Read Online Tua and the Elephant by R. P. Harris - Free Book Online Page B

behind her on the right.
    The driver hopped out of the cab, climbed up on the bumper, opened the hood, and peeredinside. Then he hopped down and came around the cab, scratching his head.
    “What’s the matter?” asked Tua through the slats.
    “I’ve lost a hose.”
    “Oh,” Tua said. “Can I help you find it?”
    Just then a motorcycle with sidecar approached, slowed as if intending to offer help, then sped away and took the turnoff just ahead. The riders were wearing bright bubble helmets with black tinted visors that looked like a dragonfly’s eyes.
    “It must have fallen off,” said the driver, turning back to Tua. “I’ll have to go back to look for it. You can wait here or walk the rest of the way on foot. The sanctuary isn’t much farther.”
    Pohn-Pohn rocked her head and tossed her trunk over her shoulder.
    “We’ll walk, I think, kha,” Tua said. “Which way is it?”
    “Maybe three or four miles up that river.” He pointed to the valley. “The road’s just there. But youmight want to take the path instead, on account of the logging trucks.”
    “Logging trucks?” Tua curled her arm around Pohn-Pohn protectively. “I think we better take the path.”
    After backing out of the truck, Pohn-Pohn led Tua down the rocky embankment and onto the path below. They entered a bamboo grove and passed a riot of ferns and plants with leaves as big as an elephant’s ears. A swaying coconut palm stretched so high into the blue sky it made Tua dizzy to look at it. An orchard of banana trees lined one side of the path, and papaya trees stood at ease on the other. Mangos dangled from trees like gaudy baubles. Then they stepped out into a field of corn that grew twice as high as Pohn-Pohn’s back.
    Pohn-Pohn reached out her trunk, plucked off an ear, and popped it in her mouth.
    “Stop that,
chang,
” shouted a voice.
    Tua dropped the mango she was about to bite into and kicked it aside with her foot. Then she leaned over and peeked around Pohn-Pohn.
    A boy with arms crossed over his naked chest and scowling like a bat was blocking the pathway. A faded sarong reached down from his waist to the tops of his two bare feet.
    “
Sawatdee kha,
” Tua said, stepping out from behind Pohn-Pohn and bowing a
wai.
    The boy leapt into the air like a rooster and took two steps back.
    “Who are you?” he said, recovering from his surprise.
    “I’m Tua. And this is Pohn-Pohn.”
    Pohn-Pohn ignored the introduction and reached for another ear of corn.
    “Are you from the sanctuary?” the boy asked.
    “No,” Tua said. “But we would like to go there.”
    Tua was about to ask the boy for directions when she heard voices singing a chant.
    “
Hoon lai ga, hoon lai ga,
where do you find a
hoon lai ga
?”
    “Quick,” said the boy, “in here.” He parted the cornstalks like a curtain and nodded his head inside.“Hurry.
Reo reo.
”
    Tua took Pohn-Pohn’s trunk and led her inside the cornfield.
    The boy straightened the stalks as best he could and covered the hole with his back.
    “
Hoon lai ga, hoon lai ga,
what do you do with a
hoon lai ga
?”
    Tua crept back to the path and crouched down out of sight to listen and watch.
    Two children faced the boy: an older girl in a school uniform and her brother, a plump boy in a tracksuit and white sneakers. The brother kicked a dirt clod that splattered against the other boy’s legs.
    “What are you doing, scarecrow?” said the girl. “What do you do with a scarecrow that can’t even scare crows?”
    “What do you do with a scarecrow that’s ascared of crows?” said her brother.
    The two children laughed at the boy in the sarong.
    “Afraid of crows,” said the boy.
    “What?” yelped the girl.
    “It’s ‘afraid’ of crows, not ‘ascared’ of crows,” the boy in the sarong said.
    “What do you know?” whined the girl. “You’re only a
hoon lai ga.
Scarecrows don’t go to school.”
    “I know what I know,” said the boy.
    “And that’s nothing,”