‘Are you saying that from experience?’
‘Indeed I am.’ He stopped tapping on Hugo’s leg and held his hand still, so the elephant knew to stop. ‘I’ve had to change my clothes more than once.’
‘Would you like me to open the door?’ she asked.
‘No, it’s heavy. I’ll get it, just stand where you are. He won’t move until I tell him to.’
‘Did you teach him that? How to walk beside you?’
‘No, he was taught all that long before I met him,’ he said, walking to the door. ‘But I was taught what to do before I bought him.’
‘By Clem?’
Surprised that she remembered the name of the man at the docks in Africa, he nodded. ‘Yes, by Clem. He was Hugo’s only friend, and it was hard to separate them, but Clem knew that Hugo’s days would be numbered if he stayed where he was.’
‘So did you, which is why you bought him,’ she said.
He unlatched the metal door lock. ‘True, and I believe, if given the choice, that you’d save an elephant, too.’
‘I’ll never have that opportunity.’
‘Never say never,’ he said, swinging open the door.
The cheer that filled the air revealed the excitement of the people waiting outside.
Turning about, Drake asked, ‘Ready?’
Smiling brightly, Meridith nodded. ‘Yes.’
He looked at Hugo, and said, ‘Showtime, big boy.’
Chapter Six
Meridith turned out to be an excellent assistant, and Drake felt his admiration for her growing by leaps and bounds. Once they, along with Hugo, had arrived at the fence where the onlookers were gathered, he’d instructed her to use the solid iron pipes to climb up beside him, then he’d lifted her onto Hugo’s back, where she calmly sat while he explained to the audience that anyone who rode Hugo had to be calm and sit still. That they couldn’t hit, kick, or pull on the fine hairs that they would see once they were on the elephant’s back.
He went over several other safety rules, then upon seeing Michael and Rosemary, along with Lady Montgomery in the crowd, he called them forward, with Adam and Thomas.
Meridith remained on Hugo’s back and helped each of the boys get seated, one on each side of her and kept her arms around them as he slowly encouraged Hugo to take a short walk along the fence so others could witness the adventure.
He’d spoken to Mr Andrews, the Zoo’s main caretaker, about having a saddle or howdah built before providing too many rides, and had created a simple design for a local saddle shop to create one. It should arrive this week, but from the looks of the crowd, with or without a howdah, Hugo would be providing a large number of rides today.
Before long, Mr Ratnam arrived. The tall, thin man with a long face and quiet voice had been the first caretaker that Hugo had taken a liking to, so Mr Ratnam was now the main one to take care of the elephant. Between the two of them, and Meridith, who remained atop Hugo to hold children in place and make sure they abided by the rules that Drake had laid out, they gave rides for well over an hour.
‘Hugo is getting tired,’ Drake told the crowd. ‘We are going to have to stop for today, but a schedule will be posted by the gate in the coming days, so everyone will be aware of the next time rides will be offered. Thank you all for obeying the rules, and we hope you enjoy the rest of the animals at the zoo.’
The crowd applauded while he climbed back up on the fence to assist Meridith down. Once she was on the ground, he asked, ‘How was it?’
Her face was all aglow, making her look prettier than ever. ‘Wonderful,’ she said. ‘The children loved it!’
‘What about you?’
‘It was amazing,’ she said. ‘And yes, I loved it, too! Thank you so much.’
‘I’m glad to hear that and thank you for being such an amazing assistant.’
‘I’ll gladly volunteer anytime, any day, to help again. When will you create the schedule?’
‘I’ll leave that up to Mr Andrews and Mr Ratnam,’ Drake replied. ‘Hugo will do fine without me.’
