logs of milk

The elephants paused to drink, ripping bark off of nearby trees. Men with guns had been chasing them for days, and the giants could not afford to dally.

The male’s tusks gleamed in the moonlight, meters-long logs of milk-white ivory. With a look of his weeping eye he conveyed his plan; with a flick of his trunk he caressed the face of his young calf before charging back, the way they had come. His mate lifted her trunk in farewell, then trotted off along a path of hard-baked clay.

The calf watched until its father’s shadow melded into the background of night, then turned to follow its mother. Soon - too soon - the mother heard the sounds of angry trumpeting, and sustained gunfire.

americanifesto / JPR / whorphan / 場黑麥