What about the Elephant?

Written by Chloe and I for creative writing class :)


Rita was born in San Diego in June of 1995. Today is April 7th 2010. In that time she had rarely left her hometown, and though she loved San Diego, she knew it was not enough for her just to think about the places she could go anymore. She had a fiery personality and an insatiable hunger for adventure, plus she was absolutely fearless. This got her in trouble on more than one occasion, but it made her determined to pursue a life of adventure. So with almost all the money she had, she had bought a plane ticket to Tanzania. She chose Tanzania after careful and meticulous research about its climate, culture and wildlife, concluding that it would be the ideal place to begin her journey.
She had thought long and hard about it before this moment, and she knew there was nothing else in the world she would rather do. Before leaving the house she had grabbed her passport from a stack of important papers in the office, thankfully it hadn’t expired yet. It would be a shame to never use it. She had also left a detailed letter to her parents explaining where she was and why she must make this journey, though she knew it wouldn't stop them from coming after her. She also assured them that she would return when she was ready. She knew they loved her and wanted to protect her, she felt the same way about them. But they would have to let her make her own way sometime or another; and as far as Rita was concerned that day didn't need to wait until she was an adult.
Rita felt strong and sure as she rolled that suitcase out the front door, but she stopped on the threshold and looked back hesitantly. She was really leaving. Her parents, her beloved dog Rudy, her whole life. She wondered what they would think when they came home and found her gone. But she brushed those feelings to the back of her mind and forced herself to close and lock the door. She could not help but feel some regret as she spent her bus ride looking down at her passport picture in silence, but any previous moments of uncertainty vanished when she stepped into the San Diego International Airport.
At the airport, shortly before Rita's plane was supposed to leave, a boy sat at a table alone in a stuffy holding room, waiting. He drummed his fingers nervously on the table top, wishing he was anywhere but here. An airport security guard entered.
"Son, do you know why you're here?" He asked with a tired voice.
"I haven't got the slightest idea." The boy said stubbornly, crossing his arms and putting his feet up on the desk.
"What's your name?" The man asked with the same careless disinterest.
"I don't have one." The boy said, scowling. There was an uncomfortable pause, and then the man replied, this time with an edge in his voice.
"Don't mess with me kid, just tell me your name and you'll be back home asleep in your own bed shortly."
"I told you I don't have one. I can't tell you something I don't know." The boy snapped.
"How does somebody not have a name?" The man questioned.
"Well..." the boy sighed. “You see, my parents abandoned me when I was five, deciding that a little kid was just too much work or something. I can't exactly remember the name they had given me, so...no name. I've lived in San Diego for a long time, since I was a little kid. If I lived somewhere else before I don't remember it. Okay?"
"Oh. Er... Well I'm gonna need at least an address or something. You do have one don't you?" The man asked impatiently.
"No," The man looked surprised. Worrying that he might end up getting put in to the foster care system, or something of the sort, he quickly thought up an excuse. "But, uh, I'm visiting my uh...aunt? Aunt! In uh..." He leaned to the side looking up at the flight times, squinting. "Tan...Tanza..." he trailed off. Having never been to school, reading wasn't easy for him.
"Tanzania?" the police man offered up.
"Ah yes! Tanzania. Thanks. Um, ya, so my er...aunt lives there and said I could come live with her and living on the streets making money is hard, ya know? So I was kinda hopin' I could get a ride on one of the planes..." He looked down at his hands. Act sad, helpless, innocent, he told himself. Maybe he'll buy it...
"I'll go see what I can do," the man stood up, sighing heavily. "Just... stay here, okay?" He looked at the boy waiting for a response.
"Sure," the boy said, trying to ignore the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. The man walked out of the holding room, leaving the boy alone. He ran his hand through his messy brown hair and looked at the mirror in the corner. Tall, skinny, grimy, it's no wonder they had pulled him aside.
The door opened and he looked up hopefully. "It's your lucky day kid. Lady says that the flight that's leaving to Tanzania has some open seats so you can go. Follow me please."
The boy leaped up and walked out of the room, following the security guard through the thick crowd. Seeing the families, all ready to go on vacation or back home together, made a lump rise in the boys throat. Family...the one thing he'd always wanted.
Before he knew it he was sitting down, close to the front of the coach section. To his right, in the window seat, was a girl. She looked about fourteen, a year younger than him. She was tiny, but he figured she was older than she looked. She was thin and wiry, with skin bronzed by the California sun. She had long, curly, dark brown hair that tumbled over her shoulders to about the middle of her back. She looked up as he sat down with big brown doe eyes.
“Hello.” She said casually.
“Hey,” He replied.
The boy tried to start up a conversation. After all, it was going to be a very long flight.
"So…," he began, but his words hung in the air like a stubborn mist while he searched for something to say. Finally he continued.
"What are you doing on a plane to Tanzania?" He offered, and Rita took a moment to reply. Who is this guy? She wondered, and then responded slowly and carefully, unsure if it was wise to tell this to a stranger. But he seemed well intentioned; he was probably just trying to make conversation.
"I've always wanted to travel; to Africa especially. You see, my parents traveled a lot before I was born, and I mean a lot. They’ve been to at least a dozen different countries." She paused and wondered if it seemed like she was bragging. She wasn't trying to, and she hoped she hadn't made a bad first impression like she had so many times before. She started to speak again.
"But after I was born, I guess they decided not to travel anymore, so I never really got to go anywhere."
"So you ran away?" The boy asked innocently enough, but the question made Rita uncomfortable, and she responded harshly.
"I didn't run away. I'm coming back someday, but this is just something I had to do so I won’t suffocate before ever getting the chance to really live.” It went dead silent. The boy could sense the anger and frustration behind her voice as plain as day. He first opened his mouth to say something to make her feel better, but the right words just didn’t come to his mind. Rita sighed and leaned back in her seat.
“Listen; I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go off on you like that. I say a lot of things I don’t mean.” Rita admitted, and she could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment. The boy just grinned and shook his head.
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t offended at all. Actually, what you said kinda makes sense to me.” Rita managed to laugh a little. Now she was curious about this boy.
“Well since you’re on a plane to Tanzania too, I’m sure you have a story behind that. Can I hear it?”
He hesitated. The truth was he was a little embarrassed to tell her where he came from. He would never have admitted it but he was very afraid that this girl he just met would completely write him off once he told her that he was homeless, an orphan, and a nobody. Literally. Here goes nothing; he thought, and then began to speak.
“Well, to be honest with you I’m not sure what I’m going to do after this plane lands. I guess I’ll find a way, I always do, but it’ll be hard in a whole other country.”
“I’m not sure I understand.” Rita said, she was confused, and the boy knew it. He had been talking all around the fact that he was homeless, but now it was time to tell her the truth.
“I…I…I was abandoned by my parents when I was pretty young. I grew up in the streets. The only reason I’m here is that I was hanging out at the airport and I guess I looked suspicious. I don’t know what I was doing, I just freaked when security pulled me over and I made an excuse that I had an aunt in Tanzania who would take care of me when the truth is I know absolutely nothing about my family.” He took a breath after his torrent of words and looked down at his ratty shoes; half regretting he had started talking to this girl. He could feel her staring at him, and he grimaced when she replied.
‘You’re kidding me…” her voice trailed off as she stared, which she realized was very impolite so she quickly turned away. She started again.
“Oh my gosh, you’re not kidding.” She said, and felt stupid after saying it. But soon her mouth turned up into a smile.
“This is so perfect!” She squeaked with pure excitement, the boy looked at her in puzzlement. She went on.
“We can help each other. You seem like you’d be good at surviving, ya know, like getting food and stuff and I know everything there is to know about Tanzania, I even know just enough Swahili to get by. We would make a great team! What do you say?” She looked at him with imploring eyes and he knew he couldn’t turn her down. This would be a great adventure anyway.
“Count me in.” He said, and smiled, then thought of something.
“I don’t even know your name,” he said.
“It’s Rita, Rita Valente. What’s yours?”
“As of this moment; I don’t have one, but it’s nice to meet you Rita.” He said, hoping she wouldn’t be put off by his lack of a name, but if she thought it was weird she didn’t show it. All Rita could think about was that at least now she had a starting point, a fellow adventurer, and a long plane ride ahead of her.
When the plane arrived at the Julius Nyerere International Airport; Rita could hardly contain her excitement.
“Look, look!” She squealed as she watched the plane roll to a stop from her window. The boy craned his neck to look through the window. The sky was clear and blue, and he wondered how hot it was outside. They were pleasantly surprised when they stepped outside that the temperature was probably in the high 70s and with a bit of a sea breeze. It made sense. Dar es Salaam, the city they landed in, was near the coast. Come to think of it, he realized it didn’t feel so much different from back home in San Diego.
After leaving the airport they wandered around the city in silent awe of everything around them. Dar es Salaam turned out to be a bustling city, filled with people moving quickly through the streets toward hundreds of individual destinations. At some point the boy felt a light tap on his shoulder and turned to see a boy probably about 10 years old holding a stack of bills. He started chattering excitedly in Swahili to him.
“Uhhh, I’m sorry I don’t speak Swahili.” The boy apologized, but the other boy laughed and switched to perfect English without so much as pausing to breathe.
“Would you like to exchange your dollars for Tanzanian Shillings?” he asked, and Rita broke in.
“Yeah. That seems like a good idea. Here, I have my money here.” She nudged her companion with her elbow.
“Do you have any money on you? You should probably exchange yours too.” The boy shoved his hands into his pockets and retrieved a few crumpled bills. Rita had quite a bit more. In the end they counted about $214. Rita handed it to the Tanzanian boy, who counted her money, and then his stack of Tanzanian Shillings. As he counted Rita tried to start up a friendly conversation.
“So what’s your name?”
“My name is Kanu.” He replied.
He picked out a portion of the stack and looped a rubber band around it, then handed the money to Rita.
“Nice doing business with you.” Kanu chirped, and then began to retreat back into the crowd. Something had just happened that made the boy suspicious.
“Wait a minute Rita, let me see that money.” She handed him the money. He took off the rubber band and all the bills went falling to the ground. But they weren’t all bills. Except for the two on the outsides of the stack the rest were just worthless blank sheets of paper. The boy cursed under his breath and took off after Kanu.
“Wait!” Rita yelled as she followed closely behind. Rita caught up and eventually overtook him when she spotted Kanu. She sprinted across the street where she was almost hit by an oncoming car when the boy shoved her out of the way. They both ran, panting for breath after Kanu, whose feet seemed to never even touch the pavement. Kanu scrambled around a corner into an alley, and the boy immediately slowed to a walk and motioned for Rita to do the same. He quietly sneaked to the corner and turned his head to see if he could spot Kanu…and their money. He sure wasn’t running into a dark alley in a strange new country not knowing what was in there waiting for him. They both stood silently and peeked around the corner; and a large truck came into view. The boy and Rita ducked back behind the wall and waited, both knowing exactly what the other was thinking. They held their breath and scrambled into the empty truck bed when it came out of the alleyway. They laid flat against the floor of the truck bed and kept silent while they heard excited voices in front of the cab part of the truck.
It drove on and on through the streets and eventually out of the city. As dusk approached it grew colder outside, Rita wondered what exactly it was they were trying to do. Did they really think they would get their money back? Who else was in the truck besides Kanu? Perhaps she would be better off not knowing. She was cold; she missed home, and was hiding in the back of a truck with a boy she hardly knew. What would await them when this truck finally reached its destination? She shivered when she imagined being shot or killed by some other means, lying dead in the bush where no one would ever find their bodies. She forced that thought completely from her mind. But she soon fell asleep and briefly forgot all that had happened to her that day.
The boy woke up with a sore, stiff back from being jostled around in the truck bed. He squinted into the glaring sunlight and raised his hand to shield his eyes. But he put it down when a tall figure cast its shadow upon him. A tall Tanzanian man stood above them smiling mysteriously. He was accompanied by five teenage boys holding rifles, and Kanu, who was pointing at them and talking excitedly.
“They’re the ones! After I got the money I ran, and they followed me. I thought I had lost them, but I must not have, because here they are!” The boy looked at Rita, she was still asleep. He looked back at the big man when he spoke to him.
“Boy! What is your name?” He barked.
“Uhh, I don’t have one.” The boy stammered. He was growing tired of explaining this.
“Where are you from?” The man asked impatiently, and the boy couldn’t help but feel that he had just had this conversation a day or two ago.
“California. San Diego, California.” He replied.
“And the girl?”
“The same.”
“What are you doing here?”
“We want our money back.” The boy said. The man chuckled.
“You have to move fast to make it out here boy. Like a serpent, be ready to strike, before somebody strikes at you.” The boy was a bit confused by this, but he nodded.
“Where are we?” The boy asked in bewilderment. This was not the coastal city he had left; they were now on an open grassy plain. He also noticed it was much hotter here.
“Just outside Serengeti National Park.” The man replied, then pointed at Rita.
“Who is the girl?” He asked.
“Her name is Rita, she’s my friend.” The boy felt an ache when he said this, because he knew it was a lie. He had known her for only two days, and if she knew him better he wondered if she would even want to be his friend.
“She is very pretty.” The man commented, and the boy realized that the whole group couldn’t seem to stop looking at her. The boy scooted over to the left, as if shielding Rita and stared threateningly at the man. There was no way he was gonna let any of these guys lay a finger on her. The big man laughed.
“Don’t worry boy, she will be safe here.” The boy cut him off.
“Safe…so you’re not planning on killing us?” The big man roared with laughter.
“Don’t worry boy, I would no sooner kill you than one of my own.” He gently slapped the boy next to him on the back. “I found it amusing that you went to so much trouble to get your money. You could get hurt chasing thieves into dark alleys you know. Besides; we may be able to use you both so you can earn your money back. We could probably spare enough food for two more.” The boy sighed with relief.
“So what do we have to do to earn back our money?”
“Simple.” The man replied. “We are hunters. You would do easy things, like accompanying my boys on their rounds to check our traps and such. You may polish some ivory or prepare other items for sale.”
“So you’re poachers?” The boy said, shocked.
“That’s such an ugly word.” The man scolded. “We are just hunters. Yes, we may overstep what is legal in our work, but we are just trying to put food on our tables.” The boy glanced back at the other boys. They were all just skin and bones. He thought about it, and then slowly nodded. How bad could it be? He reasoned. The man smiled.
“Good!” He exclaimed. “But, you must first swear on your life and the life of your friend that you will never tell a living soul about us or our work. These boys will have no future if they are sent to rot in prison, and my son Kanu will be taken away from me. You don’t want that, do you?” The boy gulped.
“No sir.”
“Do you swear it?”
“I swear.”
“Very good.” The man clapped his hands together. “The boys will introduce themselves and show you and your friend around the camp.” The boy looked around and realized that this was indeed a camp. The whole camp was shaded by six acacia trees. There were three tents pitched in a sort of triangle around a smoldering campfire, with the truck parked alongside another vehicle, a large, ancient land rover that had several animal skins draped over the top. He decided he wouldn’t tell Rita right away that he had made a deal with poachers.
“One more thing.” The man said, “I need to call you something, I can’t just continue calling you boy.” The boy’s heart skipped a beat as the big man scratched his chin in thought. He was getting a name! The man finally chuckled and said,
“Kivuli. You like it?” The boy’s mouth turned up into a wide grin.
“It’s perfect.” He said.
Soon he was standing in the middle of a circle of boys all talking excitedly, except for one standing sullenly on the other side of the camp. One boy in the center stuck out his hand for Kivuli to shake. He was the largest of the group. He was thick and muscular, but by no means fat.
“My name is Tembo. I am the oldest.”
“Nice to meet you.” Kivuli replied, his face radiating the happiness he felt. He finally had some friends! And they called him by his own personal name! Over the course of the next half hour he met the rest and got to know a bit about them. There was of course Kanu, the son of the man he had talked to, Bwana Adhra. (Kivuli later came to know that Bwana meant Mr., or sir.) Next was Farisi, the tallest and leanest of the boys, who was often called Twiga (Giraffe). Zuberi was the obvious leader; he knew everything there was to know about hunting and surviving. Sabra was the second youngest, and by far the most timid and sensitive. He had a family that he didn’t know what happened too, he had been separated from them for three years. He often talked of his beloved little sister Ajia. One couldn’t help but feel bad for this boy; he was only 13 and in his short life he had lost everything dear to him. Abasi was a mystery. He was the one who stood alone.
“Don’t mind him.” Zuberi had said, “He’s Bwana Adhra’s favorite and is jealous when he doesn’t get his attention. As long as you leave him alone, he won’t hurt you.” This made Kivuli even more nervous. It was right about then when Rita woke up.
Rubbing her eyes, Rita groaned as the stiffness in her back came into realization. How long had she been asleep? She froze, fists still on her face. The tuck wasn't moving anymore. Had they stopped? She looked to her left where the boy had been, but he wasn't there; just empty space. Rita quickly sat up, a blanket falling off of her. Wait, that hadn't been there before either. Something was up.
Crawling to the edge of the truck bed she carefully peeked her head around the corner. They were at a camp now? "Huh..." she whispered to herself. Wait, was that? Yes! It was the boy! She leaped out of the truck and ran over to him, only to stop suddenly in her tracks.
He was surrounded by multiple boy, one of them including Kanu. Seeing him made her face turn red. "You!" She snapped, storming over to him. She was preparing to shout even more at him when the boy stepped in front of her path.
"Rita!" he exclaimed. "I have great news! I have a name! Can you believe it ?!" he beamed at her.
"A wha--?" She looked at him puzzled for a sec at the thought registered in her mind.
"Name!" he finished for her.
"That's great!" she said, smiling back at him now. Good for him for finally getting one. "What is it?" she asked.
" Kivuli. Isn't it the best?!"
"Of course it is," She replied.
"Oh, how silly of me," Kivuli put a hand on Rita's shoulder and lead her over to the group of boys he had been talking to before she had interrupted. "Let me introduce you to the gang. Rita, this is Farisi also known as Twiga, Tembo, Sabra, Zuberi, over there by the fire is Abasi, and, well, you know Kanu," Kivuli said, pointing to each as he said their names.
Rita waved at them then turned back to Kivuli, "Can I go talk to you over there real quick please?"
"Sure. Why--?" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him along.
"Who are they, why are you so friendly with them and what's going on?!" She said quickly, inhaling as she finished.
"Well, I just told you who they were and I'm "friendly" with them because they're basically family at this point," he held up his hand to stop Rita from interjecting, "and what's going on is that they aren't going to kill us, we've got a place to stay, and a job to earn our money back."
"And what sort of job will that be?" Rita asked, crossing her arms.
"It doesn't matter. Honestly. Just trust me, okay?" He smiled and jogged back over to the boys, laughing and waving as he went.
"Hey! That's no fair!" she ran after him, shaking her head and laughing too.


They were woken up early the next morning, the sun just barely rising in the distance. Rita sat in the back of the truck with Kivuli and a few of the other boys, all of whom were carrying guns. She looked to Kivuli for an answer but he kept avoiding eye contact. He really would have preferred that Rita stayed back at the camp but she had insisted that she come along.
Through the grass and dry land they traveled, the rocks jostling those in the back; the sun not yet high enough to fry their backs. Kivuli stared at Rita as they rode on. She was pretty, he realized as the wind blew through her dark hair. She caught him staring and he quickly turned away, his face turning bright red.
The truck stopped a few yards away from what looked like a watering hole. There were a few elephants around it, peacefully drinking, unaware of the danger that lurked.
Bwana Adhra pulled Kivuli aside, leaving Rita and the other boys as they unloaded the truck and land rover. They stood in the shadow of a nearby tree. Adhra leaned against it and looked towards the elephants, a serious expression on his face.
"Now's the time to prove yourself," he said. "You see those elephants over there?" he jabbed a finger towards them. "You have to help us take one down." He turned towards the boy when he said this.
Kivuli gulped. Taking down an elephant? this defiantly wasn't what he had signed up for. But he couldn't let Bwana Adhra know that. So, like he had done so many times when he was on the streets, he played the tough, nonchalant type. "Taking down an elephant? No problem."
Adhra laughed at this statement, wiping a tear from his eye as he said, "Oh boy will you regret saying that later!" He shook his head and walked back over to the group, Kivuli right on his heels.
He walked over to Zuberi to ask what his task for this assignment was. All he did was hand him a gun and said, "To shoot it of course." After asking for quick instructions as to how he actually used the gun, he walked over to Rita who's brow was furrowed.
"What's going on?" She asked. "For real. No 'trust me's' this time please."
"Well," Kivuli started, not entirely sure how to go about this. "We, uh, are sort of going to..." He took a deep breath. "killanelephant," he said quickly.
"Excuse me?" Rita raised an eyebrow at this.
Sighing, he repeated himself. "We're going to kill an elephant Rita," Kivuli said looking at his dusty shoes.
"Why?!" She nearly shouted.
Kivuli looked over his shoulder at the guys who were clearly waiting for him. "Because that's the only way they'll accept me." He turned back to her now. "They're my family and I have to do what they say. I have a name now Rita! And a place to call home. I can't lose it now. Not so soon..."
"If they were a true family they wouldn't have you poaching animals, now would they"
"Poaching is such an ugly word. We are just hunters," He replied. "And besides, you wouldn't understand. You had a family and it was your choice to leave them. Mine left without asking me, not caring if I made it at all," he snapped.
"I didn't leave them for good and--" she started to say.
"Ugh! Just be quiet please? This is why I wanted you to stay back at the camp. Just...leave me be and let me do what I want." He turned away from her now and walked over to his family, preparing to do something that made his stomach turn at the thought. What had he gotten himself into?
After they had finally singled out a lone elephant and had wounded it to the point of near death Adhra stopped the boys and turned to Kivuli. "Now's your chance boy. Give it the final blow. If you do you'll be one of us. You'll be a part of our family."
Kivuli grimaced, Rita's words ringing through his head. They sounded so loud as he began to aim the gun. Almost as if she was...
"NO!! DON'T DO IT!" Rita screamed, waving her arms frantically as she sprinted towards them. He wouldn't kill that poor creature, she thought to herself. He's a good boy and I just know he won't do it.
But the boy ignored her, continuing to point the gun at the elephant, his hands quivering.
"NOW!" Adhra shouted. "Do it now, before it's too late!"
click.
Bang!
Rita stopped in her tracks, watching as the elephant fell down, down, down...
What had he done?! Kivuli thought. How could he have done such a terrible thing! Why...why had he...?
"Good," he heard Bwana Adhra say, a sinister grin stretching across his face.
Wack! Kivuli was tackled down to the ground, punch after punch hitting his face. "How could you?!" Rita screamed. "I thought you were better than that! You...you...ARGH!" She continued to his him while crying. Crying because he had done something he thought he'd never do.
Tembo and Zuberi pulled her off of him. She struggled to get lose, to smack more sense into Kivuli, but she never got the chance to say anything else. She was dragged back to the truck where she was then driven back to the airport from whence she came. Put on to a flight back to San Diego, she cried as she looked out the window, almost wishing she had never even met that boy. Almost.

~*~

It was around ten years later when Rita heard a knock on her front door. Getting up off her ratty couch she crossed her tiny apartment and walked over to the door. Peeking though the peep-hole she felt her heart stop for a second. Could it be?
Quickly undoing the locks she thrust the door open. "Kivuli?" she whispered, he hand covering her mouth.
My had he grown over the years. Now over six feet tall, he had to bend down to look at her. He smiled a familiar smile, one she had never thought she'd see again. His once shaggy brown hair was now cropped close to his head, and his gangly body was now a muscled one. He looked at her with sad green eyes and inhaled, ready to say something that had been on his mind for so long.

"I'm so sorry Rita," He said, looking down at the floor. "I should have listened to you but, I panicked and I felt so terrible but glad at the same time and..and...I'm just sorry." He looked up at her now, hoping she'd except his apology.
She had changed a lot too over the years, he noticed. She also looked like she had just gotten out of bed, seeing as she was in a robe and slippers with her dark hair pulled back at the nape of her neck.
She smiled at him and hugged him, "Of course I do, no matter how stupid it was, knowing that you'd realize your wrong decision in the end is all that matters." He hugged her back, glad to know he hadn't lost her friendship after all.
"Now," she said grabbing his wrist, "you're going to come inside, sit on the couch with me and tell me all the stupid stuff you did down in Tanzania. We've got a lot of catching up to do."
He laughed. "Yes. Yes we do..."

The End


P.S. this is just the short rough draft so please ignore all the mistakes! :D