by Normand Lepine
“Begin by always expecting good things to happen.” – Tom Hopkins
They parked around the corner to stay out of view of the house they were coming to see. Nick and Tara had heard rumors of a large house where elephants who were not quite like the others came to hang out. The rumors were vague and the pair knew their kind were few and far between but were too intrigued to not check them out. Finding more like them to enlarge the herd was just too exciting.
Nick took the lead and started up the street toward the corner. Their plan was to walk down the cross street and get a glimpse of the house and decide how to proceed once they did. Tara was apprehensive because she wasn’t sure what they’d do once they saw the place and even less sure about what to do if the rumors were true. Neither she nor Nick were particularly well positioned in the herd and weren’t all that popular to tell the truth. Nonetheless, she was very fond of Nick and decided she’d go along to support him.
The house was even more imposing than they expected. It was built on a hill, or more accurately, into the hill. A large veranda ran across its front the entire width of the house and sat upon an impressive rock foundation that elevated it at least eight feet from the hill. A large stone sidewalk traversed the hill from the street to the massive set of stone steps leading up to the veranda. The veranda itself looked to be twenty feet deep from the short front half wall to the wall of the house itself. The front door was a heavy wooden barrier and they couldn’t imagine how they could approach it without being highly conspicuous. There were two more stories above the veranda, giving the sense of at least four stories in the front of the house. The slope of the hill, however, continued past the front of the house at a pitch that made the back of the massive house look to be only two stories in total.
There was a wide driveway that ran from the street to the top of the hill and seemed to end at the back yard. No garage and no vehicles were visible. There was a side door that was about halfway up the driveway and as they approached the house on the opposite sidewalk they saw the last bit of a large gray shape disappearing through the side door. Nick reached out to Tara using the silent communication they shared through The Collective Mind all elefae were gifted with.
“That’s where we’re going. We’ll peek in and see what’s there.”
Tara assented and they headed up the steep drive to the door. As they pulled the door open, they were taken aback by the sight inside. The landing inside the door overlooked a huge cavern that spread out as far as the light would let them see. It was more than thirty feet down and many large gray bodies were milling about. A long flight of stairs ran down from the landing along the stone wall and with just a quick glance at each other they decided to head down.
“Let’s split up when we get down there so we can cover more ground but let’s not stray too far,” whispered Nick. “And let’s be careful about using our minds.”
They separated at the bottom of the stairs and Tara began circulating in the main room. Nick, however, was intrigued by a darker area in the back of the main area where a number of elephants seemed to be congregated more closely than in the rest of the cavern. He headed in that direction. Despite his warning to Tara, Nick decided to reach out gently using The Collective Mind to see if he could contact any other elefae. There wasn’t even a whisper back and Nick was wondering if the rumors were overblown or maybe just referred to elephants who were different in other ways.
And then it hit him. His mind was seized by a heavy, crushing force and all he could do was scream silently and try to back away. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced and was nothing like The Collective Mind. He reeled and felt he was going to fall. The weight and intensity of the mysterious power was threatening to destroy his mind and he struggled to find his way to the stairs. Suddenly, he felt a gentle touch as Tara sensed his distress and reached out with her trunk. She sidled up next to him and let him lean against her.
“No mind, no mind,” he managed to murmur in warning, and let her lead him away. They labored up the long flight of stairs together, Tara leading and propping Nick up as best she could. As they climbed, the pain in his head lessened as if distance loosened the grip. They reached the top and stepped through the door into the light and away from the menacing force. Nick swayed for a moment, steadied by Tara’s bulk. His mind was clearing and the pain easing but he wanted nothing more to do with the house, its occupants, or its unknown energy.
As Nick stood outside trying to regain his strength before shuffling away he realized exactly why elephants never prospect. You never know what’s out there, and some things you don’t want joining your herd.
Normand Lepine is a father to elephants and writer of dreams. By day he works as a consulting executive with more than 30 years of experience providing service to clients and mentoring to colleagues.
(Don’t forget to check out his Medicate. – Elephants Never)