Water For Elephants

When I was eight, I was going through a perpetual state of world-weariness.

My Grandad decided it would be a good time to bring me to the circus.

Though his dementia hadn't quite set in at the time, he felt certain that since the animals were locked up or heavily guarded by trainers that they would be safe.

When we got to the circus Grandad held my hand tightly.

There were bears and elephants and tigers!  After we arrived, Grandad ran into one of his friends and they talked and talked and talked.  Then, I realized that I needed to get some water to drink or I would die!  I begged Grandad to let me go and get something to drink.  He glanced around to make sure all of the animals were safe in captivity before he let me go. He handed me a dollar to buy a drink.

On the way back from the concession stand, I saw some elephants behind a tent.  I decided that they must be thirsty so I looked for water to bring to the elephants.  I searched and searched but there was no water for elephants.  I saw a bear in a cage.  Then I saw of set of keys near a circus man who was sleeping.  I decided to borrow his keys to get into the bear cage to get some water.  I would be like a superhero saving the thirsty elephants.

I unlocked the cage with one of the keys.  I stood back while the bear stepped out for some fresh air.  Then, two other bears came out of a little house and decided they needed some fresh air, too. I like bears.  I went in and picked up a bucket of water.

But, while I was walking back, I passed by the tiger's cage and thought I saw food in the cage so then I figured that the elephants would probably be hungry,too.  I still had the keys, so I opened the cage to the tigers and they decided they needed fresh air, just like the bears.  Once I was in the cage I realized that there was no food and they must be hungry.  Maybe they went to look for food.

Then, suddenly I heard screaming.  I looked up and the tigers were chasing the elephants and the bears were chasing everybody.  The elephants ran into the tent and then the tent collapsed.

A man with a tall hat was angry and screaming at me in the cage.  I figured the elephants didn't need the water anymore since they were playing with the tigers so I went to look for Grandad.  The man with the tall hat screamed at Grandad and told him to leave and for us not to come back.

I thought that was very mean of him since I tried to water his elephants for him.  I then asked Grandad if we could go to the zoo, instead.