An Elephant Bath

Wednesday Bug-a-Boo and I joined my friend A and her toddler K to go downtown and watch the circus elephants get a bath! We got there early to get a good view, and Bug-a-Boo impressed me with how patient he was. The event staff passed out bubbles, so that helped pass the time. He was fascinated by the big fire-truck blocking the road. “Tuk, tuk,” he said as he pointed to it. He even sat with a bunch of other kids and posed for a photo for the newspaper. I can’t wait to see it, and will be sure to get at least enough copies for the grandparents.

When the clowns came, he wasn’t too sure what to think. They didn’t upset him, but by then people had pushed in front of us, and I’m not sure he noticed them. Having once been a clown long ago, I appreciated their excellent make-up jobs and costumes, but was surprised at how other than the juggler, their entertaining antics were not too different than what I did long ago. You see, once I dreamed of being a clown in the circus (I’m now glad I didn’t follow through on that!), so it was exciting for me to see that I actually could have if I had wanted to. One of the jugglers juggled three clubs, which I used to be able to do as well. The clown with whom I was most impressed was the one who juggled the devil sticks. (These are not related to the devil, but are an ancient Chinese juggling form, and the name came from the Chinese name.) I once tried these and could never quite get them down, (or rather to stay up!) so I was quite impressed at the clown who not only kept them in the air, but did all kinds of tricks with them.

Finally the elephants came marching down the street. The last few were connected holding the lead’s tail with their trunks. They drank water out of huge trash cans, then were washed off with fire hoses! They appeared to really enjoy the bath, lifting their feet as if to say “Oh, yeah – get under here too!” The kids seemed to enjoy it. It was so crowded that I had to hold Bug-a-Boo to protect him from the crowd, so I didn’t get the greatest photos, but later when I showed him the photos on the camera, then on the computer, he got excited and started talking all about it in his language that I haven’t entirely yet learned to decipher. That’s a good sign, so I am sure he enjoyed it.