Chapter 5

Chapter five I just stood there staring into Elsie's big brown eyes, which were about a mile above my head. She stared right back at me. Neither of us moved a muscle. When I have a stare-down with my sister, Emily, she bursts out laughing in about two seconds, so I always win. But Elsie didn't even bat an eyelash. I wasn't sure whether our stare-down was a good thing or a bad thing. It was definitely good that she wasn't charging at me with her giant tusks. But maybe she was thinking about doing it, which would definitely be bad. "Hi, Elsie," I whispered. "My name is Hank. Well, really it's Henry, but everyone calls me Hank, so you can, too."

Suddenly, her ears started to flap. In fact, they flapped so hard that I could feel the air brush across my face. I jumped back a few feet. I hoped this was her way of saying, "Nice to meet you, too." But it was possible this was her way of saying, "This is my space, buddy. Now beat it." Suddenly, I heard footsteps crunching on the leaves of the enclosure. I was pretty sure it was Nora, coming back from visiting the other elephants. I knew the right thing to do was to tell Nora I was there. But sometimes the right thing to do isn't always the most fun thing to do. Without thinking, I ducked into the cave that was part of Elsie's enclosure. I hid behind a rock and peeked out. Nora had stopped and was petting Elsie's trunk. "How you doing, girl?" she said softly. At the sound of Nora's voice, Elsie started flapping her ears again.

"I know you're happy when your ears flap," Nora said. "I'm glad you're feeling better. That circus you were with didn't take good care of you, but we will." I was so curious about what happened to Elsie at that circus, but I was hiding so I couldn't ask. "Do you want a treat?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out an entire ear of corn. Elsie lifted her trunk and gently took the corn from Nora. Then she popped the whole thing in her mouth. Even from where I was, I could hear her teeth grinding.

I could tell Elsie loved that treat, because her ears starting flapping like crazy. I smiled, thinking about when I have a black and white cookie, which is my favorite treat. My ears are too small to flap, but I sure hop around a lot. "There's more where that came from," Nora told Elsie. "You be a good girl now." I watched as Nora walked across the enclosure to the high metal fence. She opened the gate, and without looking back, locked it behind her. Wow, I thought. This is great. Now it's just me and Elsie! The next thought I had was, Wow. This is not so great. I'm locked in here with fifteen thousand pounds of elephant! When Nora was out of sight, I crept out from behind the rock. I thought I was being quiet, but Elsie's big ears obviously worked very well. She whipped around, swishing her tail back and forth. When she saw me, she raised her giant trunk and let out a loud trumpeting sound.

I stood completely still, as if I had turned into a clay statue. Elsie took a step toward me. Then another step. My heart started to beat really fast, and when I say fast, I mean like a speeding race car. What was Elsie going to do to me? Push me? Sit on me? Crush me? Breathe, Hank. Don't panic. It's only the largest land mammal on Earth. You can think of something. Look around and use your brain. My eyes darted around the enclosure, hoping to find an ear of corn that I could give Elsie. That would at least distract her for a minute. Then, I spotted a dusty soccer ball. Maybe Elsie plays soccer, I thought. And maybe she was in the mood for a game. You never know. "Elsie," I said, in my calmest voice. The one I use when I'm trying to explain to my dad why

my report card is always so bad. "I'm going to walk over to that soccer ball, and you're going to stay right there. Okay?" Elsie lifted her trunk and let out another loud trumpet. "I'm going to take that as a yes," I said. "And here I go." My brain told my feet to move. At first, they didn't. But then they did. Never taking my eyes off Elsie, I starting creeping toward the ball. "So Elsie, want to hear a joke?" I asked. "Jokes always make me feel happy. Here it is. What's the best time to go to the dentist? Give up? Tooth-hurty." Elsie didn't move a muscle. I guess she didn't get the joke. That made sense. I mean, elephants don't spend a lot of time in the dentist's chair. Elsie watched carefully as I took the last few steps toward the ball. "I'm going to pass the ball to you, very gently," I explained. "And then you pass the ball back to me, very, very, very gently. We humans