Jojo

Shelly sat on the front steps with her big pink elephant. “Remember when we went to Mr. Bin’s farm?” she asked. “He let us ride the pony, and you were scared. I was a little bit scared, too, but not really.”

“Hello, Shelly,” called her neighbor Mrs. Lee. “Are you talking to your toy elephant? I remember how I used to talk to my doll when I was your age.”

“I’m talking to Jojo,” Shelly replied.

“Jojo’s a nice name for an elephant.”

“He’s not an elephant! He’s a boy,” Shelly explained.

Mrs. Lee smiled and nodded her head. “Whatever you say, dear.”

Shelly watched Mrs. Lee drive away in her car. She giggled. “She thought you were an elephant.”

The mailman came up the walk. “Are you and your elephant having a nice chat on this beautiful day?” he asked.

“He can’t talk,” Shelly said.

“No, but you can talk to him. I remember talking to a teddy bear when I was little.”

“I was talking to Jojo,” Shelly said. “But he doesn’t talk much to me.”

The mailman looked around. “Jojo, eh?” he chuckled. “No, I’d guess he wouldn’t have much more to say than the elephant does. What’s your elephant’s name?”

“Just elephant,” Shelly replied.

The mailman chuckled again. “Well, have a good day.”

“You have a good day too,” Shelly said.

Shelly set the elephant down on the step. “I’ll be back,” she promised, “after I take the mail to Mom.”

When she returned Shelly sat down beside the pink elephant and flipped its trunk up and down. “Mom baked a chocolate cake. Pretty soon we can have cake and milk. Ummm, I can taste it already.”

She got on her knees and watched an ant crawling along the sidewalk. “Wow, that tiny little ant is dragging something bigger than it is. Ants are fun to watch, you know. Hey, look at that. Wow! There’re millions of them I bet.”

Billy Hale skidded to a stop. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Looking at some ants,” Shelly answered.

Billy got off his bike and came to look. “You think those ants understand what you’re saying?”

Shelly snorted. “I wasn’t talking to the ants.”

“Yeah? Who were you talking to then?” Billy slung a leg over his bike.

“Jojo,” Shelly replied.

Billy looked all around. “Jojo? Oh, the toy elephant.”

“No, silly. Jojo is a boy.”

Billy laughed and shook his head. “Oh, Shelly! You’re something else.” He rode away laughing.

“What’s the matter with him?” Shelly sputtered.

“Milk and cake!” Mother called.

Shelly’s cousin Jojo, who had come last night for a visit, crawled out from under the porch. His face and hands were covered with dirt. His hair was full of cobwebs.

“Did you find it?” Shelly asked.

The boy raised his left hand, holding a red ball.

“Oh, thank you, Jojo,” Shelly said. “I thought sure it was lost.”

Jojo smiled and said, “Let’s go get that milk and cake!”