“You okay?” he said.
She nodded and, when she could breathe again without coughing, said, “It’s harder than I thought.”
“It takes practice. Hold on, I want to try something.” He moved toward the elephants, who were soaking near the center of the pond like submerged boulders.
“Pepper, come,” he said. Pepper lifted her head and seemed to float toward him. He gestured toward Lilly and Pepper swam in her direction and emerged next to her at the edge of the pond, water dripping from her wide head and body, like a barge rising from the deep.
Lilly reached out to touch Pepper’s trunk. “Hi, beautiful.”
Pepper wrapped her trunk around Lilly’s waist and picked her up, pulling her off the bottom of the pond. Lilly gasped with delight and put a hand on Pepper’s forehead for balance. Pepper lifted her over her head and placed her on the back of her neck. Cole’s eyes went wide with surprise.
“Did you give the lift command?” he said.
“No,” she said. “I thought about it, but she did it before I could say anything.”
“That’s amazing! I’ve never seen her do anything without being told.”
Lilly smiled. “Maybe she likes me.”
“Of course she does.”
Cole swam over to Petunia, who was up to her shoulders in the water, and climbed on. He steered her toward the middle of the pond and Pepper followed. Lilly hung on to Pepper’s ears, lolling from side to side as the water washed up and over her legs and waist. She felt perfectly safe because, somehow, she knew Pepper was aware of her limitations. JoJo and Flossie came too. Moonlight reflected off the rippling waves as the massive gray beasts moved gracefully across the pond, lined up one after the other in their own private parade. The only sounds were the elephant’s grunts and snorts, and water lapping against their bodies.
Cole looked over his shoulder and smiled at Lilly, but neither said a word. She felt like she had died and gone to heaven. Her heart felt about to burst with happiness and awe. Never in a million years did she think she’d be riding an elephant across a pond. It felt like a dream.
Cole turned Petunia back to the other shore, and when the water was shallow enough, he slid down from her back. Lilly did the same, and Cole was there to catch her.
“Come here,” he said. “I want to try something else.” He took her hand, pulled her toward the shoreline, and looked back at the elephants. “Pepper, come.” Pepper did as she was told and followed them out of the pond. Cole stopped on the grassy bank and Pepper came to a halt beside him. “Steady,” he said to her.
“What are you doing?” Lilly said. She squeezed the water out of her hair and looked around for her dress. When she saw it, she picked it up and held it out, trying to figure out which end was up.
“Never mind about that right now,” Cole said. “I need you to come over here.”
Lilly dropped the dress and went to his side. “What?”
“Stand in front of Pepper and give the command ‘back.’” He positioned Lilly in front of the waiting animal.
“Why?” Lilly said. “What are you—”
“Just humor me, okay?”
Lilly shrugged, looked at Pepper, and said, “Back.”
Pepper moved back.
“Now say, ‘Go on,’” Cole said.
“Go on,” Lilly said. Pepper moved forward.
Cole grinned. “Tell her to stand up.”
“Why?” Lilly said. “I don’t understand the point of me telling her what to do. She’s a trained circus elephant. She knows all the commands.”
“Standing on their hind legs is uncomfortable for elephants. Pepper’s trainer and I have a hard time getting her to do it. Most of the time she refuses.”
Lilly regarded Pepper. She didn’t want to tell her to do anything. Pepper wasn’t supposed to be here, in this remote field in the middle of Iowa. She was supposed to be free, wandering through rainforests and jungles, not shackled to a post, traveling all over the country inside a boxcar, or doing tricks for a tent full of oblivious rubes. Every time she was with the elephants, Lilly imagined she could feel their sadness as if it were her own. Not just Pepper’s, but Flossie’s and Petunia’s and JoJo’s too, even though he had no idea what he was missing.
In the moonlight, she could see the scars from the bull hook on Pepper’s head and shoulders. She could see the welts on her ankles from the chains. She could see the pain and sorrow in her intelligent amber eyes. With something that felt like lead in her heart, she knew there was nothing she could do to help them beyond showing them kindness whenever possible.
“I don’t want her to do something that makes her uncomfortable,” she said.
“It doesn’t hurt her,” Cole said. “It’s just difficult, like us standing on our heads.”
Lilly sighed. As long as it didn’t injure Pepper, she supposed there was no harm in going along with Cole’s game. Then Pepper could get back to swimming. She opened her mouth to tell her to stand, but before she could utter the word, Pepper lifted her front feet and stood on her hind legs.
Cole’s mouth fell open. “Holy shit!” he said. “How’d you do that?”
“How did I do what?”
“I didn’t hear you give the command.”
“How do I tell her to get down?”
Before Cole could answer, Pepper dropped her front feet and went back to standing on all fours.
Cole laughed. “That’s incredible! She’ll do anything for you. It’s like she can read your mind or something.” He called Flossie out of the pond. She came out and stood on the grass. “Tell her to lie down.”
Lilly shook her head. “I don’t want to,” she said. “I don’t like making them perform. Let them go back in the pond. They were having fun.”
“Just one more time,” Cole said. “Then we’ll stop.”
Lilly told Flossie to lie down. Flossie dropped to her elbows and knees, then rolled over on her side.
“I knew it!” Cole shouted.
“Knew what?”
“Flossie hates lying down. I have no idea what it is or how it works, but after what you did with that zebra and these elephants today, I have no doubt you have a gift, Lilly. It’s real. And after we show Mr. Barlow, you won’t have to be The Albino Medium anymore.”
Lilly made a face. She didn’t have a gift. The elephants liked and trusted her. That was all. Her cat, Abby, used to be the same way. She did what Lilly wanted because they loved and trusted each other. Maybe people didn’t give animals enough credit. They were smarter and had more feelings than anyone realized. “You’re out of your mind. Besides, Mr. Barlow already has an elephant trainer.”
“Yeah, but you saw how he trains the bulls with chains and ropes. And the only way the trainer knows how to make them mind is by using a bull hook.”
Lilly dug a toe into the grass, trying to sort through her feelings. Even if she didn’t believe what Cole was saying, maybe she could make the elephants’ lives easier by getting them to do tricks without being beaten or tortured. “Okay. Let’s say you’re right. How are we going to convince Mr. Barlow? And what about Merrick?”