Edward was a small, young, baby elephant weighing 300 pounds. Do you know how heavy 300 pounds is? It is one zillion, zillion hot dogs. Well, all Edward wanted to do today, was run around and roll in all the big puddles of water. He wanted to have mud all over him. He just liked the feeling of mud on him and never thought of what his Mother would say when she saw him like that.

He loved to take his trunk and filled it with water and spray everything around him. The bugs and birds just flew away, but Edward was always ready with another trunk full of water just in case they came back.

Edward would roll over in the water, then roll in the dirt and back again into the water. He liked the way he looked when he was covered with mud. He liked looking at his reflection in the water. Maybe his mother would not even know him and he could surprise her.

Just then, Edward heard something making a noise in the bushes. He looked around and did not see anything; not even his mother and the other elephants. An animal he never saw before came out from the bushes standing there just looking at him. What is it? What do I do, he thought? He was really scared, realizing it was just him and this other animal.

Edward froze! He couldn’t move. He was just trying to think what his mother would do. He thought; I just wish I would have listened better to her all the times she was talking to him. Yes, all the times she talked to me, and all the things she told me to do. He thought and thought, and then he said, “I know what I will do.”

Edward then filled his trunk all the way up to the top with water. He slowly walked, I mean slowly, towards the strange animal. “Why am I going towards him? I should be going the other way”, he thought, but at the same time, it feels ok to be going towards him. Even though Edward was a baby, he was still bigger than this scary animal. “What am I going to do when I get closer to him? I wish my mother was here. She would tell me what to do”.

Edward continued walking slowly towards him rather than going the other way. Edward said to himself, “I can’t be afraid. I’ll be alright.”
Then, Edward started running faster towards the scary animal. He had his trunk full and was ready for when he got closer. The faster he ran towards this scary animal, he felt better. All of a sudden he let out the biggest screech of a roar and blew all the water from his trunk on to this scary animal. This scary animal turned and ran as fast as he could away from Edward.

Edward looked around, full of mud and scared, but he had chased away this animal that was going to hurt him. Just then, his mother came running, as she heard the noise and roar of Edward.

Edward knew now he was safe and it felt good. Everything was going to be alright. He did not care about all the mud on him, and what his mother would say to him. He just wanted to be with her. And yes, he just wanted to listen and remember real hard what she was telling him. He loved his mother very much and now was going to try harder to do whatever she says.

As Edward walked away from the puddles of water, he was listening to his mother and holding on to her tail with his trunk. He looked back at the puddles he already missed. He decided he would talk to her and find out how he could come back. Maybe she would join him in the water. He will ask and see what she says after he listens to everything she say to him.

As Edward got back home, he wanted to say thank you to his mother, give her a big hug with his trunk and tell her in her big ears, how much he loved her.

_Conor