Element 58

Dimitri pulled his arms out from two tubes these had rubber gloves attached to the ends and were fixed into a glass screen, which enabled him to handle very dangerous material safely. He was satisfied he'd chosen the correct chemical formula and that the green soup bubbling away behind its protective screen would once stabilised, make a very useful additive for food and plastics. He could now enjoy a well earned coffee break.

He found his brief case, opened it and took out a flask of coffee, that Olger his wife had prepared. Gazing around his laboratory, he wished that just once he could invent or discover something that people actually liked. But sadly, most of Dimitri's discoveries and inventions just frightened people.

Dimitri's melancholic mood grew as he drunk the coffee and remembered how the news papers had called him names like Dimitri Strange love or Dimitri Frankenstein, and how badly people had reacted when he'd managed to invent the End Of Everything Machine.

Still this was not the time for self pity thought Dimitri. I've got an additive to invent. He went back to his experiment and slid perhaps a little to fast for his own good, his hands into the protective gloves. A long nail on his thumb accidentally went straight through a glove and made a hole. Having made contact with the chemical soup, a blue dot appeared on the back of the sharp nail. “Oh no” exclaimed Dimitri, wishing he'd kept his long nails trimmed.

After ten minutes of frantic hand washing, Dimitri examined the thumb which had contacted the chemical. He noticed the tiny blue dot seemed to be moving about under his nail, He searched about his laboratory looking for a pair of scissors Finally finding the scissors he cut off the thumb nail and placed it under his microscope He focused the instrument. Dimitri gasped as he watched a perfectly formed tiny blue elephant preforming circus tricks.

Dimitri looked up from the microscope . He gazed around the laboratory, wondering if he might be having hallucinations. He looked back down through the lens of his microscope, the little blue elephant was still there as clear as day, standing on a little drum and spinning a little hoop with his trunk.

Dimitri pondered the quantum frequency variables. He had added a couple of grains of his Element 58 to his additive mixture. He had discovered that anything placed in his End Of Everything Machine, would turn into a few grains of this Element 58 He had been sad when George the Ginnie Pig had turned into Element 58. Was it possible he thought that maybe George had somehow frozen into the the element 58 matrix, and then when warmed up in his additive mixture been reborn as this tiny blue elephant. “George is that you” ? called Dimitri. The tiny blue elephant made a trumpeting sound which Dimitri heard as a tiny squeak. “How you doing old friend” said Dimitri.

Of course, George the ex ginnie pig turned little blue elephant, could not speak to answer Dimitri's question, but the element 58 must have also given George the tiny blue elephant certain literary skills. He started writing letters in the air with his trunk. Dimitri took out his note pad and pen , as George spelled out WHERE ARE MY SUPPORTING ACTS and ARE YOU MY ENTIRE AUDIENCE ?

DR Boris Victor was the first person Dimitri told. Dimitri burst into Victor's laboratory breathless. DR Boris Victor looked annoyed, he had been on the verge of solving five across in Science Daily. “What is it man ?”he said.
“You must come and see”
“See what” ?
“My tiny preforming elephant”.
“Your what” ?
Dimitri grabbed the sleeve of Victors white coat and started tugging the confused scientist towards the door. “OK OK” said Victor. Reluctantly Victor followed Dimitri to see what all the fuss was about.

The Professor soon forgot all about his crossword puzzle. The tiny elephant certainly was entertaining. After a while, Dimitri grew impatient and wanted another look though his microscope, but Professor Boris Victor was having none of it !
“What's he doing now” ? enquired Dimitri
“He is riding a unicycle across a high wire with no safety net” replied the Professor.

News of George the ex ginnie pig turned little blue elephant spread quickly and soon Dimitri and George was on the front of magazines across the world. They were invited for interviews on television and special microscope cameras were used to beam George's amazing shows into a million homes.

Now everyone loved Dimitri . Articles were written suggesting that now instead of destroying the world Dimitri might just be saving it, by making people forget their differences. After all, they reasoned who wants to fight silly wars when they could be sitting at home watching George the tiny blue elephant on television instead.