swung the light. Bright green eyes blazed at us as the light caught them. There was a dim flash of patterned fur, and it was gone.
"What was that?" Rick asked softly.
"Civet cat," I said. Civet cats aren't dangerous. They're house cat–sized with long bushy tails and pointed faces. Still, I was glad Rick was with me in the night. I wanted to tell him I was glad he was coming with me, but I couldn't find the words.
We got to the road and stood waiting. After a minute Rick turned off the flashlight, and the night opened around us. The muscle above my knee quivered as I shivered with excitement.
"Ooooo-Op! Ooooo-Op!" Hyenas were calling not too far off.
Time stretched out. Dr. Webb must have forgotten, I thought, biting the inside of my cheek. I looked uneasily up at Rick. He seemed like a tall stranger in the dark. Was he worried too?
The noise of an engine made me look up. Headlights were coming, far off. They bobbed up and down on the rough road. Finally the Range Rover pulled up in front of us.
After the open African night, the Range Rover felt stuffy. I looked around while Dr. Webb introduced everybody. There was a big piece of equipment in the back that hadn't been there the day before. It looked like a cross between a tape deck and a shortwave radio.
Dr. Field turned around from where he was in the front seat and said, "I hear you're going to be a wild animal vet, Rick."
"That's right," Rick said. "For me it's a way I can serve the whole of life. I don't want to see the animals as just machines. Science, because of its contamination with Christianity, often makes that mistake."
Dr. Webb gave Rick an odd look, but Rick didn't notice. He kept right on talking like he was making a speech.
"As I see it, Christian thought sees animals as moneymaking machines, machines that are made out of flesh. It's doministic. I mean, they figure their God told them to rule the earth."
He paused. I wanted to interrupt. I wanted to say Rick didn't understand. I wanted to so much that the words choked my throat. Still I was scared. I felt like Dr. Webb already thought I was an idiot.
Rick paused, then said, "Uh… I guess I don't need to convince you. Um… thanks again for inviting us. It's going to be great to see the elephants as a part of the whole fabric of life. For me it's a very spiritual thing, to be a part of nature, one with all that is."
I was glad when Dr. Field changed the subject.
"I don't know how much you've read, Rick," he said. "Did you know that elephants are a big part of making the grasslands?"
They started a complicated discussion about how elephants tore down trees to make grassland. That way the elephants made a place where the grazing animals could live.
What Rick had said about Christianity still bothered me. It also bothered me that I hadn't said anything. Last night I had prayed about being a good witness for God. Now I was too scared to talk. I frowned. What Rick said just wasn't true! If people treated animals like machines it was their own greedy fault, not God's!
I stared out the window. My reflection looked back at me. I could see almost nothing in the dark. We slowed down suddenly. The headlights shone on donkeylike ears and a low, humped, pale back.
"What was that?" Rick asked.
"An earth pig, aardvark," Dr. Webb said. She carefully drove around the huge hole it had dug in the track. "Unique creatures, they dig up and eat termite colonies. I do wish they'd leave the ones under the road alone. Aardvarks account for more broken axles than any other animal in Africa."
Just seeing an aardvark made me smile. If God cared enough to make odd animals like aardvarks and giraffes, he obviously liked them. He couldn't want people to treat them like machines. I frowned. Why did God let us do such rotten stuff?
"Do you think we'll find the elephant that's in heat?" Dr. Field asked. "You said her name is Glennis, didn't you?"
"Hopefully, if she hasn't moved too far," Dr. Webb answered. "How long will it take you to get what you want?"
"If conditions are good, and she's still singing, it shouldn't take long," he answered.
Singing? I thought. Elephants don't sing. I wanted to ask what he meant, but I remembered what Mom had said about asking questions. I glanced over at Rick. He didn't look confused.
"They use subsonics to keep in touch, don't they?" he asked.
I frowned. What on earth were subsonics? It sounded like a new kind of submarine.
"Yes, they do use subsonics," Dr. Webb said. "The herds are matriarchal. That means they are led by females. Young elephants stay with their mother and their mother's r
elatives. The adult bulls stay by themselves."
"The women are more interesting to me anyway," Dr. Field said, grinning. "They talk more, like another species I could name."
Sunshine was painting the tops of the trees gold when we found Glennis. Dr. Webb turned off the engine. It was neat to be with the scientists. They were allowed to go off the road. We were really close to the elephants. Glennis was near a clump of thornbushes. She looked like she was thinking, or like she had a tummy ache. There was mud on her back. A bigger bull elephant was near her. He had a big, dark streak of goo running down his face.
Dr. Field had set up a mike on a stand beside the Range Rover. Now he and Rick were back inside, looking at some dials on the recorder thing.
"Is that it?" Rick asked.
Dr. Field nodded and turned dials. I looked over. All I could see was a bright green line on a little screen. Suddenly the line blurred and got thicker. It made a whole lot of vibrations and then went straight again.
"There it is again! This is perfect, Margaret!" Dr. Field said softly. "She's singing beautifully. Come on, girl… Give us some more nice sonograms."
I stared at him. They were all crazy. The elephants were perfectly quiet. Anybody knew elephants didn't sing!
"Good girl! Beautiful!" Dr. Field said, hunched over the recorder. "Did you feel it? Did you feel it?" he asked, suddenly spinning toward me. "Children are supposed to be more sensitive."
"Feel what?" I asked, moving away from him.
He threw back his head and laughed. "I'm not a dangerous lunatic. Elephants call to each other in voices lower than we can hear. When a female is in heat she sings so the best bull will come and find her. Sorry I didn't explain earlier. Now did you hear or feel anything?"
"No…" I said doubtfully.
"Hssst!" Dr. Webb said suddenly.
We looked out and saw a big bull elephant coming fast. The bull by Glennis spun around. My breath caught in my throat. I looked from one bull to the other. They were going to fight. The bulls kicked up dust. They shook their big heads at each other. The newcomer was bigger than the bull that had been with Glennis. He looked huge and dangerous through the dust, like a storm god.
"It's Kamau," Dr. Webb said softly. "He shouldn't have any trouble chasing Phineas off."
If Phineas was the name of the bull that had been with Glennis, he didn't agree with Dr. Webb. He came at Kamau with a rush. The huge animals locked trunks and started shoving. Kamau loomed over Phineas. Phineas shuffled frantically backward, trying to dig in his feet.
A second later Phineas whirled and ran away. Kamau lunged after him for a few steps. Then he spun around and faced our Range Rover.
"Here comes trouble," Dr. Webb said softly. She turned the key to start the engine. The engine didn't start.
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Chapter Eight
Kamau didn't even pause to shake his head at us. He charged. His ears were pinned back. His trunk was curled out of the way. The big bull elephant meant business. He loomed huger and huger. All I could see out my window was elephant. I scrambled away from the window. My knee whacked the top of the seat, and I tumbled into the back of the Range Rover.
The engine of the Range Rover finally started. Dr. Webb slammed it into gear. We got out of there when Kamau was only about two inches away. That's how it felt to me, anyway. He chased us for a bit, then stopped.
Dr. Webb drove for a little ways. Then she turned around and stopped. She pulled out her binoculars and looked back toward the elephants.
"There's a spiritual experience for you, Rick," said Dr. Field. He burst out laughing.
Rick laughed too, but his laugh sounded kind of shaky. He looked over to where I had been and said, "Hey! Where's Anika?"
"Um, right here," I said, trying to sound cool. I climbed back over the seat. "I thought he was going to come right through my window."
This time everybody cracked up, even me. It was great to be safe.
"What was wrong with him, anyway?" I asked.
"He was in musth," Dr. Webb said. "Did you see the discharge on the side of his face?" I nodded, and she went on. "Also he'd just won a fight. Understandably, he wanted Glennis to himself."
"What's mush, or whatever she said?" I asked Rick softly.
Dr. Field heard me and chuckled. "Watch out for bulls in musth, Anika," he said. "They'll turn you into mush."
I laughed. Dr. Field had a goofy, happy laugh.
"Musth is a period of heightened aggression in bull elephants," Dr. Webb said in her strong English accent. "When a female is in heat the strongest bull in musth who hears her sing almost always mates her. I was rather expecting Kamau to turn up."
"Speaking of singing, why don't we take a look at what we've got here," Dr. Field said.
He and Rick got busy with the recorder. Dr. Webb started writing things down in a notebook. I was staring out the window, half watching some Tommies. The car was suddenly full of sound. It was almost like whale song.
I jumped and spun around. "Awesome!" Rick said. "So that's what she sounded like."
"Only lower," Dr. Field said, chuckling. "Here, I'll speed up another call into a range that we can hear." He bent over the machine again.
"Dr. Field," I said, "um… you asked me if I felt anything when we were back there with the elephants. What was I supposed to feel?"
"A deep vibration," he said, looking up at me with friendly brown eyes. "That's how the low calls were discovered. Katherine Payne noticed throbbing vibration when she was near some elephants in a zoo."
"Would it jiggle your tummy?" I asked. "I didn't feel it here. It was when we were by the baby that was hurt. My insides kind of jiggled. Was that the elephant talking?"
"Very likely," he said. "Was the baby upset?"
"Well, it was getting left behind," I said uncertainly, then blurted, "It looked so tired. I wanted to help it so much!" I spun on Rick. "I don't care what you think!" I practically yelled. "God doesn't want people to treat his animals like things! The Bible says that we're supposed to take care of creation for him. They're not for us, they're for him!"
There was a small silence. My face felt hot. Dr. Webb said, "Good for you, Anika Scott. I quite agree. The creation account clearly states that God made the earth and her creatures. He found them good in themselves. Then he put them into our hands to tend and keep. I'm attempting to do so. I feel certain that God will judge us for how we've kept his creation."
I stared at Dr. Webb, open-mouthed. "Are you a Christian?" I blurted.
"I'm not sure I would mean the same thing by that as you do," she said. "But by the grace of God, yes, I am."
I glanced at Rick and Dr. Field. Both of them were looking nervous. After a second Dr. Field said, "Could we get out of the stratosphere and back to subsonics?"
"Oh," I said, "I get it. Subsonics is elephant talk."
He laughed, "Yes, sub means 'under,' and sonic means 'sound.' It's lower than the sounds we can hear. Those low kinds of sounds are called subsonic, or 'under sound.'"
He said the rumbles I'd felt by the baby elephant were probably made by the other elephants answering the baby's distress call. I noticed that Rick was looking out the window and frowning. I bit my lip. Was he mad about what I said to him? Was he mad at Dr. Webb now too? I saw his expression change. Now he was staring hard at something outside.
I sat up straight to see what he was looking at. Something had startled the Tommies. The little gazelles were all staring in the same direction. I looked where they were looking. There was a Masai running. His red blanket flew out behind him. He was going past us quite far away. Suddenly he stopped. He shielded his eyes for a better look. Then he ran toward us.
"Do you think we could go and get back in range for more recording?" Dr. Field asked.
"No, wait!" I blurted. "There's a man."
A few seconds later the Masai ran up and stopped by Dr. Webb's window. I could see he was really just a boy. He didn't have his hair in the Egyptian
-looking braids of a moran yet.
"Soba," he said, raising one hand in greeting. His copper skin glistened with sweat, but he wasn't even breathing hard. He said something fast in Masai and pointed back the way he had come. Dr. Webb answered him in the same language. He nodded. Then with a small skip, he broke into a run again.
Dr. Webb reached for the mike from the two-way radio. Then she paused and yelled something after the Masai. It sounded like a question. He yelled one word back. She flipped the radio on, twisted a dial, and held down the button on the mike.
"Park headquarters, come in, please. This is Margaret Webb. Do you read me?" Loud static filled the air. She tried again, then put down the mike and started the Range Rover.
"Hey!" Dr. Field protested. He grabbed to catch his recording equipment. "What's going on?"
"Poachers!" she said through gritted teeth. "Somali poachers. The Masai boy saw their camp when he was on the way out to find his brother. He snuck away and ran for help. When he recognized my vehicle he came to me. I told him I would warn the antipoaching units. Now he's going to get help to keep people and cattle out of the way of trouble."
Dr. Webb was driving fast. We came to the road through the swamp. Dr. Webb didn't go toward the park headquarters. She turned left and headed for Lookout Hill. Lookout Hill has a place to park partway up. I'd been there lots of times. You're allowed to walk to the top. There's a kind of little porch that overlooks the swamp.
Dr. Webb took the Range Rover up the hill at a furious pace. Almost before we stopped she was on the radio again. This time she got through.
"Yes, that's right. Somali poachers," she said. "No… No… by reliable report. Send someone out to Lookout Hill immediately. Get onto the antipoaching unit… Yes… Yes!" She put down the microphone with a jerk and twisted to face us.
"Out! I want all of you out!" she said. "This is no longer a day for casual visitors. You can get a ride back from here in one of these vehicles." She waved toward the minivans that were in the parking place.
"You can hardly call me a casual visitor!" Dr. Field said. His brown eyes didn't look so friendly now.
