An Inconvenient Elephant Read Online Free PDF Page B

it because of safety concerns.”
    I poured myself a cup of tea. “What do we do now?”
    â€œAfter I told him that I was licensed and that the Popes in Chizarira would vouch for me, he agreed to assign us a guide.” She passed me my own bowl of breakfast sadza .
    â€œI have to see him again,” I said. “The elephant.”
    I did. He had taken possession of my soul. I could think of nothing else.
    â€œI fell in love with him, too.” Diamond smiled. “The warden said he has another name, Dustbin, because he has a habit of picking through the garbage bins. He’s sort of a park favorite.”
    â€œDustbin,” I repeated. “I hate that he’s named after garbage.”
    â€œThe warden also told me something else,” Diamond said, her face becoming troubled. “They’ve classified him as a problem elephant, which means he’s slated for execution.”
    I jumped from my chair. “What are you talking about?” I gasped. “What do you mean, ‘execution’?”
    Diamond looked up at me. “He knows there’s food here, and apparently he’s already overturned seven cars. They were empty, but he can’t just flip cars around at will, looking for snacks.”
    â€œBut execution ?” I said, my mouth barely able to form the word.
    She nodded. “The warden said the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force is out of petrol again, but when they get their new requisition, he’s as good as dead. They plan to come here and shoot him. They’re culling elephants all over the country.” She scooped up the rest of her sadza and held her hand aloft for a moment. “They use their meat to feed the soldiers of the Zimbabwean army. One more elephant death would mean nothing at all to them.”
    She licked the food from her fingers. Discussing Tusker’s death over breakfast was making me sick. I pushed my food away. The orange sun bloomed over the day-bright lake.
    â€œWe don’t have many options in saving him,” Diamond said, deflating the rapid swirl of ideas and solutions that were racing through my head. “I called my friend Charlotte after I spoke to the game warden. She knows about Tusker, says he’s on everyone’s rescue list, but she said it’s very hard work, and the failure rate for rescues is very high. Plus she mentioned that she’d need a lot of help.”
    I gave her a wondering look. “Does she mean us? There’s no reason why we can’t help.”
    â€œNo reason at all,” Diamond agreed, wiping her breakfast bowl clean with her fingers and licking them like a cat. “Charlotte says she’ll try to come up with some kind of plan.”
    â€œI hope she hurries,” I said, then sighed, thinking this Charlotte probably knew every bush, tree, and growl of the countryside, and if she couldn’t think of something, then we’d have very little chance of success trying to do it by ourselves.
    Diamond grinned. “You look worried. But I bet we can pull it off.”
    â€œWe’d need a crew and planes and tranquilizers and stuff,” I worried. “It’s a huge undertaking.”
    Diamond appeared not to be listening. I followed her gaze to the mountains and wondered if she thought of taking Tusker north since we were at the most northern tip of the country. “Maybe Charlotte could let us borrow some horses. Then we could track Tusker on horseback,” she mused out loud. “We could push him to Mozambique—its border covers the whole east of Zimbabwe.” She thought it over. “No, Mozambique is hundreds of miles away. It would be too far for horses.” She poured us both more tea. “Maybe north across the border to Zambia. Or south to Botswana.” She sighed. “Either way, it’s very far.”
    â€œThis is crazy!” I exclaimed. “How do we push him? Besides, we’d need to get through the