White Elephant:

Simone’s Notes:

White elephant is a phrase for an unwanted or unwieldy item or project. It is the forever present sign of an unwanted burden in life. The elephant can be anything weighting down people in life. Ernest Hemingway wrote the short story, Hills Like White Elephants, the white elephant in the story is Jig’s unborn baby. But what can one do with this mighty pale elephant. There are many ways of dealing with it. But however the elephant is handled, sometimes it returned and other times it doesn’t.

Jakob, Mikey, Hunter, Ginny, and Kate all sat on the sidewalk in the neighborhood in silence one hot summer day. Kate was now four months pregnant. The morning sickness had lessened and she had to wear big t-shirt to hide her growing baby bump. The crew still didn’t know how she got that way or what she or they were going to do with the baby. Her unborn child was like a white elephant to them. Nobody wanted to talk about it, but it was there right in front of their faces. How could they? They all when in over their heads with this one. Mikey opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. There was truly nothing to say that they already knew. So what was the point of talking again? It would just be the same song again.

Then, a dark blue and green truck pulled up in front of them. The new seniors looked up to see Isaac looking right at them from inside. The man shook his head to himself in disappointment. “Aw, what’s this?” he asked aloud. “Five alpha dogs of Maywillow sitting around looking gloomy? That ain’t right! Come on! I’ll take you all out for lunch! It’ll even be on me! What say you?” They didn’t move or speak at first. It was as if the concept of eating out was new to them. Then, the kids all turned to each other as if to come up with a unanimous decision to take up on this offer Isaac had lain before them. The older brother waited patiently. Then, they turned to him. “Okay,” Gin spoke up at last. “We’ll go with you.” Jakob’s older brother smiled at them. “There ya go!” he called out. “Get in!” Then, the kids climbed into back of the truck. (Kate had to have some help getting due to the baby.) Once the kids were all boarded in, Isaac pulled out.

Isaac took the crew to the new grill restaurant. Jakob, Mikey, Hunter, Ginny, and Kate all sat in a booth together. The older brother went to go get the drinks for them. The silence was crushing on them badly. Someone had to break the silence or they would all lose it in a snap. “Well,” Mikey said at last uneasily. His friends all turned to him waiting. The boy turned to his pregnant friend. “How are you?” Kate didn’t know how to answer at first. She just gave him a little shrug. The other three just eyed him blankly. “What?” Mikey asked. “Someone has to say something here! We haven’t spoken to each other since we first gotten into this mess! Silence isn’t helping at all!” “What can we say?” Hunter asked. “We would just be going in circles again. Nobody wants that!” “But what are we going to do?” Mikey challenged. Silence came again. “Abortion is a good option.” Hunter suggested. Ginny glared at him coldly. “No!” she snapped. “Abortion is murder! It’s killing another human being before it’s born!” “And what you call this thing that Kate is carrying? It has no father!” Ginny went quiet at that one. “But who’s going to believe that she’s still a virgin and pregnant?” Jakob spoke up. “You know how bad our school is! If they cut that the new girl in the sophomore by calling her the Night Slayer, then it’ll be worse if they find out Kate’s pregnant!” “That’s right!” Hunter agreed. “My parents don’t even know!” Kate confessed softly. Her friends all turned to her shock. “You mean you haven’t told your mom and dad about your baby?” Ginny asked in surprise. The mother-to-be shook her head uneasily. “What can I tell them?” she asked. “They’ll think I was raped and have an innocent boy jailed for life.” “Good point…” Jakob mumbled softly. The seniors all sat silent again. “So what can we do?” Mikey asked. Once again, nobody knew the answer to that question. They all went quiet yet again.

On the other side of the restaurant, Yasmine was looking in a menu. She had heard the whole conversation the seniors had with each other. “So that’s where Ai-Oni’s baby is this time!” she thought. “Well, time to work again! I’ll hate this because she’s such a good girl. But a job is a job and I have to keep the balance here in the living realm!” But then, Yas felt a cold chill at her back. She froze in her spot quickly. “What is that?” she thought. The deity slowly turned to her left. Nyious sat next to her with a menu in his hands. He was dressed in a black t-shirt and jean shorts with shades. The soldier turned to her slowly. “Well, well,” he said. “Long time, no see, Yas!” The deity quickly became defensive. “Nyious!” she shouted out. “What the hell do you want?” The other deity looked as if she had hurt his feelings. “Aw come on, Yas!” he called. “Don’t be like that! You know we’re friends until we die.” Yasmine glared at him coldly. “Don’t f**k with me, Nyious!” she called. “What the hell do you want?” “Only to watch after Kate Davis,” the other deity replied. “Why?” Yasmine snapped. “So she can bear your sister’s daughter? Over my dead body you will!” “I’ wouldn’t be so concerned with Kate and the child yet if I were you!” Nyious hissed. Yas glared at him again coldly. “What the hell are you talking about?” she hissed. The deity soldier kept smiling at her. “Oh, I don’t know,” said he. “That priest, your ex, and your son?” That really hit a sensitive nerve with Yasmine. “Piss off!” she snapped in response. Ai-Oni’s brother just shrugged at her. “Suit yourself,” he replied. “They don’t have anything appetizing on the menu anyway!” Then, Nyious got up and walked away.

Yasmine put her head down on the table. “Oh shit!” she thought stressed out. Then, the hunter looked up to see a waiter standing in front of her. “Can I help you miss?” he asked. Yas froze for a moment as if to think about that question. Then she said, “One cherry soda, please.” “Yes ma’am!” the waiter called. Then, he went away to get the drink for the hunter. Yas sighed hard again. Her laundry list of things to do was like a white elephant to her and it just kept growing and growing each day.

Meanwhile outside, Nyious made it to Envy again who was sitting on the bench waiting. The homunculus didn’t bother asking how progress was going with Kate and the baby today. “She’s fine!” the deity soldier replied. “But Yasmine and her friends are going to be a bit of a problem right now.” “I see!” Envy replied as he rose to his feet. Nyious smiled to himself coldly. “That reminds me,” he went on. “I’m going to need you to see to it that Kate gets remotivated for our cause in case she decides to abort the baby.” The homunculus smiled back at him. “Gladly!” he replied. “Excellent!” Nyious called to him. Then they headed back up to the skies to watch over Kate and the baby.