Note:  I’m traveling this weekend and won’t have much access to the Internet. I’ll catch up on blog visits and comments starting Monday evening when I return.

Eloise the Eccentric Elephant

“I’ve lost my herd again,” Eloise complained. “I’m so absent-minded.”

“It’s not just that you’re absent-minded,” said Herman the Helpful Heron, “you’re also a distracted, poorly attired non-conformist.”

“Poorly attired? What do you mean?”

“Eloise, darling, you have mud caked in your wrinkles and a dead fish hanging from one of your tusks. I don’t think you’ve bathed in more than a month.”

“Perhaps,” Eloise said as she splashed into the river and sprayed herself all over. “Is that better?”

“A little,” said Herman. “But there’s more. All the other elephants have wonderful memories. You can’t remember which direction you were supposed to go to keep up with your herd, sometimes you forget to eat, and yesterday you attempted to talk a giraffe into hoisting you into a tree so you could see farther in all directions. You should know a giraffe cannot lift an elephant, and it’s just silly to think of an elephant in a tree.”

Eloise shrugged. “It was worth a try.”

“Look,” said Herman (because he was a very helpful heron), I’ll find the herd and then come back to get you. But you need to promise me you’ll do better in the future. I won’t always be here to bail you out.”

“Okay, I promise.”

But as soon as Herman wobbled into the sky and soared away, Eloise decided to have a little un-elephant like fun. She sat down in the mud, skidded down the bank into the muddy water squealing “Whee,” all the way, and was eaten by crocodiles.

Sometimes being an eccentric non-conformist and not following the crowd is a good thing…but for Eloise, it was a terrible mistake.

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