Heartbroken
Adele had never seen anything like it. She had come on this safari because it had been labelled as a non-hunting excursion. The local guide knew all the best places to view the local animals in their natural habitat.
Her own tears flowed as she watched the elephant cow cry over the body of her mate, brought down by poachers and left where it lay after they had harvested his tusks. The safari guide hung his head in silent homage, then excused himself to call the authorities.
Elephants are extremely intelligent creatures, living in social groups in which they protect one another (and outsiders, including humans too). They grieve when a member of their own group dies, holding funerals. And yes, they cry. They even try to bury unknown elephants they come across who have died, and have been known to do so for humans as well.
If you feel so inclined, You could always pop over to Buy Me a Coffee and, you know, buy me one!
The prompt for this story came from Justin Deming. I saved it in my email, but when I tried to go to the post to include a link here, I got redirected to a general Substack page. I also didn’t find it when I searched. Thank you, Justin, for the prompt.
Write a scene or a short story that involves tears: tears of happiness, heartache, sorrow, — of utter jubilation. Some questions to consider: who do the tears belong to? What caused them? Will there be a resolution?
Ok. I hate some humans 😒
not only the ones who kill, but the people who stand over the animal they killed for a photo. 😪