“That’s a conch from Turks and Caicos,” says James. “The red one’s a dried starfish from St. Thomas. Ah, and that one was a hermit crab. We watched it drop this one and move into a new home.”
“Wow, James. What a cool bunch of shells.” Elfred puts the conch down. “What made you keep them all?”
“Well, most of these I found while on vacation with Wally or my family. They help remind me of things that happened. Like, watching that hermit crab with my brother.”
“Huh, so you keep souvenirs to help you remember?”
“Yeah, doesn’t your family?”
“Well, elephants never collect, actually. I think it comes from always being on the move traditionally. Even nowadays, a lot of my friends have trouble sticking with a home or job for any length of time. It just doesn’t work to bring a lot of stuff with us.”
“How do you remember where you’ve been?”
Elfred takes a slow breath and smells the dust of the house on 108th Street, sees again red letters on his middle school locker, hears the herd moaning low at his grandmother’s wake…
“That’s not really a problem for us.” Elfred’s trunk points out a spiral shell on the windowsill. “Hey, where’s this one from?”
“Oh, that’s from Daytona Beach in Florida,” James smiles, picking up the shell and turning it around for Elfred to see. “We had gone down for a friend’s wedding and made a trip of it. The morning after the reception was the most perfect dawn.” James stares off into his memories. “Wally found this as we were walking along the water that morning.” James’s eyes droop a little as he says Wally’s name.
Elfred senses James’s sadness and moves on.
“What about this one?”
“Hmm?” asks James.
Elfred gently lifts a large sand dollar.
“Um, I don’t remember.”
“No?” Elfred looks around. “But it’s with your collection of memories?”
James laughs.
“Well, some memories are stronger than others.” James turns his palms up. “I can collect something and remember that it’s special, even if I don’t remember why.”
Elfred looks confused.
“I don’t understand that.”
James walks over and curls Elfred’s trunk around the sand dollar.
“Then you keep this. You won’t know where it’s from, but maybe it can be special because of me.”
“I’d like that,” smiles Elfred.