Orphan Eleven

by Gennifer Choldenko

  Grace offered a bowl of sudsy water to Baby, who scooped up the foam with her trunk and dumped it over Catherine’s head. Suds dripped down Catherine’s dark hair and over her shoulders. Catherine kicked with her small legs, but Baby kept lathering until the woman was covered with great globs of shampoo.

  Catherine’s hands shot up. She jumped from the chair and raced to the pretend shop door. Baby ran after her.

  “Madame! Madame! Elephantoff hasn’t completed her work,” Jabo announced, but Catherine kept running.

  “Wait! Wait! You must pay!” Jabo shouted.

  Grace gave a command and Baby stopped.

  Then, from under her smock, Catherine pulled out a bath-towel-size dollar bill and a sugar cube, which she offered to Baby. Baby’s trunk found the sugar and put it in her mouth. Then she took the giant money in her trunk and waved it in the air. The crowd went wild, clapping and cheering.

  Baby, Grace, and Catherine took a bow, then the clown led the white pony back into the ring. But every time Catherine tried to mount, the clown would move the pony or boost Catherine over the top. Jabo handed the microphone to Nico and ran to help. He’d just gotten Catherine on when Seraphina called from backstage.

  “Next up, unicycles!”

  Grace turned Baby around and headed for the exit just as unicyclists in sparkly blue pants entered the back of the ring and began cycling around the perimeter. When Baby saw them, her legs stiffened. She trumpeted loudly and tore off in the wrong direction.

  Grace chased after, calling to her.

  But Baby had stopped hearing. She ran flat out for the entrance, knocking down a candy butcher and dislodging a tent pole.

  The audience rose to its feet shouting and screaming. Mothers grabbed children and lunged for the stairs. Lucy took off after Baby, just as Nico’s soothing voice came over the microphone. “Elephantoff has a headache. You must excuse her. She has run to the pharmacy to get an aspirin.” Nico’s voice carried from one end of the big top to the other, calming the crowd.

  People stopped running and returned to their seats. Children giggled and clapped. Everyone was laughing and cheering for Elephantoff.

  Nico had convinced the audience that this was part of the act, but Lucy knew it wasn’t. Grace would never allow Baby to knock down a tent pole and run over a man.

  Bunk was headed for the candy butcher to make sure the man was all right. Lucy ran around the back of the tent to help Grace catch Baby.

  But when she got to the other side, Grace and Baby had disappeared.

  Lucy guessed the terrified little elephant would run as far from the unicyclists as possible. She headed down the road that led away from the circus, which was quiet now. Everyone was inside the big top.

  Lucy ran fast, searching for signs of Baby. Grace had said elephants loved to plunder fields and gardens. They liked to rip limbs from trees. Lucy saw a flowering tree by the side of the road, but no branches were torn off. Maybe Baby hadn’t come this way.

  Lucy stopped to catch her breath. She was about to turn around when she heard an elephant trumpet and she took off again. When she rounded the corner, she saw Baby charging toward a big metal gate. Bang! Smash! Baby thundered through, bursting the lock, popping bolts and hinges.

  Once inside the train yard gate, Baby ran down the line of train cars until she got to #27, the elephant car. Then she stopped and stood obediently, as if waiting her turn to board.

  Baby had had enough of Winter Quarters. She was ready to go.

  Lucy caught up with her. She took a sugar cube out of her pocket, but then she remembered what Grace had said. She shouldn’t reward Baby for running away.

  Lucy made sure Baby saw her, then she beckoned as Grace had done.

  Baby ignored Lucy, exploring the side of the train car with her trunk. Lucy motioned to Baby again, offering the sugar cube. Baby’s ears flapped. Her trunk was stiff. She did not move.

  Lucy beckoned again.

  Still nothing.

  “Calm her with your voice,” Grace had said, but there was nothing to read.

  Lucy looked around. No one was here yet, but they would be soon.

  Then she had an idea. If she spoke in gibberish, no one would know if she misspoke.

  “Vanamganham,” Lucy said as calmly as she could. “Lamanaforgonna.” Each made-up word was full of calming, rhythmic sounds.

  Baby wavered, rocking from foot to foot. Her trunk relaxed.

  Grace had said Baby must be convinced to execute your plan or she would come up with one of her own.

  Lucy wanted Baby to walk back to Winter Quarters with her.

  “Nomalomamomo.” Lucy held out a sugar cube.

  Baby turned to Lucy, her small brown eye watching. Lucy beckoned. “Nomalomamomo,” she repeated.

  Baby stopped rocking.

  “Lamoofaloofa,” Lucy said.

  Baby took a step toward Lucy.

  “Moofaloofa,” Lucy said.

  Now Baby was walking to Lucy. When she arrived, Lucy gave her two sugar cubes, then turned toward Winter Quarters and Baby plodded after her.

  Through the train yard they went, back to the road, where Grace caught up with them.

  “Thank God,” Grace said, her voice aching with relief. “She get in any trouble other than the candy butcher and the tent pole?”

  Lucy nodded.

  Grace sighed. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. I’ll send Bunk out. He’s the world’s best fixer. C’mon, I’ll walk you back to the elephant house. Then I have to run back to the ring for the finale.”

  As they grew closer, Lucy was surprised how quickly things were changing. The roustabouts were striking the menagerie tent. The cook tent canvas was lying like a great white skin on the ground. The oohs and aahs from the big top could still be heard, but much of the rest of the circus was getting packed up.

  When they got back to the elephant house, Lucy had never been so glad to get anywhere. It felt like home.

  Grace hadn’t said anything about Lucy finding Baby and getting her to walk back to Winter Quarters, but Lucy could read approval in the woman’s eyes. Lucy had proved she didn’t need to speak to get the job done. Not real words, anyway.

  When Baby was settled, quietly chewing leaves, Grace hurried back to the big top. Then, Lucy found the notebook and began reading.

  She was halfway through the notebook when Grace and Jenny came back.

  “You did well today, Lucy,” Grace said, slipping off Jenny’s back.

  Lucy could feel the warmth in those words. She had made it. She was the elephant girl!

  “I’ll take you on, provided I can get you to open your mouth,” Grace said.

  Lucy’s neck stiffened.

  “Your friend Nico saved our bacon today. ‘Elephantoff has a headache. She has run to the pharmacy to get an aspirin.’ That was brilliant. But what if you’d been in a pinch like that?” Grace asked.

  Lucy bit her lip. She wouldn’t be in a pinch like that. She wasn’t Jabo’s apprentice.

  Grace turned to her. “Just say ‘John Robinson,’ and the elephant girl job is yours.”

  Grace was bluffing. She had to have help with Baby. There was no one but Lucy. Lucy shook her head.

  Grace’s green eyes grew hard. “Well, then…thank you for your help, and good luck to you.” She walked away.

  Grace hadn’t meant that. She would change her mind. She’d proved herself to Grace. She had!

  “You heard me. Go on, get out of here,” Grace called from the feed room.

  Lucy stared at the feed room door. But when Grace came out, Lucy could see in the hard set of her expression that she was serious.

  There was nothing to do but go.

  * * *

  —

  The parking lot was empty. The horses were being herded to
the train yard. An old bum clown was running with a knapsack and a Chihuahua. An acrobat sped by with hatboxes in each hand and a pillow under each arm.

  Eight men were stacking rolls of canvas. Roustabouts were heaving trunks onto a truck bed. A handful of dwarfs were carrying tent stakes. An old car was jammed with pots, pans, and bags of sugar and flour.

  Lucy ran back to Jabo’s.

  But when she got inside, his train car was empty. Nico, Eugene, Bald Doris, and all of their bedding were gone.

  March 8, 1939

  Dear Lucy,

  “Chutzpah” is another Yiddish word Mrs. Sokoloff uses. She says it means courage.

  I need courage to stand up to Mrs. Mackinac, because I have been getting all kinds of answers from her that don’t make sense. First she sent a picture of another Lucy. Then she said you had never been there. Now she says Lucy with the red hair got adopted.

  At Mrs. LaFinestre’s shop we know how many dresses are made each day. We know how many bolts of fabric and spools of thread we use and how many finished dresses and blouses go out. We know which stores they go to and how much $$ the stores pay.

  Dresses and shirts are not so important as human beings. How could there be no record of who was at the orphanage and where they went after that? And why would Mama’s letter say one thing and Mrs. Mackinac’s letter say another and then a different something else in the next? I need the courage to find the truth about what happened to you.

  Love,

  Dilly

  March 8, 1939

  Home for Friendless Children

  Riverport, Iowa

  Dear Mrs. Mackinac,

  I know you have a lot of orphans to look after & more important things to do than look through old files. I understand how a person can be so busy she doesn’t have time at all.

  I have a good idea to help out. I’m sewing dresses at night after my work is done. I’m making extra $$, so I can come to your orphanage & look in the files for you.

  I will let you know when I have enough $$ for my round-trip train ticket & one way for Lucy & one night in a boardinghouse.

  Yours truly,

  Dilly Sauvé

  Lucy’s hands shook as she rolled her pillow into her blanket. She was running down the front steps when she spotted Doris heading her way.

  “Lucy, come on!” Doris beckoned. “Our stuff is already on the train.”

  Lucy took off after Doris.

  “I got a route card. Did you?” Doris called back.

  Lucy felt tears well up.

  She would have to find a way to get on without a route card. Was that even possible?

  They ran all the way to the freight yard. Baskets of apples were being loaded onto the pie car. An ostrich cage was being lifted onto another car.

  Behind them, roustabouts rolled a wagon carrying a tiger cage. DO NOT TOUCH: DANGER! WILD ANIMALS the sign said.

  Lucy saw Bunk, Rib, and Nevada. She ran to Bunk and gave him a big hug.

  “The OOFO likes you,” Rib said.

  “I’m a likable guy,” Bunk agreed.

  “So you say,” Rib said. “But I haven’t seen evidence.”

  Lucy was writing Help! when Nico appeared.

  “Let’s find Grace. Get you squared away,” Nico said.

  Lucy’s face fell. She backed away, but Nico grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

  A bugle trilled through the air as they ran down the line to the menagerie cars.

  Roustabouts stowed ramps, shut doors. Performers shuttled the last boxes to the cars. A pile of equipment was rapidly disappearing. An entire circus had been packed in two hours.

  “Forty minutes till we leave,” Eugene called out.

  Across the dirt road, Lucy saw Jenny with her big leather harness dragging tent poles. Grace was on her back; Baby trailed behind.

  Roustabouts unhooked the tent poles and carried them down the line to a flat car. Grace whispered to Jenny; the elephant lowered her head, and the roustabout lifted the harness off.

  Nico, Jabo, Nevada, Rib, Bunk, and Baby stood by the elephant car. Lucy scurried up the elephant ramp with her bedroll. She’d get all set up before Grace arrived. Grace would change her mind. She had to.

  “Hold on there, cowboy.” Bunk took her blankets out of her arms. “You got some business to tend to.”

  Lucy’s face went numb.

  “All you have to do is say two words. Grace wants you!” Nico whispered.

  Lucy shook her head. Tears welled up again.

  “Two words, Lucy. They won’t let you on unless you do,” Nico said.

  Then Eugene appeared. “John Robinson,” he whispered. “None of us wants to go without you.”

  They were all watching. Everybody knew what she had to do. Word traveled as fast here, as it did in the orphanage.

  Why couldn’t she make them understand how impossible this was?

  Grace whispered to Jenny. The elephant kneeled her big front legs down, and Grace slipped off her back. Then she turned to Lucy, her voice unexpectedly gentle. “You know what to do.”

  “We’re right here.” Nico stood next to her.

  “You can borrow this,” Eugene whispered, slipping his ace of hearts into her hand.

  Lucy’s teeth chattered. She looked out at the circle of people she had grown to love.

  Rib rocked back, his hand pretending to block her. “Best take cover. She’s gonna blow us down with that voice of hers.”

  Jabo beckoned for Lucy to lean down to his level. He squeezed her hand. “Your voice is there. All you have to do is let it out.”

  Lucy swallowed, her mouth dry as cornmeal.

  Everyone was staring. Even the people hurrying by stopped to see what was happening.

  But if she opened her mouth, she opened the door to Miss Holland and Matron Mackinac inside her head.

  “You think this is your family. But they’re not. They’ll turn on you when they hear the way you speak.”

  Lucy shuffled her feet. Her eyes bulged. Spit flew out of her mouth.

  “You can do this,” Nico said under his breath, but she could hardly hear him.

  Her ears were ringing. Her feet itched to run away.

  Jenny’s orbiting brown eye fixed on her. The finger at the end of her long trunk nuzzled Lucy’s ear and wound around her hair. Lucy’s fingers touched the wrinkly hide.

  She took a deep breath and blocked everyone out until it was just Lucy and the elephants.

  “Ja-Ja-John R-Robinson,” she whispered.

  Lucy felt stiff all over, like she’d just been thrashed with Mackinac’s belt. But nothing happened. No one told her how stupid she was. And then she heard Grace’s voice.

  “Okay, Lucy, you’re my elephant girl.”

  Grace’s words filled Lucy’s belly like hot chocolate on a cold day.

  Nico bounced out of his shoes, pummeling her with affectionate punches. Eugene hugged her. Jabo handed her his handkerchief to wipe her cheeks.

  Lucy could not stop smiling.

  “Let’s get you up on Jenny. You can ride her to the water wagon. I’ll follow with Baby. We need to give them a good long drink before they board,” Grace announced.

  Lucy handed Eugene back his ace of hearts, her heart hammering with excitement.

  “Leave your shoes here. It’s easier to ride without them. Lots of ways to mount. But we’ll start with this one.” Grace tapped Jenny’s shoulder. The elephant kneeled and Grace showed Lucy how to step up on Jenny’s bent leg, grab hold of one waxy ear, and hoist herself up onto the elephant’s broad back.

  “Sit smack behind her ears and bend your legs. Keep them tucked,” Grace instructed.

  Lucy pulled her dress down and pushed her bottom forward. Her toes fit behind Jenny’s ears. She li
ked the feeling of the elephant’s wrinkly hide beneath her stocking feet.

  “Place your hands on the top of her head,” Grace called up to her.

  Jenny’s skin was tough but warm, with prickly hairs growing from it. The two globes at the top of her head were cushiony beneath the tough skin. Lucy liked having her palms there.

  “Good. Now let’s go.”

  Jenny lumbered forward after Grace, her enormous body moving on silent feet. It seemed impossible that such a big creature could make so little noise.

  Lucy tried not to look down at the ground so far below. She focused on the top of Nico’s head.

  Lucy thought Grace looked like a princess when she rode, but now she realized it was the rhythm of the elephant’s steps and the sway of her back that gave this impression. Lucy felt like a princess, too.

  Jenny made her way back to the watering truck, stopping to explore a nearby tree. Lucy held on for dear life as Jenny strained up, hooking her trunk on a high branch. The elephant pulled hard, then—crack!—broke the branch off the tree.

  “No,” Grace said, but Jenny ignored her. She had worked hard for this branch and wasn’t about to abandon it.

  “No,” Grace barked. Jenny stuffed another piece in her mouth, then lumbered on.

  Lucy could not believe how much she loved riding Jenny. When they got to the next stand, she’d collect leftover fruits and vegetables from Nitty-Bitty for Jenny and Baby, and if there was a river, take the elephants to play. She would be the best elephant girl Grace had ever had.

  When they got to the watering truck, Grace and Bunk were kidding each other. Nico looked up at Lucy. “That was amazing,” he said as Jenny skimmed her trunk over the water.

  It was amazing. Lucy Simone Sauvé riding an elephant! Then Lucy realized Nico was referring to her speaking.

  That wasn’t amazing. She sounded like an idiot. She hoped they would all forget it ever happened and she could go back to using her paper and pencil. Grace said she had to say two words. She’d said them, and now she was done.