A Trade-Off For a Forgotten Fact
by NICHOLAS VAUGHAN
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A huge great tropical storm and a tsunami was threatening to strike Africa. Soon it came rumbling across the plains taking every creature possible with it. Giraffes, bears, lions, hippos and rhinos were all swept along. Soon enough, their huge great bodies were washed up somewhere near Wakefield, and one by one they began to awake. Then they went out on the prowl looking for food. Any human they met was game for a quick meal.
An elephant puppet had been swept along with them and within half an hour it was walking past TAH studios. I headed out for a walk, and I stopped in my tracks in shock. I could see an elephant, but it had strings and rods attached to it. This can’t be real, I thought, it’s too creepy to imagine. Normally they go about on all fours. Not walking upright. I approached the creature and took a handful of peanuts from my back pocket. I threw some to the floor and it ducked and sucked them up. Wow.
I left a line of the nuts leading all the way to my studio then I went and retired for the night. I knew the trail would encourage the elephant to come and pay me a visit.
The next morning, I arrived and was greeted by an immense thumping. The elephant was crashing its trunk up against the wall. I had left it some water and hay for it to eat, but then it had started to devour some of my work, as well as the materials that were lying around. I was horrified when I saw this and tried to calm it down. But as I tried to push it into one corner of my studio, it reached into my back pocket and stole a peanut Trek bar I had stashed away; the next minute it had its nosy trunk in a carrier bag and had stolen away a packet of hot cross buns I’d bought to celebrate Easter.
I was in despair, and so I left it. I went away for a few days to a friend’s house.
One night, I used my puppeteering technique to fashion its legs, arms, body, trunk and tail. I made the puppet as large as could be, so it filled my entire studio.
The next day I ran into Niamh at TAH café, and we were chatting away. I said, “I’ve got a huge elephant puppet in my studio.”
“Take me down,” she replied. Whilst we were down there, she agreed to give me some assistance with watering, feeding, and walking the elephant for a small favour in return, which was that it may carry some loads of washing across to the laundrette up the road.
“We decided against taking the bikes as the elephant can’t ride a bike.”
“I’m planning to use it as a puppet to get work in theatres. It’s not real though.”
And I went across and pulled on one of the coiled-up ropes that were lying nearby. One it’s forearms and one of its forelegs came flying up.
Niamh was in shock. Once she had come to terms with the idea, she agreed to assist with operating it. We stayed in my studio that evening and between us figured out how it was best to operate it. I climbed up onto a great ladder and took a hold of its controller. Niamh was to one side holding onto a rod that had been inserted up into its arms, and another up into its legs.
“Now we’ve trained it, let’s take it out to theatres up and down the country.”
We agreed that it was a good plan.
Then we split and went home, each to our own abodes to rest up for the big day.
The next morning, we both went to the studio at 6am. The elephant hadn’t even woken up yet, but the sky was beautiful and there was pink clouds and a rosy glow in the air. We decided against taking the bikes as the elephant can’t ride a bike.
Then we headed towards Leeds to find theatres. We both knew there were many in that direction. We took the back route, so we could walk all the way and allow the elephant to exercise itself. Soon we were approaching Beeston, then the centre. We stopped for a while outside HMI and let the elephant drink from a public fountain outside the art gallery. It took huge great slurps with its long trunk. Once it’s had its fill, I encouraged it to keep walking.
“Let’s walk it to The Playhouse. I’ve been to see Animal Farm there recently. They had animals running about on stage, so they must be animal friendly.”
Niamh replied, “I’ll take your word for it.”
We walked to The Playhouse and when we arrived Animal Farm was still playing. We took seats by the ringside. The three of us were sat in the front row. The show began and actors ran through the crowd pretending to
be gorillas and baboons. One of the gorillas ran up to the elephant and pulled at its arm, the other took one of its back legs, and they dragged it across the floor into the ring. I looked on horrified. Niamh jumped up and ran to its side.
I cried out, “The gorillas made off with its body. That’s my puppet, how am I supposed to make a living now? Let alone, how will the elephant prove itself?”
Soon the baboons stopped running and they started to recite the first few lines of the play. One of the baboons took my elephant puppet and began to operate it using rods that were inserted into its legs. It made my elephant dance across the ring. Then the elephant took a tumble and fell to the floor and broke into a thousand splinters. I leapt to the floor and cried out.
“This is a disaster!” I said.
“What do you reckon we should do?” Niamh replied.
“I’m in despair. I can’t see a way out of this awful situation. We’ll never get the puppet back and it’ll never make it onto the silver screen as planned. I was hoping for it to end up on the walk of fame in Hollywood.”
“You had high hopes.”
“You must. Let’s try and take it by force, it’s the only way. It’s quite a heavy puppet after all. Perhaps we could use its great girth to knock out the other actors, then clear a path through the audience. Then we can be home free.”
We agreed. I ran into the centre of the ring, grabbed the elephant by its strings, then pushed the baboon to one side. Niamh did the same, and in under a minute we had our elephant puppet marching out of the ring.
“What a relief, we made it.” I cried out. “I didn’t think it would be so easy.”
Then the three of us took a slow walk back to Wakefield. Soon we arrived back at TAH. The three of us went down to my studio.
“The first time I encountered this elephant it was wandering the streets alone.”
Niamh replied, “How the hell has this great creature got here from Africa?!”
“I’m not sure if it’s from Africa, are you sure you’ve got your animal habitats correct?”
“Elephants are from the plains.” And she furrowed her eyebrows in an adamant way.
“Okay, okay. But I’ve no idea how it got here. Why don’t you ask it yourself ?”
“Why not?”
And she crawled up to one of it its ears and whispered softly because she didn’t want to frighten it.
“Speak up, or it’ll never wake up.”
“No way, haven’t you heard that elephants are afraid of loud noises? It has something to do with their fear of mice.”
“Of course. Mice, we all know that. Are you sure it’s not to do with their massive ears?”
“I’ve got it. Let’s take it out into nature. It is an elephant after all”
Niamh whispered into its ear, and a minute later it opened its huge eyes. Its eyes were so generous, deep and loving, so trustworthy.
“I feel that I could leave my grandma with this guy. And she’d be safe.”
“Wow! I agree, it really trusts us. Let’s see what we can do to encourage it to speak.”
The elephant spoke. “I’ve been pushed on a huge great wave across the seven seas. I’m from a great continent called Africa.”
“Yes, you were right.” “I told you so.”
“I’ve got it. Let’s take it out into nature. It is an elephant after all; they live out in the wild. They are also supposed to be generous, wise, intelligent and with great memories, don’t forget.”
“Of course. I forgot about that. That creature has the best memory ever.”
“Let’s try and use that in some way then.”
“Great idea. But how?”
The elephant turned its head with a quizzical look, and said, “I don’t want to be taken into nature, but instead take me into Wakefield where I can speak to the locals and find out how they feel about climate change.”
“That’s a great idea,” I replied. “But how will we benefit?”
“Don’t be so selfish,” the elephant said, “this is more about me, well, not really, it’s about all of us. We are all at risk at the end of the day.”
“True,” I agreed.
“So, let’s go and speak to some of the public then.”
And the three of us walked over towards where there was a gang of kids hanging around.
“Let’s ask them,” the elephant said. “Okay,” I replied.
I confronted one of the kids. “We are doing a survey and want to know how you feel about climate change. Do you believe in it or not?”
The kid looked into the distance with misty eyes, and said, “it’s all just nonsense and rubbish.”
The elephant came closer to the kid, then whispered into its ear.
“Look, climate change is happening, I’ve just come from a land in peril.”
The kid looked the other way and went on chewing his gum. “It isn’t happening you know.”
“How about if I agree to remember you a fact? Then perhaps you’ll change your views.”
The kid gave a pained expression. “Perhaps, okay, when I was three, something traumatic happened to me, but I don’t remember a thing about it.”
“Wow,” said Niamh, “that’s unfortunate.”
The elephant looked the kid in the eyes and then blew out of its trunk. “This is easy,” the elephant said. “You were taken to a theme park by your parents, and they lost you. You never forgave them for that.” “You’re dead right. How can an elephant that’s completely unrelated to me know deep and intimate facts about my life?”
The elephant breathed deeply through its trunk.
Then it said, “What about all those refugees that are trying to escape from lands like Africa, India and South America. All those impoverished countries.”
“I don’t care about any of those.”
“I just granted you a remember fact. Now you must do your bit.”
“Okay, then, I’ll change my views. I’ll try to be more compassionate in the future to other people and nations.”
“Wow,” I said, “I think we’ve got one who’s agreed to make a difference in his life.”
“You’re right,” Niamh replied.
“I can’t believe the elephant managed to change its way of thinking so easily.”
“It probably helped that it was a kid. They can sometimes be the easiest to convert.”
“Not always though.”
“True.”
The elephant was looking very pleased with itself.
“I managed to convert that little blighter,” it said.
“It’s the only way you can do it,” I said.
The elephant looked across to us. “Let’s be realistic, that kid had a privileged upbringing, that’s simple enough to see, but because he was a kid it was easier to talk him out of it. If it was an adult, it would be a different story.”
“They are the worst. Right, let’s go.”
And I took the elephants strings and Niamh took its rods. Between the two of us we steered it through the back streets of Wakefield, then we were back near the studio.
To share your stories, email stories@northernlifemedia.co.uk or go to northernlifemagazine.co.uk/contribute
NorthernLife June/July/Aug 25
