“Where’s your father?” Colette asked.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be here,” Milly said confidently.
Right on cue, a whinny pierced the air, followed by the ringing of horseshoes on cobblestones. Holt rounded the corner astride a beautiful horse—right where he belonged.
Relief flooded Holt’s chest as he swung down and hugged his children tight. Then a glint of mischief appeared in his eye. He chucked Milly and Joe under the chin one at a time.
“Now see there? What did I tell you? I knew you could ride. You were born to ride,” he said.
The kids giggled.
Pramesh stepped forward, Mrs. Jumbo’s lead in his hand. He cleared his throat, reluctantly interrupting the family reunion. “Please, we must hurry. The sooner we’re in international waters, the safer they’ll be.”
Suddenly solemn, the group gathered around Dumbo and his mother.
Colette leaned in and kissed Dumbo’s forehead. “Merci, brave little friend, for showing me how to soar again.”
Next was Holt. “Thank you. For everything,” he said simply. He couldn’t possibly put into words how much Dumbo had taught him, and how grateful he was that this little elephant had brought him and his kids together again as a true family.
“Bye, Dumbo,” Joe said, rubbing the elephant’s ear. “I don’t have any peanuts.” He sniffed, holding back tears, then hugged Dumbo around the trunk. He was sad to see the elephants leave; Dumbo’s goofy, happy clumsiness had brightened Joe’s life. “I’m gonna miss you so much!”
Joe stepped back and tucked himself into Holt’s side as Milly knelt next to Dumbo, her eyes bright.
“You’ll always be right here,” she said, touching her heart.
Dumbo’s trunk reached forward, wrapped around her hand, and tugged it to his own body. He nodded at her.
Huuuuuuuuuhhhn. The ship’s horn blew loudly.
“Last call for cargo—all aboard!” the captain called, waving to the group on the dock.
Holt and his kids dropped back and Pramesh approached Mrs. Jumbo with a sweet smile, pulling a palm leaf from his bag and waving it in front of her.
“This way, great glorious miracles. This way lies paradise,” he said, coaxing Mrs. Jumbo up the ramp.
Chuffing, Dumbo rose up off the ground and flapped along beside his mother, doing a few loops around the ramp just for fun. Milly and Joe laughed and joined the rest of Medici’s troupe on the pier, all waving as Pramesh, Arav, and the spectacular elephants reached the deck. Crew members pulled up the ramp and cast off from the dock.
Huuuhn, huuuuhhn! The SS Good Hope reversed away from the pier and turned toward the open sea, slowly fading into the distance. But a large-eared wonder flapped above the deck, waving his trunk one last time before joining his mother at the rail.
Colette dabbed at her eyes, then turned to Holt. “Well, cowboy, there goes our act. So I guess this is goodbye?”
Holt studied her, then held out his hand. “May I?” Smiling up at him, she took it. He pulled her in, dipping his lips to hers.
Breaking off the kiss, he winked at her. “How’s that for goodbye?”
She laughed. “In France, we kiss twice,” she said, tugging his face back to hers.
Milly and Joe locked gazes, bemused smiles on their faces. This would be the start of a new adventure not just for Dumbo and his mother, but for them as well. Ivan and Catherine came up beside them, then Miss Atlantis and Puck, Rongo, the acrobats, and the clowns.
Then, to their surprise, they saw Medici coming down the pier toward them.
“Did I miss the send-off?” he asked, peering around for Dumbo and Mrs. Jumbo, though it would have been pretty hard to hide those two.
“How did you know?” Holt said.
“Well, I followed the trail of astonished faces pointing skyward.”
“They’ve gone. Pramesh is taking them home to India, where they belong,” Holt said.
Medici nodded. “Ah, well, I’m sorry I didn’t get to say bon voyage.” Clapping his hands, he rubbed them together and faced his old troupe. “All right, folks. It’s great to be back with you again. Sorry about that mess with Vandevere, but he’s got nothing on us, so we’re free and clear to hit the road again. What do you say?”
A murmur ran through the crowd and several performers crossed their arms.
“Aw, come on, now. Think of all the joy we can bring to people everywhere. I just heard about this fella selling a pair of tigers—”
Rongo stepped forward. “Uh-uh. No tigers. No bears. No elephants. No wild animals. We’ve been talking, and we think it’s time for a new kind of circus.”
Medici considered the determined faces before him. “All right then.” He shrugged. “No wild animals. Anything else?”
“Actually, yes,” Milly said.
Medici grinned as she explained her idea, and then everyone began chiming in with other possible changes to their acts. Joe bit his lip, wondering when to offer his own proposal—he was ready to join his family and friends onstage. The circus director nodded, the excitement and enthusiasm of the group growing with each suggestion. Whatever came next, it would be their show, on their own terms.
Joplin, Missouri, didn’t look much different than it had nine months ago. Winter had come and gone, but the train station, city streets, and empty meadow looked the same. Medici grinned as his team—no, his family, for that’s what they were—began to unload their new, improved, streamlined circus. No animal pens needed, and just one main tent. He’d been dubious at first they could pull off a circus without animals, but one rehearsal had convinced him otherwise. What better place to premiere their revolutionary new show than the birthplace of Dumbo? Medici only hoped some of that luck had hung around, because he had a feeling the first night would be crawling with reporters waiting to see what Medici had up his sleeve. They’d find out soon enough.
Milly carefully placed the circular tin in the center of the wheel she’d constructed. Next to her, Joe’s foot jiggled in anticipation.
“Almost ready…” Milly leaned over and pressed a picture of her parents on horseback firmly onto the starry backdrop inside the tin.
“Okay, we are cleared for takeoff,” Milly said, spinning the wheel.
She and Joe crouched together, peering through the slats in the tin. Before their eyes and along the walls of the tent, Annie and Holt were riding across the night sky, forever together.
“She’ll always be part of the show,” Holt said from the doorway of the tent.
Milly and Joe made room and Holt joined them. So this was what Milly had been planning with all the publicity photos and flyers she’d been carting around in her bag. He wished he’d never ripped them up, but she’d done a beautiful job of gluing them back together. More impressively, she’d built her very own zoetrope—making it look like the pictures were moving!
“Milly, my dear,” Holt said, “you are a marvel.”
“Just wait until you see the arm we ordered for you!” Milly said.
“What? You shouldn’t have.” Holt teared up as Joe slid a box out from beneath his bed.
“Colette helped. She said she wanted her film money to go to a good cause and then mumbled something about you now having no excuse not to sweep the floors?” Milly said sweetly.
Opening up the box, Holt gasped. The mechanical arm and hand sparkled. When Milly and Joe helped him strap it on, it fit much more comfortably than the one Medici had given him. With the fingers of his new hand, he grasped a cup and brought it to his mouth. Then he set it back down and reached out for what he wanted to hold most in the world—Milly and Joe. The family embraced as images of Annie and Holt flashed before them.
They could never go back to the past, but the future was coming and it held some amazing miracles. Somewhere, Holt knew, Annie was smiling down at them, and they would always carry her in their hearts.
“You guys ready for tomorrow?” Holt asked.
“You bet!” Joe bounced up and down.
“You’re going to knock their socks off, kid,” his dad told him. “And Milly, you’ve done a superb job. I’m so proud of both of you.”
A few hours later, curious crowds began to pour in the gates, moving down the midway, where booths and sideshows lined the path to the main tent. Medici stood on a podium to welcome them, black top hat shining in the lights and the tails of his jacket hanging behind him.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Medici called. “Introducing our world-famous flying elephant!”
Fwooop! An air cannon blasted a clown in an elephant costume through the air. He landed on a trampoline and somersaulted away.
Medici smiled, then waved the crowd onward.
“Welcome to the Medici Family Circus—where we believe no wild animals should ever be held in captivity.”
As he guided the crowd toward the main tent, Medici pointed out the acts.
“Behold Ivan the Wonderful and Catherine the Greater!”
With a flash of smoke, Ivan and Catherine released their doves into the air, their coos a soothing chorus.
“See Rongo, the world’s strongest and most versatile man!”
From atop his stage, Rongo flexed his biceps, then lifted four acrobats dressed as zebras up on a board. He made it seem as though they were light as feathers, which they were not. Rongo had trained and practiced and honed his skills until he could truly dazzle the audience—no trickery involved.
As some people moved past him, Medici continued. “Then get bewitched by Miss Atlantis, now performing underwater Shakespeare nightly with the world’s only merman, Puck!”
Miss Atlantis and Puck waved from the expanded tank, the water trapped in the double-paned glass bubbling up in front of them. They’d written their own adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays, arguing long into their evening rehearsals about who’d get the best lines. But together, they’d titled their act To Breathe or Not to Breathe. Miss Atlantis flicked her tail against Puck’s, and he smiled broadly.
“And visit our newest attraction, Milly Farrier’s World of Wonders, to discover all the real-life amazements that are shaping tomorrow today,” Medici announced as they reached the tent closest to the main one.
Milly stepped out and waved, hoping people would come to her modest tent. She didn’t have nearly the collection Dreamland’s science exhibit had held, but she’d managed to track down quite a few intriguing new inventions and had even made some tweaks of her own to showcase the endless possibilities that lay ahead. She couldn’t wait to share the power and beauty of science with everyone.
Drawing the crowd into the main tent, Medici pointed and a pack of clowns clambered into the center ring. They were piled along each other, using their hands to walk on the ground like a many-legged horse as Joe perched on the final one. Joe waved his brand-new cowboy hat around in the air, pretending the clowns were a horse.
“Yee-haw!” he cried.
“Marvel at the skills of the legendary Holt, our cowboy of the future,” Medici called out.
The clowns spilled apart, tumbling in all directions, and Joe somersaulted off just as a real stallion thundered into the ring.
Equipped with his new mechanical arm, Holt sat astride the horse, confidently steering it around the ring. Drawing a pistol, he fired at a clump of balloons high in the air, holding a lyra aloft. Swinging from the lyra was Colette, her face aglow in the spotlight as Medici announced her.
“And the pearl of Paris, Colette, Queen of the Heavens!” Medici exclaimed.
Bang, bang, bang. As the balloons burst, showering the air with glittering silver confetti, the lyra lowered. Colette flipped through the hoop until she hung from one arm, the other held out gracefully to the side.
She dropped onto the horse’s back behind Holt just as they cantered under her.
Amid the hurrahs and clapping, Medici strode out into the center of the ring, flourishing his top hat and baton.
“Yes, meet the mermaids, beasts, and monsters you call freaks and we call family. Young and old, rich or poor, you have a home at our circus. Where anything is possible, and miracles happen.” He beamed at the audience and winked. “Oh, believe me, they do.”
As the show began, the crowd gasped and cheered in delight, their happy voices carrying up into the air past the new, fluttering logo of the Medici Family Circus—a little elephant with wings.
Strange noises surrounded Dumbo, his ears picking up screeches in octaves he’d never heard and distant growls of what he hoped was thunder. He couldn’t hear the rumble of a river, but it definitely smelled as though there were fresh water nearby.
“Eeeee, eeee, eeee!” something cried from the dense greenery.
Dumbo swooped down closer to his mother. What was it? Was it in pain? Were there monsters nearby?
Warmth and calmness radiated off Mrs. Jumbo as Dumbo skimmed the air above her back.
Thwap! As Mrs. Jumbo’s ears flapped out, alert, they knocked into Dumbo, sending him off course.
Thump, swish, crunch! Dumbo crashed into the ground and rolled through a tangle of emerald bushes and vines, brown roots and discarded seedpods. Loamy earth filled his nostrils as he stood up and wriggled to free himself of the greenery.
“Eeeuuh.” Mrs. Jumbo’s eyes crinkled in amusement and she shook her head at him.
“Bleeeuugh,” Dumbo replied, spitting out prickly sticks.
Angling her ears to the east, Mrs. Jumbo raised her trunk and let out a loud trumpet. Dumbo hopped to her side as they waited. Then, rumbling through the ground, they felt a vibration, followed by the answering bellow of an unfamiliar elephant. Her voice was deep, layered with age and experience, and her tone combined curiosity with caution.
Mrs. Jumbo’s tail flapped in approval—this stranger sounded like a leader worth following. As she charged forward, Dumbo lifted into the air, weaving around his mother and the trees in excitement. Up ahead, the jungle gave way to a clear patch and the elephants broke from the forest to an amazing sight.
They stood on a small cliff overlooking a clear pool of water and a meadow of sweet-scented grasses. Next to the pool, a herd of elephants grazed while their matriarch faced the newcomers. As she and Mrs. Jumbo exchanged greetings, Dumbo hovered a foot off the ground, nervous to display his talents or venture too far from his mother’s side.
Introductions over, Mrs. Jumbo nudged Dumbo with her trunk. They’d be joining this group. Go say hello, she implied.
A quiver of anticipation darted over Dumbo’s skin. Looking down, he saw two young elephants, perhaps his age, playing in the water. One was resting his front feet on the other’s back, trying to push her down in the water, but the second one wrapped her trunk around his back leg and pulled—knocking him over instead. The first got up and splashed water at her. They looked like they were having fun. But what if they didn’t like him? Or were afraid of him, like Goliath and Zeppelin?
Mrs. Jumbo lowered her head and nuzzled him, as if she knew what he was thinking. Her smile was confident and her stance relaxed. If she trusted them, he would, too.
With a few mighty flaps, Dumbo rose higher and then zoomed over the edge of the cliff, down toward the pool below.
All the elephants raised their heads and stared as he curled through the air and then dipped lower, trailing his trunk in the water before lifting up again.
The two young elephants trotted toward him, their faces confused and awed. They squeaked at him, joyously calling hello, then ran in a circle, inviting him to come play with tails flip-flapping.
Joy bubbling inside him, Dumbo flew over, nudged against them, then darted away. One of them reared up and tried to catch hold of his tail. Ha! Dumbo thought, veering back and spraying water right in the other elephant’s face.
He hovered nearby, wondering if that had been rude. He hadn’t meant to be rude. But the second elephant was grinning and tossing her trunk in delight as the first spluttered and shook off the droplets. Still dripping, the first elephant bounded over and hauled Dumbo out of the
air to tumble into a ball of limbs in the shallow water. The other elephant joined them, piling on top.
Mrs. Jumbo, having made her way down the cliff’s path, touched her trunk to the matriarch’s mouth and then went through the herd, intertwining trunks, flapping ears, and rumbling low to introduce herself to everyone. Reaching the pool, her heart expanded like a flower opening to the sunlight in the morning. Dumbo and his new friends were covered in mud, and the joy on her son’s face was everything she’d ever hoped for.
They had found their home.
Dumbo Live Action Novelization Page 18
