elephants and falling stars

I was looking for a book as evening fell. Rummaging in boxes. then I heard it. a half cry like someone trod on someone else’s foot in the race to the waterhole. In the soft grey light, elephant shapes hurried in to the waterhole. The Breeding herd moves like one giant beast with many legs; bulls following spread out like satellites around the cows and calves. I hear mud squelching, branches cracking as the giant mammalian multi beast ploughs into the reed bed. There are rumbles, the type that reverberate against my sternum, my solar plexus, and deep sonorous ones that run along the ground and up through my feet. The excited crashing, rumbling, and leathery flapping noises subside. I worry that there is enough water here for all those thirsty elephants. A bull moves across the area infront of my house and begins to tug on a palm tree that grows outside my bedroom window. It is dark now but he is darker. I have tied cow bells to the small baobab trees that are growing here, to protect them from hungry elephants. This elephant moves between all the small trees without making a sound. He comes close to me as i stand on the stoep. The breeze is blowing straight onto him so there is no point in hiding. I start talking to him. He toys with a high branch and stays a while before sucking the tiniest bit of water out of the bird bath. Elephants are everywhere, crunching munching and pulling on trees. The stars have come out and one falls in a golden line.