How To Move An Elephant

Once there was a boy who couldn’t wait to get home to play with his new logging truck. He ran up the stairs as fast as he could, he flew open the door to his room… And that’s when he saw it:

Blocking his toy closet, was an enormous elephant.

The boy liked elephants.

And on a normal day, would have been interested to see one.

But right now, he had no time for elephants.

Right now, he just wanted to play with his brand new truck.

The boy tried pushing the elephant with all his might, but the elephant wouldn’t budge.

He tried squeezing behind the elephant, but he just wouldn’t fit.

He even ran to the kitchen for some cookies and milk, hoping to bribe the elephant out of his way, but the elephant stayed put.

Then he remembered what his teacher Ms. Katherine taught him—that if he wanted someone to get out of his way, he could say, "Excuse me, please."

But the elephant didn’t listen.

Finally he opened his father’s computer and typed, ‘How to move an elephant.’ And lo and behold, there were solutions:

1. Cut a hole in the roof and call a helicopter with a gantry crane.

This wasn’t feasible.

2. Call the zoo.

Which he did, but no one believed him.

And a third said: If you’ve got an elephant keeping you from what you want in life, we can help in only six weeks!

But the boy didn’t have six weeks. He needed this elephant out now.

“Please,” he begged the elephant. “At least scoot over a little, so I can get my truck!”

But the elephant still wouldn’t budge.

And the boy ran out of ideas.

The boy felt so frustrated, he leaned against one of the elephant’s legs and started to cry.

But in the middle of crying, he noticed something that explained everything: Wrapped around the elephant’s ankle was a jump rope… That’s why he wasn’t moving! He had somehow gotten stuck!

So, the boy untangled the elephant’s ankle, and suddenly, the elephant’s leg was free!

The elephant smiled and bent down to caress the boy’s cheek with his trunk, and a moment later, walked right out of the room.

“Goodbye!” called the boy. “Sorry for the confusion!”

And the boy opened up his toy closet, grabbed his brand new logging truck, and played with it for the rest of the afternoon.

-JLK