E is for Elephant

E is for Elephant

The ones with big ears come from Africa. Marlon said so. Marlon knew everything. They have really long memories, he said. It made me think of Granddad. His ears were enormous. I think when you get really old your ears grow massive. They didn’t help his hearing though, but his memory was good. Just like an elephant's. He never seemed to tire of telling me stories about what he did when he was a boy. Sometimes I think he made some of it up. Like the time he said he went looking for gold with Digger Jones and ended up getting chased by pirates. You don’t have adventures like that anymore, he said. It’s all mobile phones and iPads now. Nobody does anything now. It’s all virtual. All the Digger's are long gone. 

They’ll be extinct one day Marlon explained. One day there’ll just be one elephant left in the whole universe. I wondered what that would feel like, being the last one of something. Being all alone. Marlon put me straight on that one. He said it wouldn’t get lonely ‘cos it would have all its memories to keep it company. Just like Granddad sitting in his favourite armchair, eyes closed and being chased by pirates.