Short Story: The Elephant
Stella and Mina were sitting in a cozy café on the main square of Siena, basking in the autumn sunshine. They had been returning to this spot every year for the past forty years to celebrate their birthdays. Stella's was in September, while Mina's was at the beginning of October.
They had been friends since they were five, attending kindergarten together in the southern part of Siena. Their parents met at a Mother's Day celebration and became close friends. At this event, Stella's father admitted that Stella was named after a Belgian beer brand, something her mother only found out later. Mina's mother sharply interjected, ensuring her husband could hear, that Mina was named after Taormina in Sicily, the place of her first and only great love.
The relationship between Mina's parents was tense; her father had cheated on her mother while she was pregnant with Mina. Later on, more affairs came to light, including one with Stella's mother. The girls only discovered this as adults when, after Stella's mother's death, they were clearing out her apartment and found photos of the two from 1987. Fortunately, this revelation didn't shake their friendship. No matter where life took them, they always met in Siena each year.
Mina smiled at Stella, who sat quietly across from her in tattered jeans and a stylish checked men's shirt. Whenever they met, neither felt the need to dress up or spend long hours putting on makeup, trying to present their best, most successful face. They knew each other's past and present, even if they now spoke less frequently, maybe two or three times a month, on the phone or on Skype. Stella was in a band that toured constantly, turning mantras into songs and writing meditative music. Mina worked in the banking sector but hadn't made a particularly big career and didn't intend to.
She had seen what the pursuit of career did to Stella's father and her own. When they were cast aside by the very machine that had once embraced them in their fifties, both men broke down. Stella's father began to drink heavily, drowning his anger and disappointment in alcohol. He died five years later from untreated lung disease.
Mina's father always lamented that a career was an unfaithful lover. Mina often thought to herself that he was just as unfaithful to her mother. At the age of fifty-two, he was replaced at the helm of a prosperous architectural firm, known for big state contracts. From then on, he only got smaller projects for residential homes or apartment modifications, which he looked down on and didn't put his heart into. His negligence eventually led to a lawsuit, which nearly wiped out all their wealth.
'Where have you been lately? We haven't talked for about three weeks,' Mina began.
'We had concerts in England, and then we were in Japan.'
'Wow! That must've been exciting,' Mina replied, a hint of envy in her smile.
'How's everything on your end? How's Ron?' Stella inquired about Mina's husband.
'He's good. It seems he's getting a big job. He has to set up an entire chain of stores in Southeast Asia. They plan to open two hundred stores in China, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan over two years.'
'I never thought there was such potential in furniture,' Stella said, a look of surprise evident on her face.
'Neither did I. In any case, he'll be traveling a lot, so I'll be alone with the kids.'
'How's school?'
'Well, I don't know. Tom's enjoying it, but I'm not so sure about Gizelle. I feel she's not finding her place, and just like at home, Tom overshadows her. I don't know how difficult it is for other families, but with twins, every problem always seems doubled,' Mina said with a tired smile.
'It's no better elsewhere. Every time I talk to my mother, she always says there's some problem with Gaia. She doesn't eat enough, she screams, she's always in a hurry. As I see it, she's just being a kid, but my sister and mom can't seem to understand that.'
'So, she is just like her aunt,' Mina laughed. 'I still remember when they took us to the circus. What a fuss you caused, running around the edge of the ring, waving and bowing to everyone, as if you were the one putting on the show. Your mother nearly died of embarrassment.'
Stella laughed out loud.
‘I remember. It was fun.'
'It was.'
Mina went quiet for a moment, then continued.
'Do you remember the elephant too? The huge one that came with the circus?'
'Yes, I remember. You could take photos with it before the performance.'
'I recall the trainer telling a child that when elephants are young, their legs are chained to a sturdy peg they can't pull out. As they grow up, this early experience makes them believe they can't remove the peg, even though they eventually become strong enough to do so. Yet, in adulthood, they never even think to try.
'I remember. It was a sad story.'
Mina nodded. She often wondered what would happen if that powerful animal realized its strength and just left.