Elephant in the City
It happened as I was crossing over and I saw it, him, right in the middle of the street, blocking the traffic
.
A woman stood in front, and everyone watched in horror at first, because she might get trampled, the elephant might stampede and she might die. But none of that happened in the next few minutes. The woman touched his thick skin with her hands, and she wept and wept, as if she'd found the one precious thing in life which she'd lost, and more traffic stopped and people stared. No beeping of horns, just complete silence. No panic, just calmness. There's this one word: serendipity. If she hadn't gone shopping that day, they wouldn't have met. If he hadn't escaped, she would never have found him. If the cars hadn't stopped, I wouldn't have looked. If the woman hadn't wept this story might not have been written. Think of it as a kind of sequence, luck in slow motion, people escaping their lives for a few minutes in order to find what they're looking for.
The woman would not move, and neither did the elephant. I wrote a love story. It happened.
© Nora Nadjarian
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Author's Note
My lucky story for 2010.
Now up under "Stories" at the lovely site
http://www.curlyredstories.com/
You are welcome to leave your comments there too. In fact, please do!
"luck in slow motion", I love that. nice work...
Beautiful moment caught in a wishful time.
The only thing I might question, Nora, is the use of the word "stampede" as that usually indicates action of more than one, though the meaning here is clear.
Nora, as w/ yr other stories, I love how you create a scene with such clear, sensory details and the subtle levels of meaning you offer your reader.
Enjoyed this piece a great deal, Nora. Strong writing.
thanks sara, Susan, Julie and Sam. "luck in slow motion" that's my favourite too. mmm, stampede, yes i suppose technically indicates more than one, but then i wanted to show that anything was possible in this story: it? him? an escape from your life for a few minutes? it happened.
Wonderful story for the New Year, Nora. Really lovely.
Ha, I'm currently revising a short titled "The Elephant in the Road." I love elephants.
this is one magic little story. thanks for sharing.
ps: i think it's the one you wrote about after reading my december city story, 'City Crossing', or?
thanks Marcelle, Ethel and Doro. Ethel: great minds think alike, or something like that ;-) Doro, this story was written quite some time ago, in May-June 09, inspired by an event here in Nicosia (where I live)called "Go Ganeisha Go", with elephant artefacts/paintings etc. from all over the world. But i loved your "City Crossing"
marvelous piece, nora. it's wonderful how you establish 'slow motion' in your writing. perfect coalition of mood content and structure. sooo strong. oddly enough i've also wrote about elephant love last spring - http://bit.ly/7JjueL ...perhaps it was in the air?
'I wrote a love story. It happened.' Lovely.
I love the deep simplicity of this.
A lovely little moment in a crazy, wicked world. Possibilities. It restores a person's faith. "Luck in slow motion" - It happens, it really does.
Jack
Thank you so much for this! I very much appreciate your warm response to my story... "Luck in slow motion". Yes, you're right, it happens, it really does. :-)