Short Story / THE WARMTH OF A MOTHERS SMILE

During that afternoon I was hiking around in a fairly isolated place and came across a family of about 4 adults and 3 or 4 kids, varying from a toddler to teens. A nice family, very close knit with a matriarch heading the family with what appeared to be her offspring and their young ones.

They lived in the area and were out for a walk, perhaps gathering some food along the way. I did not want to disturb them, but did get close since I was curious about the family structure and interactions between the younger ones and the older ones.

They acknowledged my presence with a brief look, but continue to go about their ways, never feeling threaten by me, nor at any time did I feel any danger from them.

As I was standing there, the toddler began to walk closer to me. The mother gently came over and stood between me and the toddler and looked at the toddler with that warm loving sort of look that every mother gives her child. She then led the child away as I took a picture.

The picture I took was of an elephant family, taken in southern Kenya, close to the Tanzania border and in the heart of Maasailand. Observing this family interact with each other was an amazing experience. The bonding between the family members proved to me that in many ways, these majestic beasts were not so different from us, and in fact were not beasts at all.

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Reviews

May 01, 2008

Dauna

No. of Reviews	Overall Quality	Comment Followup
326	75.9% (54 votes)	60.7%

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Age	Gender	Location	Last Login
41	F	Carpentersville, IL	November 01

Dauna reviewed Version 1 - Read 100% of the Item

A very nice piece. I’d like to have seen a tad more detail as I’ve been spoiled with your other writings. I liked how you made the reader believe that this was a tale about a human family only for it to be elephants. The story is very heart warming and I enjoyed it. By the way excellent photo.