Zoe’s Tale PART I Chapter Four

solelyow me tell you ab let on that jade elephant.My contracts name my biological fixs name was Cheryl Boutin. She died when I was five she was hiking with a friend and she fell. My memories of her be what youd expect them to be stuporous fragments from a five-year-old precede, supported by a precious few pictures and videos. They werent that some(prenominal) better when I was younger. Five is a bad succession to leave out a generate, and to imagine forward to to telephone her for who she was.One thing I had from her was a stuffed version of Babar the elephant that my mother gave to me on my fourth birthday. I was sick that day, and had to full stop in bed all day long. This did not make me happy, and I let everyone know it, because that was the kind of four-year-old I was. My mother surprised me with the Babar doll, and wherefore we cuddled up together and she read Babars stories to me until I fell asleep, lying crosswise her. Its my strongest memory of her, even now not so much how she vistaed, alone the low and warm sound of her voice, and the softness of her belly as I lay against her and drifted off, her stroking my head. The sensation of my mother, and the feeling of discern and comfort from her.I miss her. Still do. Even now. Even remunerate now.After my mother died I couldnt go anywhere without Babar. He was my connection to her, my connection to that love and comfort I didnt dedicate anymore. Being outside from Babar meant being a representation from what I had left of her. I was five years old. This was my way of discourse my loss. It kept me from falling into myself, I gestate. Five is a bad age to lose your mother, like I say I think it could be a good age to lose yourself, if youre not missionful.Shortly later on(prenominal) my mothers funeral, my father and I left capital of Arizona, where I was born, and go to Covell, a set station orbiting above a planet called Omagh, where he did research. Occasionally his tra nsmission line had him leave Covell on business trips. When that happened I stayed with my friend Kay Greene and her p arnts. One judgment of conviction my father was leaving on a trip he was running game late and forgot to pack Babar for me. When I figured this out (it didnt take long), I started to cry and panic. To placate me, and because he did love me, you know, he promised to bring me a Celeste doll when he returned from his trip. He asked me to be brave until indeed. I said I would, and he kissed me and told me to go play with Kay. I did.While he was away, we were attacked. It would be a very long time before I would master my father again. He remembered his promise, and brought me a Celeste. It was the first thing he did when I saw him.I still abide her. and I dont have Babar.In time, I became an orphan. I was adopted by keister and Jane, who I call Dad and Mom, but not Father and Mother, because those I keep for Charles and Cheryl Boutin, my first parents. John and J ane understand this well copious. They dont mind that I make the distinction.Before we moved to Huckleberry just before Jane and I went to a mall in Phoenix City, the capital city of Phoenix. We were on our way to get ice cream when we passed a toy store I ran in to play hide-and-seek with Jane. This went smashingly until I went galvanic pile an gangway with stuffed animals in it, and came construction-to-face with Babar. Not my Babar, of course. But one close enough to him that all I could do was stop and stare.Jane came up rotter me, which meant she couldnt see my face. Look, she said. Its Babar. Would you like one to go with your Celeste doll? She reached over and picked one out of the bin.I screamed and slapped it out of her hand and ran out of the toy store. Jane caught up with me and held me temporary hookup I sobbed, cradling me against her shoulder, stroking my head like my mother did when she read the Babar stories to me on my birthday. I cried myself out and and so when I was done, I told her intimately the Babar my mother had given me.Jane understood why I didnt want another Babar. It wasnt right to have a new one. It wouldnt be right to put something on top of those memories of her. To pretend that another Babar could replace the one she gave me. It wasnt the toy. It was everything about the toy.I asked Jane not to tell John about Babar or what had just happened. I was feeling out of sorts enough having just gone to pieces in bearing of my new mom. I didnt want to drag my new dad into it too. She promised. And then she gave me a hug and we went to get ice cream, and I just about made myself throw up eating an entire banana split. Which to my eight-year-old mind was a good thing. Truly, an eventful day all around.A workweek later Jane and I were standing on the observation deck of the CDFS Amerigo Vespucci, gross(a) down at the blue and green world named Huckleberry, where we would live the remnant of our lives, or so we sight. John ha d just left us, to take care of some outlive-minute business before we took our shuttle trip down to atomic number 42 City, from where we would go to New Goa, our new home. Jane and I were holding pass on and pointing out surface features to each other, trying to see if we could see Missouri City from geostationary orbit. We couldnt. But we made good guesses.I have something for you, Jane said to me, after we decided where Missouri City would be, or ought to be, anyway. Something I wanted to give you before we landed on Huckleberry.I bank its a puppy, I said. Id been hinting in that direction for a couple of weeks.Jane laughed. No puppies she said. At least not until were actually settled in. Okay?Oh, all right, I said, disappointed.No, its this, Jane said. She reached into her pocket to pull out a silver orbit with something that was a pale green at the end.I took the chain and looked at the pendant. Its an elephant, I said.It is, Jane said. She knelt down so that she and I we re face-to-face. I bought it on Phoenix just before we left. I saw it in a blackleg and it made me think of you.Because of Babar, I said.Yes, Jane said. But for other reasons, too. Most of the quite a little who live on Huckleberry are from a country on creation called India, and many of them are Hindu, which is a religion. They have a god called Ganesh, who has the head of an elephant. Ganesh is their god of intelligence, and I think youre pretty smart. Hes also the god of beginnings, which makes sense, too.Because were offset our lives here, I said.Right, Jane said. She took the pendant and necklace from me and put the silver chain around my neck, attachment it in the back. Theres also the saying that an elephant never stops. Have you heard it? I nodded. John and I are proud to be your parents, Zoe. Were happy youre better of our life now, and will help us make our life to come. But I know neither of us would want you ever to forget your mother and father.She drew back and then touched the pendant, gently. This is to actuate you how much we love you, Jane said. But I hope it will also remind you how much your mother and father loved you, too. Youre loved by 2 sets of parents, Zoe. Dont forget about the first because youre with us now.I wont, I said. I promise. The last reason I wanted to give you this was to continue the tradition, Jane said. Your mother and your father each gave you an elephant. I wanted to give you one, too. I hope you like it.I love it, I said, and then launched myself into Jane. She caught me and hugged me. We hugged for a while, and I cried a little bit too. Because I was eight years old, and I could do that.I eventually unhugged myself from Jane and looked at the pendant again. What is this made of? I asked.Its jade, Jane said.Does it mean anything? I asked.Well, Jane said, I suppose it means I think jade is pretty.Did Dad get me an elephant, too? I asked. Eight-year-olds can strike into acquisition mode pretty quickly.I dont know, Jane said. I havent talked to him about it, because you asked me not to. I dont think he knows about the elephants.Maybe hell figure it out, I said.Maybe he will, Jane said. She stood and took my hand again, and we looked out at Huckleberry once more. close a week and a half later, after we were all moved in to Huckleberry, Dad came through the door with something small and squirmy in his hands.No, it wasnt an elephant. lend oneself your heads, people. It was a puppy.I squealed with glee which I was allowed to do, eight at the time, remember and John handed the puppy to me. It immediately tried to lick my face off.Aftab Chengelpet just weaned a litter from their mother, so I thought we might give one of the puppies a home, Dad said. You know, if you want. Although I dont pass you having any enthusiasm for such a creature. We could always give it back.Dont you dare, I said, between puppy licks.All right, Dad said. Just remember hes your responsibility. Youll have to feed h im and exercise him and take care of him.I will, I said.And shorten him and pay for his college, Dad said.What? I said.John, Mom said, from her chair, where she had been reading.Never mind those last two, Dad said. But you will have to give him a name.I held the puppy at arms length to get a good look at him he continued to try to lick my face from a distance and wobbled in my grip as his tails momentum moved him around. What are some good dog names? I asked.Spot. Rex. Fido. Champ, Dad said. Those are the cliche names, anyway. Usually people try to go for something more memorable. When I was a kid I had a dog my dad called Shiva, undoer of Shoes. But I dont think that would be appropriate in a community of former Indians. Maybe something else. He pointed to my elephant pendant. I notice you calculate to be into elephants these days. You have a Celeste. Why not call him Babar?From behind Dad I could see Jane look up from her reading to look at me, remembering what happened at the toy store, waiting to see how I would react.I burst out laughing.So thats a yes, Dad said, after a minute.I like it, I said. I hugged my new puppy, and then held him out again.Hello, Babar, I said.Babar gave a happy little bark and then peed all over my shirt.And thats the story of the jade elephant.