| short fiction |
becomes uncomfortable and awkward. Alice has acknowledged his elephant in the room. Things begin to change for Martin, now. Alice is a fixture in his life, to his great pleasure, but she refuses to allow him to leave Kala anywhere. It infuriates him. The deeper he falls in love with Alice, the closer she grows to Kala, and the more she introduces her to the rest of Martin’s friends. Whenever they meet friends to go out, she insists that they run their hands over Kala’s trunk, or feel how gentle her touch is. Kala, of course, enjoys the attention. She grows jubilant around Alice and Martin’s friends, and they enjoy her company, but Martin remains anxious. Every night, now, Martin scurries around his house cleaning. Every night, she follows him through the cluttered rooms without disturbing anything and eventually nudges him towards sleep, despite his protests and attempts to rearrange the coffee cups and furniture he is sure she has moved. Kala is Martin’s elephant in the room, and charming as she may be, she is too big. He loves Alice, and she seems to love him and Kala, so he tries to tolerate the anxiety her presence creates. Although he doesn’t understand it, he recognizes that his friends treat him better the more they see of his elephant. Still, as they see her more, she grows, and he must do more and more to keep his life undisturbed by her footsteps. The situation is unsustainable for Martin’s poor mind. To him, she has grown wild. He can’t predict what she will do next, or when she will hurt or disturb someone. He tiptoes
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