BOY: (sulkily) Maybe we can also paint some designs on him.

GIRL: Oh, that’s even more brilliant. We’ll do that. Come on, let’s start.

The children mime painting the elephant using large strokes.

BOY: Blue stars.

GIRL: Pink flowers.

BOY 2: Triangles.

BOY: Rectangles.

GIRL: Parallelograms.

Sound of giggling.

BOY: He’s giggling.

GIRL: Elphie is ticklish.

BOY 2: He’s ticklish even behind his ears.

BOY: And on his trunk!

Giggling and laughter.

GIRL: Look how lovely Elphie looks.

BOY 2: The circus owner will be so proud of him...

BOY: (loudly) Come and see... come and see... The eighth wonder of the world... The one and only Rainbow Elephant!

There’s a sudden crash of thunder.

GIRL: Oh no. It’s going to rain.

BOY: What do you mean going to? It’s already pouring...

BOY 2: Ouch. And it’s cold! (shivers)

BOY: And it’s washing away the paint!

BOY 2: The rain’s washed away the triangles!

GIRL: My pink flowers.

BOY: My blue stars.

BOY 2: The rectangles.

GIRL: The rain’s made Elphie white again.

The storm dies down.

Silence.

Sound of a sneeze.

GIRL: Poor Elphie’s sneezing.

BOY: Let’s cover him with some leaves.

The children mime picking up leaves and covering the elephant. Then they return to the bench, wringing out their clothes, abandoning the paints near the tree.

GIRL: Now what do we do?

BOY: (to BOY 2) Do you have any more brilliant ideas?

BOY 2: Sorry. I only have one idea per day. Have some bread.

They chew bread.

Men’s voices off.

BOY: Someone’s coming.

GIRL: Hide.

BOY 2: Quick.

The children hide behind the tree.

Sound of yelping.

GIRL: Oh I’m sorry Elphie. I didn’t see your tail.

BOYS: Ssh. SSH.

Enter ZOOKEEPER (ZK) and BUSINESS FRIEND (BF) and sit on the bench.

ZK: But what do I do with a volcano?

BF: Imagine sir... fireworks... lights... sound... all natural...

ZK: What about the lava?

BF:Specially processed... Cool lava.

ZK: And the ash?

BF: Totally environment friendly... totally...

Pause.

ZK: Business is bad. It’s no longer politically correct to be a zookeeper.

The children whisper to each other.

BF: Volcano... new attraction... no cage.

ZK: Does it need a special diet?

BF: Grows on love and fresh air.

The children approach the two men cautiously.

GIRL: Sir? Are you a zookeeper sir?

BF: Shoo... go away... business meeting... go away.

BOY: We are not talking to you... we are talking to him...

BOY 2: Zookeeper sir... Do you want a white elephant?

ZK: A white elephant?

BF: No such thing... white elephant... just an expression... a burden... valueless... costly upkeep.

To be continued

From Good Heavens! One-Act Plays for Children;
By Poile Sengupta;
Publisher: Puffin