3
WWhile the elephants were eating, I turned and ran out of the zoo. I drove to the nearest supermarket and bought out their entire produce section.
Mangosteens, apples, bananas, papayas, cabbages–I bought as much as I could and had the store deliver it all to the zoo’s food prep area.
Soon, the storage room was overflowing with fresh food. My coworkers stared in disbelief.
ignored them, filled three large baskets with fruits and vegetables, and carried them one by one to the elephant enclosure.
When I poured the fresh produce into their pen, all the elephants froze. They had been chewing on the dry, tasteless hay, completely unprepared for the sudden boun-
- ty.
“Go on, eat up! There’s plenty more,” I urged with a smile, tossing a mangosteen towards the old elephant.
He didn’t react in time, and it landed on the ground in front of him. The fruit split open, its juicy white flesh quivering like jelly, releasing a sweet, fragrant aroma.
The old elephant stared at the mangosteen. He slowly curled his trunk around it, bringing it close to his eyes, examining it as if he couldn’t believe it was real.
Finally, he looked at me.
I waved. “Go on, it’s sweet!”
Drool trickled from the corner of his mouth. In a flash, he popped the entire mangosteen into his mouth. For the first time, I saw an expression of pure, unadulterated satisfaction on an animal’s face.
The other elephants went wild, devouring the fruits and vegetables as if they hadn’t eaten in a decade. I had to make three more trips with baskets overflowing with produce to keep them from starting a frenzy.
