Patricia Stoltey

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Eloise the Eccentric Elephant

April 5, 2013 By: Patricia

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.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge
 The ABCs of Behavior and Emotions

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To learn more about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge, visit the official challenge blog and check out the list of over 1,800 participants.

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Comments

  1. Anstice Potts says

    April 7, 2013 at 5:18 am

    Ha ha, this is hilarious! I think Eloise might be my soul-mate. Shame she got eaten in the end!

  2. Hilary Melton-Butcher says

    April 7, 2013 at 4:40 am

    Hi Pat .. that’s a great story .. loved the content and the ending – poor old Eloise!

    Cheers Hilary

  3. Silvia Villalobos says

    April 5, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    Oh, my, what a way to go. 🙂 Well written piece and quite the twist there. Kept my attention.
    Silvia @ Silvia Writes

  4. Julie Flanders says

    April 5, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    Oh my goodness, I wasn’t expecting the crocs. Great twist but poor Eloise!

    Enjoy your weekend! 🙂

  5. LD Masterson says

    April 5, 2013 at 12:57 pm

    Aw, eaten by crocs? Really? Poor Eloise.

  6. Julie Luek says

    April 5, 2013 at 10:57 am

    Eloise– wow.. I was all ready for a nice little moral about being true to ourselves when, snap, that idea got digested in the bellies of crocs. Nice twist!

  7. Alex J. Cavanaugh says

    April 5, 2013 at 6:48 am

    And was eaten by crocodiles – funny!

  8. Margot Kinberg says

    April 5, 2013 at 6:10 am

    Pat – Oh, poor Eloise! I do have sympathy for the way she thinks about things differently. But I suppose even an eccentric non-concomformist has to do some things the way others do…

Meet Patricia

I read, I write, I blog, and sometimes I do the laundry and cook. My 2014 novel, Dead Wrong, was a finalist in the thriller category of the 2015 Colorado Book Awards. Wishing Caswell Dead (Five Star/Cengage, December 20, 2017) is a historical mystery set in 1830s Illinois in the fictitious Village of Sangamon. The novel was a finalist for the 2018 Colorado Book Awards for General Fiction. Read More…

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