Shackled

Shackled

Carlton stared through iron bars, into the caramel eyes of their lone captive, and knew he couldn’t walk away. The grey, leathery giant swayed from side to side. The rhythmic clink of the chain tethering her broad ankles had Carlton’s eye twitching.

“Poor bloody thing” he muttered, lifting his hat and wiping the sweat from his brow. He glared at the cage and spat on the dusty earth.

He knew more than most the true cost of imprisonment.

Erin’s gentle voice. Her knowing eyes. Her selfless encouragement to strive for more. And that smile, that never failed to stir him within.

One mistake and you could lose it all.

Prising Huxley from an oak tree too tall for him to tackle, toy binoculars clutched tightly in his small hands. Listening to his fervent dreams of exploring far-off lands, and promising him that one day, they would embark on them together.

Nothing to soothe your regrets but the bittersweet memories of the life you ached for.

Erin’s toneless singing from the shower; Huxley’s contagious belly laugh sparking his own.

Your loved ones' visits fading, until you have to accept that they’re never coming back.

Recalling their faces from stale memories, never changing, never ageing.

And he couldn’t blame them when it was his mindless greed that led to his incarceration.

Untangling himself from Erin’s arms to answer the pounding door. Her soft touch, replaced by rough officer’s hands and cold metal cuffs while flashing blue lights danced in Huxley’s wide eyes.

Carlton swallowed hard, cleared his throat and tore his eyes away from the elephant to look for one of the mahouts. Unlike him, this girl hadn’t done anything to deserve her cage.

*

She stared out through the iron bars into the blue eyes of the pale man and knew something was different. He didn’t laugh or point. He gazed with a grief that mirrored her own. She swayed to her mournful rhythm.

Sunshine flickering through the densely packed branches above. Her mother’s trunk draped across her back, playfully nibbling at her ear.

One of the mahouts flashed his teeth as he approached her new observer. The men spoke. The pale man grew animated. The keeper laughed. She grew curious. She swayed.

Splashing with her cousins through the legs of their elders. Her mother snorting river water over her body, a reprieve from the humidity after the heavy rain.

The man revealed a thick wad of paper. The mahout chittered with excitement, revealing more white teeth. His feet clapped on the hard ground as he ran, shouting to his matriarch. She swayed.

Her family trunk to tail, rambling down their worn paths through the undergrowth, their low rumbles vibrating beneath her padded feet. Assurance. Safety.

Change was coming. She could feel it.

An ear-splitting boom. Birds squawking, flying as one into the air; trees groaning as her mother falls heavily to the ground. Lying silent, still.

*

Carlton noticed her rocking had ceased. Her long trunk reached tentatively through the bars. He approached her slowly, allowed her to coil her trunk around his arm, and marvelled at her gentle touch.

“Don’t worry beauty, I’m gonna get you out of here.”

*

Six days later, deep in the Cambodian jungle, Carlton pulled down the rear truck door, and with the help of several workers, led the nervous giant down the ramp to a large wooden pen. The elephant stalled at the gate, her eyes widening and rolling, her body swaying. Carlton held his hand up to the workers.

“I know, I know.” He placed a palm on her trunk, his voice low. “You’re finally out of that cage, only to be placed in another, but it’s not like that beauty, it won’t be for long.” Slowly she relaxed, her eyes settled. “Just until we can get you some friends aye.”

A small wiry man with a broad nose and light brown skin darkened by the sun, approached them, his face beaming. “Another one, my friend.” Carlton couldn’t help grinning back. They clasped hands and shoulders.

“How are the others?” Carlton asked.

“Part of new herd now. Very happy.” His eyes roamed Carlton’s face. “You look tired. Why don’t you stay, rest?”

“Thanks Tan, but I can’t.” Carlton shook his head.

“Find more?”

“That’s the plan.”

Tan sighed through his nose. “You help them better when take care yourself first. When are you gonna go find that family of yours?”

The new arrival trumpeted her agitation. Carlton quickly turned to face her, grateful for the distraction.

“Woah girl, settle down. New place, new smells. World’s bigger than it seems in that cage, and things are different, your family’s gone. Well, it was like that for me too, so I know you’ll be alright.”

*

She calmed at his gentle tone, this man of change. Behind him, the trees beckoned, she greedily breathed in the sour smell of damp earth, tasted the thick humidity. A trumpet called from deep in the jungle. Her ears fanned out, her eyes widened, then with a desperate roar she pushed past the men and raced through the undergrowth. Her deep rumbles rolled through the earth and with her trunk high she screamed her presence, for she knew that call. She had never forgotten her voice.

*

Carlton jumped off the back of the jeep with the other workers, mouths agape, eyes transfixed on the two elephants whose trunks tenderly caressed each other. The jungle shook with trumpets of excitement as the rest of the curious herd crept closer.

“Well, I’ll be damned…” Carlton muttered, blinking through tears without shame. “Isn’t that Maggie?”

“Yes,” Tan said, his eyes fixed on the scene before him. “She been here… ten years. We find her in very bad shape. Poachers.”

Carlton grunted like he should have known and leaned against a tree. “Seems I was wrong, girl. Still have your family after all.”

Tan caught Carlton’s eye. “She not only one. Not too late.”

“Nah. It’s not the same mate.”

“You still in cage,” Tan said, tapping his temple. “How much good you need do before you walk free?”

They lapsed into silence watching the reunion. Carlton’s tears of joy morphed into desperate longing, his reply unspoken, for he knew it wasn’t about paying penance. They were just better off without him.

The ground crunched beneath Tan’s thongs as he approached. “One sure thing. You never have that,” he gestured to the herd, “if you don’t try.” He squeezed Carlton’s shoulder before joining the other workers now hovering near the jeep.

Carlton didn’t budge, eyes fixed on the matriarch moving towards the tree line, her daughter close behind. How long had both believed they would never see each other again? Did Huxley think the same thing about him? Did he even care?

Carlton fiddled with his hat. He wanted it alright, to find Erin and Huxley, to hug his son, see the man he’d grown into, but he knew it wouldn’t play out like that, Erin wasn’t the type who’d stay single for long, too damn perfect. Huxley would have another father and it was for the best. He’d stayed away for their own good… but what if they didn’t know that? What if Huxley thought his Dad didn’t want to know him?

Carlton stirred. He owed him that at least, an explanation. He owed them both.

*

She paused at the line of trees, looked back at the crowd in the distance, and found the pale man standing alone, his eyes fixed on her. She raised her trunk, bellowed her triumph, and saw him flash his teeth, raise his hand, long fingers splayed. Her mother’s rumbles beckoned the herd to follow. With one last glance, she rambled forward, brushing past the trees into the shade of the canopy, the jungle claiming her once again.

*

Carlton lowered his hand as the new member of the herd disappeared into the brush. Part of a family again, and silently, he wished her all the best.

He closed his eyes and breathed deep, trying to calm his churning, writhing gut, but he knew it was time. And what did he have to lose, when he’d lost everything already? He had to try. Didn’t he?

The End