“‘I’m just following Big Jim’s orders,’ the imposter stated. ‘This here is a disturbed rogue elephant. She’s real dangerous! A menace, and she needs to be put down.’
“‘Show me the papers,’ I demanded.”
If the story hadn’t been so horrifying, I would have laughed at Harsita’s imitation of the man’s Southern drawl.
“‘I plan to do my job with or without some interfering pipsqueak or a disloyal partner seeking redemption.’ At that, Donatella, I got so angry, I punched him,” Harsita confessed. “I’m much stronger than I realized—all this farming has made a fit man out of me. Then, seeing he had been thrown off balance, Larry knocked him over, and I kicked him for good measure. Just hard enough that he’d stay down awhile. Larry grabbed the syringe out of the roughneck’s hand and emptied it.
“‘Take Bess and get out of here as fast as you can. Big Jim is not rational and there’s no telling what he’ll do!’ Larry yelled. So I grabbed Bess’s lead and ran as fast as I could until we’d put a little distance between us and the circus. Bess must have sensed the danger she’d been in—for she didn’t hesitate a moment.”
“A good thing, too,” Marvin said. “If we’d gotten to the circus ten minutes later, Bess might have been dead.”
“Big Jim’s partner, Larry—well he’s probably not his partner now—is really the one that saved her. I don’t know what his motive was, but I’m glad he was there,” Harsita interjected.
“When Henri, Patrice, and I got to her stall,” Marvin went on, “she was gone, and so was Harsita. We didn’t know what had happened, but we knew something was wrong when we saw that man knocked out on the straw and Larry checking for a pulse.
“‘He’s going to be okay,’ Larry looked up to say. ‘Your boy has Bess. He ran off in that direction. I told him to get out of here as fast as he could, and you should, too.’
“I don’t know why, Donatalia, but I knew he was telling the truth. We were following Harsita and Bess’s trail, when we heard a cluster of rifle shots.”
Harsita took up the story again. “I didn’t know whether to turn around or keep running. I’d left a watermelon under a big tree a ways down the road from the circus, so that’s where we headed. Bess was scared and I thought that would be the quickest way to assure her of my good intentions.
“I was shaking, but I gave her the watermelon anyway to calm us both down. Just as she finished the watermelon, Marvin, Henri, and Patrice came running toward us and I felt we’d be safe, but we needed to keep moving, for Big Jim was on the loose and he was gunning for us.”
“When we got to the train station, I alerted the authorities to Big Jim’s last-ditch attempt at revenge and told them about Larry and the vet,” Marvin continued.
“Do you know what happened to Larry? Was he shot? Is he alive?” I asked.
“We’ll find out tomorrow, Donatalia. For now, there is nothing we can do but celebrate that Bess is safe and back where she‘ll be well taken care of, and soon she’ll be reunited with Emily,” said Marvin.
I bit my tongue. It was hard to banish the image of Larry possibly lying bleeding on the ground with that giant syringe, which was as dramatic as anything I had seen in life or on stage.
¯¯¯
Saturday morning, we woke to an overcast sky. I got out of bed and threw open the window. The sun was trying to find its way out from the clouds and I was more nervous than anything else. Marvin and Harsita would meet the train. Roman and I would stay with Bess. Ann Marie and Kyle, who’d finished building their new house on the farm and had just returned with Kyle Jr. and Scarlett from a short rodeo tour, would make certain we hadn’t forgotten anything. Henri and Patrice would enjoy a bit of Savannah and be back at the farm by two.
I had Marvin call the authorities before they left, but they only asked him questions and wouldn’t say what happened after we left.
I was pretty sure Bess had recognized me. Even more importantly, I believed she’d recognized Harsita. As I went about my business that morning, I found myself conversing with the dead. With Vladimir and Spade, I was free to say anything. I recounted the story that Spade and I had woven together many years ago about Emily’s capture and journey, and I began to imagine, in my head, the new twist it might end with. Later, I tried it out on Kyle Jr. He was utterly engaged. “I’ll be the only one at school with an elephant—no, two elephants!—in my backyard.”
Bess didn’t appear to be too disoriented. I prayed I was doing a good thing by reuniting her with Emily. Poor Emily had been confined for eight long years and hadn’t seen another elephant in all that time. I had no idea how either would react when they saw the other.
Lucky called from New Orleans to say that she and Thomas wished us well. Then, unable to contain herself, she let out a short but high-pitched shriek. Diamond Claire sent a telegram announcing that tonight’s performance of Jumbo was being dedicated to Emily and Bess and that Jimmy Durante sent his regards.
The sun had found its place in the sky by that time and was shining down on our lush green pasture. The land I’d set aside for the elephants was about the size of three football stadiums, and we had plenty of hay to supplement the grass. We stocked up on fruits and vegetables and the stalls had running water. Actually, their living quarters would be more luxurious than those of most poor Southern farmers.
We put Bess in the pasture while we waited for Emily’s arrival. We wanted to be sure Emily would have time to get her footing before we brought them together.
I was calming my nerves by washing some dishes in the kitchen sink when a young boy on a bicycle drove up and started pounding at our front door. “Come quick!” he yelled. “Marvin the Marvelous sent me to tell you Emily’s almost here!” The children in our part of town couldn’t believe their good luck at having circus people for neighbors. Some of their parents agreed with the children and some did not.
I threw my apron on the mantel and followed the boy outside. Walking up our long and narrow drive, I could see two men and an elephant and, once again, a lot of children.
Emily had no idea how to comprehend where she was going. I felt for her. Marvin kept the children at a distance, giving Emily some space. She wasn’t as comfortable with crowds as Bess and I noticed that she had a bit of a limp, probably from having been chained.
Once Marvin and Harsita had Emily settled in her new stall, I came in and scratched her trunk and gave her a gentle hug and kiss, for I didn’t want to scare her. It was hard to hold back my emotions, but then a veterinary doctor stepped in to check her out.
“Other than the fact that she’s had very little exercise and looks a bit depressed and weary,” he said, “she seems physically okay. I would wait another day and let her familiarize herself with her new surroundings before bringing the elephants together, though.”
Henri and Patrice decided they could wait another day, too. “This is a special occasion,” Henri told Marvin. “A reunion like this doesn’t happen more than once in a lifetime. Plus, we’re enjoying ourselves and we’d much rather stay than go.”
That night, we decided Harsita would remain with Emily until morning and Roman with Bess, to keep them company and give them an extra sense of security. Kyle would fill in when either needed breaks. Me, I’d wander from one stall facing one side of the pasture to the other stall facing the opposite way, making certain all was right.
¯¯¯
Harsita had gone in for supper. This was the first quiet moment I was having with Emily. A narrow beam of late-afternoon sun slanted into the high-roofed barn, making it feel almost like a place of worship, and everything seemed hushed. I sat quietly on a bale of hay, Emily’s trunk draped over my shoulder as she stood near me. Suddenly, in the distance, we heard a great crash—a big tree must have fallen. It scared us both half to death. And just as Spade and I had done so long ago, whenever Emily was afraid, I began to sing the same old Welsh
folk song:
Sleep my child and peace attend thee
All through the night.
Guardian angels God will send thee
All through the night.
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping,
I my loved ones’ watch am keeping,
All through the night.
Amazingly, as if no time had passed, Emily calmed down.
¯¯¯
In the house, Marvin and our guests had been telling circus stories while they played poker in honor of Vladimir. Trying not to think too much about Big Jim, I returned in time for Polly’s dessert. As she was putting it on the table, there was a knock on the front door.
It was rather late, but I went to the door anyway, rather anxiously expecting it to be the authorities. What bad news might they bring? I took a deep breath and opened the door.
On the porch stood Bella. I screamed with delight and kissed her three times on both cheeks. In her hand, she held a small package. “I found it in front of your door.” Bella heard my question before I had a chance to ask it. “There’s a card on top with the initials HLF.” The blood left my face and I turned white. “What is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “But please don’t say anything until I have a chance to open it.”
¯¯¯
A moment later, Marvin, Ann Marie, and Kyle Jr. ran to the door to see what had set me off. Then they started screaming, and I used that time to pull myself together. Soon Henri and Patrice followed.
“I should have known you wouldn’t miss this,” I said.
“Miss what?” Bella replied.
“Let Marvin take your suitcase. Sit down and eat some food, have some wine, and I’ll tell you what’s going on. We have some catching up to do.”
After admiring Kyle Jr. and Scarlett Spade and playing a few hands of cards with them, Bella followed me to the pasture and the barns. I gave both the elephants some fresh hay and watermelon and caressed their trunks as a welcoming gesture. Tonight, they could have anything they wanted. “You’re going to spoil them rotten,” said Bella. “This would have made Vladimir very happy.” She smiled.
¯¯¯
As we walked back into the house, we continued a conversation about Italy that we had begun in the barn. These days, you couldn’t speak of Europe and Italy without talking of the threat of war. “The world is going crazy,” she said. “Men are hungry for power and land. This Hitler and our Mussolini are not good. They’re getting us all into trouble. It’s getting harder and harder to travel anywhere. I was afraid if I stayed in Italy much longer, I wouldn’t be able get back at all. You know my grandfather was a Jew, even though I was raised Roman Catholic. My dear Italy, which I love with all of my heart, is being led down the wrong path and she might find herself upside down, along with Henri’s dear France.”
Remembering we were together in celebration, Bella stopped herself. When we entered the house through the back dining room door, she picked up an unopened bottle of Henri’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape, removed the cork, and poured everyone a small glass.
“I’d like to make a toast. To Emily and Bess, to family, and to the closest friend I’ve ever had, Donatalia.”
¯¯¯
I waited until I was certain Bella was asleep. I hated keeping this from Marvin, but this was something I had to do on my own. It was a small box, about four by four inches and had been wrapped in a cotton hankie, once again with the initials HLF. The first and the last letter made sense, but the middle initial made me think it could be someone else. However, I knew that was only me trying to fool myself.
My heart started beating so fast and hard I thought it would bounce right out of my body and across the floor. My hands started to shake to the point where I thought I would never be able to control them, but eventually all I had left to open was the box. I went into the bathroom, turned on the light, and locked the door. Inside the box was a folded-up piece of paper, and when I picked it up, underneath it was the small circular emerald brooch Lillya had given my mother, who gave it to me; the one I last saw on the ship coming to America, the one I last saw with Hervé.
The walls of my body came crashing in, and I thought my lungs and ribs would collapse, thinking of the ramification. Slowly, I unraveled his note and began reading it:
Dear Donatalia, or is it Donatella now? My full name is Hervé Laurent Fluery.
Was I reading this right? Did it mean what I think it did? By the next sentence, I knew it was true:
I bought this for whom I thought would be the love of my life, Lillya. I gave it to her the day we took vows in the forest. I’m sorry, Donatalia, that I was not forthcoming as we got to know each other better.
When I saw you on the ship’s deck, I had no idea who you were; I only knew you lit a spark and the man I once was seemed to light up in your presence, and all that I felt otherwise became mixed with sprinklings of smitten with you.
I never meant to cause you harm; nonetheless, when I met you, I was tangled up in bitterness and anger from a love past I had not let go of.
I won’t share details of the pain I’ve lived with, the curse that I made, the guilt that I have carried every day praying it wasn’t I who was responsible for so much sorrow. I made so many bad decisions. Foolishly, I gave away what I liked and respected most in myself. I once was a good and honorable man.
I was truly charmed by you and I wanted to make amends when I returned to the United States. I watched you from afar as you were already with Marvin. I didn’t know what to say or do, so I said and did nothing. Then I met Big Jim, and being in his presence made it so easy to let my bitterness boil over again, and it did. But when he was away and my feelings like the water had a chance to simmer then settle, I realized that the hatred and jealousy I had wrapped around my body like a poisonous serpent had left its venom in me, and if I were to make anything out of the life I had left to live, it was time to release what was destroying me, but I didn’t know how and I waited for some sort of sign. Then I overheard a conversation that Big Jim was having with this so-called vet, and something snapped.
Maybe I wanted to impress you, or I was seeking redemption. Either way, I became determined to protect what you love. And when I did something good for good’s sake, for the first time in years I thought I still might have a chance, not with you, not with Lillya, but with myself. After I knew Bess was safe, I got up on our best horse and I rode until I made myself sick. When I got off the horse, I began to heave. I threw up everything inside of me, even the venom and the hatred that were stuck to the walls of my belly.
On my way home, I found a creek. Its waters were almost as blue as your eyes and I jumped in it and I soaked until all the bile in my body was washed clean.
I’m not certain what is next. I will return to France and see if any pieces of me are left in the bushes or under the trees. Perhaps what is good in me is waiting for me to come home.
I wanted you to hear the truth. I only hope you can find forgiveness in your heart. I am sorry!
Sincerely,
Hervé Laurent Fluery
Epilogue
This was the showdown, the day I had been waiting for. Bess and Emily were about to get reacquainted. I chewed nervously on my fingertips like a little girl, half waiting for Mme Strachkov to reprimand me. Still, after last night I felt fresh and clear. No more mysteries to be solved except the one today. I touched the emerald brooch I’d put on before I left my room. I could hear my mother’s distinctive laugh and feel Lillya’s joyful spirit when I looked down at the brooch. “They are here with us today,” I said, and I touched the brooch again, hoping they could feel me, too.
Bess had slept well, Roman reported, but Harsita had been up with Emily most of the night.
I glanced out into my garden, looking for a sign that all would go well. Th
en I went to the cemetery to talk to Spade and Vladimir. I saw that Bella had beaten me there.
“You’ve made quite the life for yourself, Donatalia,” she said. “You should be proud. You came with nothing and now look at all you have. I’m not just talking about money or jewels.”
“Yes, I have Marvin, you, your daughters, our extended family, and even Polly. For all my trials, God has blessed me with good fortune.” We both smiled. “I can’t stay long. I have to visit the animals again to make certain everyone is ready.”
“What do you want from this day?” Bella asked as I was about to leave.
“For everyone to have peace and for these animals that I love to rediscover friendship and to live out their days in happiness, without fear or pressure. Today, the elephants, nature, and God will have their way and it will be what it is. I’ve done all that I can.” I could almost hear Irina in my words.
“Thank you. It’s good to know,” Bella replied. I left to tend to business at hand.
I brought each of the elephants some bananas and apples and explained to them, as best I could, what was going to happen.
Emily was the wild card. No one knew how she would react. “Being cooped up, chained, and confined to a very small space had to affect her psychologically,” I reminded Harsita and Marvin and later Kyle and Roman. But Bess had healed Emily once before, and if I had been a gambler—which, in a way, I was—I would bet that she could do it again. I believed that Bess would help Emily and together they would find happiness. But still in the pit of my stomach the aching question remained: What if I am wrong?
We all stood by the side of the fence. “Well, you did it, and if it doesn’t work out today, there’s always tomorrow,” Henri said, trying to display an optimistic attitude, though it sounded a little dark to me. “You have the stall on the other side of the pasture, just in case they aren’t simpatico immediately. Some things happen in their own time.” I knew what he was saying and that he had the best of intentions. I hoped he was mistaken, though, and we wouldn’t need the other stall.
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