paddock with his back turned to Amy. He pushed his hat up on his head. Deciding, Now or never, he stopped, figuring that she would either run away or charge him. He made a quarter turn to face her.
She nearly bumped into him.
Bob laughed out loud. She accepted him on his own two feet. Now they could start to be best friends.
M ud gave Bob the idea. Amy had rolled in it after rain showers and where the water from the hose pooled in the dirt. He believed that she would roll in a teacup of mud if she fit. One day he decided to build a proper, African-type wallow big enough for them to enjoy together.
He flooded a natural depression in the land, about fifty feet around and three feet deep, behind the horse barn. He brought Amy out and stood with her at the water’s edge. At first she splashed with her trunk and stood on the bank. Then suddenly she charged across the pond, trumpeting. She blew water at Butch, and splashed Michelle. She sprayed Bob, then lay down and rolled over in the wallow.
T. J. and the hands came to watch. They took off their boots, rolled up their pants, and waded in, up to their calves. They splashed, fell over backward in the water, and flopped around in the mud. They threw water at Amy, and she blew water at them. Then Bob was in, up to his knees, laughing. He said to his hands, “Hell, boys, you’re just like a bunch of kids.”
T he Toys “” Us sales assistants thought Bob was a doting grandfather. Money seemed to mean nothing to him. He liked
big
toys—oversize harmonicas and inflatable swimming pools, plastic baseball bats, and huge rubber balls.The staff recommended other items—educational toys, board games, and the latest promotional tie-ins from popular kids’ movies. But all the cowboy wanted were
big
toys.
“Why is that?” one of them finally thought to ask him.
“For my elephant,” he replied without thinking, as he tested the strength of a plastic pool for Amy’s paddock.
“Yes, sir,” the attendant had replied.
No one in the store really believed him. The only elephant in the area, almost everyone knew, was the one at the Colorado Springs Zoo. So they humored him and started to recommend toys that an elephant might even enjoy, rolling their eyes at each suggestion.
Over time Amy’s paddock filled up with toys, like a spoiled child’s playground. At Christmas, after opening their presents around the tree at home, Bob and Jane wandered down to Amy’s stall with presents in their arms. They had wrapped her gifts individually and tied them with colored ribbons. Bob laid them down on the straw in her stall. The gifts excited her interest; she tugged at the ribbons with the fingers of her trunk while Bob hummed Christmas carols to set the mood.
On Halloween Bob turned the tables on her. He dressed up in a bluish gray and
very
baggy elephant suit, with an elephant’s trunk that drooped down off his face, and elephant’s ears that flopped to his shoulders. Amy sniffed at him and then followed Michelle into the paddock. Bob could hardly remember a time when Halloween had been this much fun.
_____
S he was his little girl—“little” even as her growth was beginning to worry about everyone else on the ranch. Jane was the first to raise the issue. It wasn’t that Amy was big and powerful, it was that
Bob had no control over her.
She would not leave the barn area, even when Bob encouraged her to accompany him when he rode. She went back into her stall when she was hungry, not when Bob wanted her to. Behind Bob’s back the ranch hands started to call her “the Bulldozer.” And, like Jane, they worried about her wildness, her size, and Bob’s lack of control.
Another issue that upset Jane was that Bob was spending all his spare time with Amy. Jane was used to him working long hours at the ranch with the cows and the horses. But he wasn’t giving his time to them anymore: It was all going to Amy alone.
“You know how, when a girl is married to a
She nearly bumped into him.
Bob laughed out loud. She accepted him on his own two feet. Now they could start to be best friends.
M ud gave Bob the idea. Amy had rolled in it after rain showers and where the water from the hose pooled in the dirt. He believed that she would roll in a teacup of mud if she fit. One day he decided to build a proper, African-type wallow big enough for them to enjoy together.
He flooded a natural depression in the land, about fifty feet around and three feet deep, behind the horse barn. He brought Amy out and stood with her at the water’s edge. At first she splashed with her trunk and stood on the bank. Then suddenly she charged across the pond, trumpeting. She blew water at Butch, and splashed Michelle. She sprayed Bob, then lay down and rolled over in the wallow.
T. J. and the hands came to watch. They took off their boots, rolled up their pants, and waded in, up to their calves. They splashed, fell over backward in the water, and flopped around in the mud. They threw water at Amy, and she blew water at them. Then Bob was in, up to his knees, laughing. He said to his hands, “Hell, boys, you’re just like a bunch of kids.”
T he Toys “” Us sales assistants thought Bob was a doting grandfather. Money seemed to mean nothing to him. He liked
big
toys—oversize harmonicas and inflatable swimming pools, plastic baseball bats, and huge rubber balls.The staff recommended other items—educational toys, board games, and the latest promotional tie-ins from popular kids’ movies. But all the cowboy wanted were
big
toys.
“Why is that?” one of them finally thought to ask him.
“For my elephant,” he replied without thinking, as he tested the strength of a plastic pool for Amy’s paddock.
“Yes, sir,” the attendant had replied.
No one in the store really believed him. The only elephant in the area, almost everyone knew, was the one at the Colorado Springs Zoo. So they humored him and started to recommend toys that an elephant might even enjoy, rolling their eyes at each suggestion.
Over time Amy’s paddock filled up with toys, like a spoiled child’s playground. At Christmas, after opening their presents around the tree at home, Bob and Jane wandered down to Amy’s stall with presents in their arms. They had wrapped her gifts individually and tied them with colored ribbons. Bob laid them down on the straw in her stall. The gifts excited her interest; she tugged at the ribbons with the fingers of her trunk while Bob hummed Christmas carols to set the mood.
On Halloween Bob turned the tables on her. He dressed up in a bluish gray and
very
baggy elephant suit, with an elephant’s trunk that drooped down off his face, and elephant’s ears that flopped to his shoulders. Amy sniffed at him and then followed Michelle into the paddock. Bob could hardly remember a time when Halloween had been this much fun.
_____
S he was his little girl—“little” even as her growth was beginning to worry about everyone else on the ranch. Jane was the first to raise the issue. It wasn’t that Amy was big and powerful, it was that
Bob had no control over her.
She would not leave the barn area, even when Bob encouraged her to accompany him when he rode. She went back into her stall when she was hungry, not when Bob wanted her to. Behind Bob’s back the ranch hands started to call her “the Bulldozer.” And, like Jane, they worried about her wildness, her size, and Bob’s lack of control.
Another issue that upset Jane was that Bob was spending all his spare time with Amy. Jane was used to him working long hours at the ranch with the cows and the horses. But he wasn’t giving his time to them anymore: It was all going to Amy alone.
“You know how, when a girl is married to a
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