Cookoo Charlie's Animal Alphabet - Elephant

Elephant

(For Tan)

Two days ago, she watched her eldest son wed his love. This morning, her brother found her slumped over in her favorite chair. Sometime during the evening, she awoke and went into the living room, as she was prone to do during her restless nights. The front door was open and a cigarette was snubbed out in the ashtray.

In front of her, on the bottom shelf of the coffee table, a boy named Charlie, along with his beagle and another boy named Mowgli battled a python called Kaa and Shere Kahn, the terrible tiger.

Topside, the rest of the Peanuts gallery, along with Mowgli’s animal friends, observed the action. Baloo the bear, Mowgli’s best friend, recorded it in his jungle book. Off to their left, on the entertainment center, Belle, her Beast and their friends gathered to the left of the television, flanking the right was Dorothy, her dog, Toto and their Oz friends.

At the time of her passing, nearly a hundred butterflies entered the living room. For a few seconds, they hovered over her and then descended to cover her body.

After a couple minutes, an elephant’s head appeared above her. It was the Lady Lorraine, mother to all elephants. “Come with me, my child,” said lady Lorraine, ‘it’s time for you to join the ranks of my healing herd.”

With that the butterflies broke their cluster, rose and formed a protective circle around their loved one. With the gentle care of a loving mother, Lady Lorraine wrapped her trunk around her child, her… daughter, and waited momentarily as Tan’s spirit exited her body and clung to her mother’s trunk.

With a satisfied smile, Lady Lorraine ascended through the ceiling; a wondrous winged procession trailing behind her.

Tan’s family couldn’t explain the disappearance of all the butterflies that made up her bathroom’s décor.