An Elephant never forgets.

Lauren decided she would get the closest exhibit out of the way first. Which meant that she was heading over to the elephant exhibit. When she arrived, she saw one outside of the exhibit being given a bath, by a very handsome zookeeper. Lauren smiled; maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Straightening out her t-shirt and jeans, she walked towards the keeper; putting a little sashay into step.

“Hey there, big boy.” Lauren said, flirtatiously. She then added in a joking manner, “Oh, and the elephant too.”

“Um, h-hey there.” The keeper said. “Actually, Martha here is a female Asian elephant. You can tell by the lack of tusks.”

Cute, shy, and smart. Jackpot! Lauren thought as she read the keeper's name tag: Andrew.

“Nice to meet you, Andrew.” Lauren flirted. “My name’s Lauren.”

“Hello Lauren.” Andrew said nervously.

He’s just so cute! Lauren thought, giggling.

No soon had she let out that giggle, Martha the elephant turned to face the new guest. She recognized that giggle anywhere!

Nine years earlier…

A fourteen year old Lauren groaned as she was dragged on this stupid science field trip to the zoo. Her group had just been lead to the elephant exhibit, and she was being **** to listen to some boring lecture about elephants, how they lived, what they ate, blah, blah, blah. She had pretty much tuned the guide out when she saw that one of the keepers had left a hose out. She smirked, getting an idea.

“Hey, Rachel.” Lauren whispered to a seventeen year old standing next to her.

Rachel was a goody two-shoes nerd with round glasses and long, brunette hair tied in a ponytail. She wasn’t fat, but she was slightly rounder than most of the other students. She often wore outfits that made her look like a mixture between Velma from Scooby Doo, and Betty from the Jughead comics. It was for these reasons that she was often picked on by Lauren. Rachel was three years older, but she was too much of a push over and goody-goody to stop her.

“Shush, Lauren!” Rachel hissed, “This could be important later on!”

“I just want to show you something.” Lauren said.

“Ugh.” Rachel moaned, “Alright, make it quick.”

Lauren picked up the hose, lifting it up to eye level.

“A hose?” Rachel asked flatly. “You wanted to show me a hose?”

“No.” Lauren said, looking into the elephant exhibit. She looked at the three that were in the yard; one was to far away for the hose to hit. The second one was closer, but still to big. Then she saw the smallest one, a calf, playing with large ball on a rope. She smirked as she aimed the hose and shot a jet of cold water at the calf, causing it to let out a trumpet of fear as it ran and hid behind a rock. Shocked, Rachel grabbed the hose from Lauren and turned it off.

“Lauren!” Rachel scolded, “You can’t just – !”

“Ms. Daniels!” a voice yelled. Rachel and Lauren looked behind them to see their science teacher, Mrs. Carlson. Right now, however, the woman was giving a stern look to Rachel. “I am disappointed and shocked by your actions!”

“My act-?” Rachel began, then realized she was holding the hose in her hands. She dropped the hose and raised her hands defensively, “But I didn’t do – !”

“The rest of you can go on with the tour,” Mrs. Carlson called out to the class and the tour guide. “I’ll be taking Ms. Daniels to the administration office to wait for her mother to pick her up. And she will be getting detention first thing after school tomorrow.”

“D-d-d-de-detention?” Rachel asked, eyes staring to water; she never received detention!

“Yes, now come along.” Mrs. Carlson said angrily as she turned away and walked to the entrance.

Rachel sighed as she slowly walked behind the teacher. She then saw a jet of water fly past her and soak the teacher in the back, causing Mrs. Carlson to jump up and let out a shriek. Rachel turned just in time to see Lauren next to her, dropping the hose with a smirk. Mrs. Carlson spun around in anger to see the hose at Rachel’s feet.

“Detention for the next month!” Mrs. Carlson snapped, continuing her march to the entrance.

Rachel was practically in tears as she silently walked after her teacher. When the two were out of site, Lauren let out a giggle and went to catch up to the group. Nearby, however, the elephant calf was still hiding behind the rock, shivering; that noise that the monster made forever haunting her memory.

Present day…

Now that Martha saw the monster once again, she needed to think of a way to get back at her. Turning her head to look around, she noticed a puddle of dirty water that came from the hose that was used in bathing her. If elephants could smirk, Martha would have been giving the most evil smirk imaginable.

“So, are you doing anything later?” Lauren asked, fluttering her eye lids.

“Well, I –“ Andrew began. Before he could finish, however, a shower of dirty water coated Lauren from head to foot, causing her to let out a scream. Andrew looked behind him to see Martha lowering her trunk.

Lauren was trying to wipe the water out of her eyes as she sputtered and spat the water from her mouth; unknowingly walking forward. She then found herself tripping over something and falling, face first, into a mud puddle. As Lauren slowly got up from the muddy water, she heard Martha let out a trumpet that, if Lauren didn’t know any better, sounded almost like laughter. Lauren looked at her clothes and discovered that the water had soaked through her clothes. She covered her chest, just to be on the safe side.

“I’m sorry, Mam. Martha isn’t usually like this!” Andrew apologized, “Are you okay?”

“No, I am not okay!” Lauren yelled as she stood up, realizing she had been sitting the mud as well. “Look at me! I’m covered in mud!”

“Hang on, I’ll try to fix this.” Andrew said as he reached for his radio. “Hey, chief? This is Andrew. Andrew Williams, the new elephant keeper? Yeah, I was just washing Martha and this woman came up to talk to me. Next thing I know, Martha sprays her with water and she trips on the hose, falling into the mud. No, Mam, she’s not hurt; just soaked to the bone.”

A few seconds passed, then Andrew nodded.

“Copy that. Will do.” Andrew said. He then turned to Lauren. “The curator says that you can use the showers in the locker room. Another employee will be by to give you some new clothes.”

“Humph! Fine.” Lauren grumbled, “Do you mind dropping me off once you corral Dumbo here back to her cage?”

“Um, sure. If you could just wait over on that bench over there?” Andrew asked nervously.

Lauren groaned and rolled her eyes as she walked towards the bench in question. When Lauren sat down, she noticed that her jeans were just as soaked as her shirt was. After a few minutes of Andrew finishing up Martha’s bath, he lead the pachyderm through the gate of her enclosure. After shutting the gate, Andrew went over to where Lauren sat.

“Okay, sorry about that.” Andrew said.

“Forget it.” Lauren responded, “Just take me to your locker rooms!”

Andrew lead Lauren to his cart as they both got in. As the cart drove away, it drove past the elephant exhibit; where Martha trumpeted, almost if she was cheering in victory.

The drive took Lauren towards the back of the zoo; apparently, keepers and guests entered from different ends of the park. After coming up to a rope fence, Andrew stopped the cart and go out. He walked over, undid the rope, and then got back in the cart; driving through slightly before getting out, putting the rope back, and driving off again. Finally, they reached a pair of large buildings, which Lauren assumed were the locker rooms. Lauren got out of the cart and was greeted by another keeper.

“Hi there!” the female keeper, who’s name tag read Ingrid, said cheerfully. “I’m –“

“Yeah, I don’t care!” Lauren snapped, “I just want to take a shower, get changed, and get a refund!”

“O-okay.” Ingrid said, handing her a large plastic bag. “Your new clothes are in this bag, as well as a towel, a sponge and some soap. You can use the bag to put your dirty clothes in.”

“Humph!” Lauren snapped, grabbing the bag.

Ingrid then lead Lauren to the women’s locker room and swiped a card over the sensor, unlocking the door. Lauren marched into the locker room; it was pretty much like the one at the gym she went to. Sometimes. Mostly. Occasionally. Once a month. Every two months.

“I can take it from here.” Lauren said, “You can leave now.”

“Okay, but the hot water is the knob on the –“

“Please get out!” Lauren snapped, opening the door. Ingrid then nodded as she did so. Lauren then shut the door behind Ingrid. Neither of them noticing that the door was left slightly ajar.

“Geeze, what a grouch!” Ingrid grumbled as she got into the cart with Andrew.

“I know.” Andrew agreed, “And I think she was trying to hit on me earlier.”

“And what did you say?” Ingrid asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I was going to tell her I’m already engaged to the best woman on the planet,” Andrew said, wrapping his arm around Ingrid, “but then Martha sprayed her with water.”

Ingrid giggled as the cart drove away from the facilities.