Little Elephant glared with invisible eyes that for a fleeting instant were as eternal as the circulatory stagnation of her fingers that never stopped drawing circles. Suddenly they fixed on a fold of sea concealed ostentatiously between the flats of the businessman’s suit. Little Elephant faltered, aghast.

“Sea!” she screamed, scrambling to her feet and pounding at the bars in a breathless attempt at escape. All the while the sea was reaching, rippling, ripening into a pool that seeped past iron bars to kiss her bare feet. Presently Nova fainted.

“There, there!” said the businessman. “It’s nothing but water.”

Little Elephant managed to squeeze her colossal entity between two exceptionally loose bars. She was calm and quiet as she inched away from the businessman.

“It’s nothing but water!” the businessman pleaded in a yell.

“It’s the sea.”

“I fell from a luxury cruise.”

“To where?” inquired Little Elephant, faintly interested. “Land?”

“Sea.”

“Oh…”

“It had a beach.”

“The sea?”

“The luxury cruise. It had some businessmen and a zoo like this. A smaller one perhaps, but not short of rattlesnakes.” Little Elephant blinked. There was a short pause. Then she started, surprising the businessman.

“I wish we had a rattlesnake.”

“But you do!” exclaimed the man. “I just saw one.”

“Faithe? I wish we had more.”

There was a short pause. Then the businessman started, upsetting. Little Elephant.

“A floating zoo…”

“What?”

“Where is it going?”

She blinked, knitting her brows together. Silence fell.

“Little Elephant?”

Little Elephant’s answer hung mid-air, invisible like her eyes. The businessman continued.

“Pardon?”

“To keep afloat.”

“Ah…” He understood instantly. “But why?”

“Pardon?”

“I said but —”

“Where was it going?”

The businessman scowled with furious incomprehension. “What?”

“The luxury cruise. Where was it going?”

She was focusing with blank concentration. The businessman’s face crumpled into a grimace. Meanwhile the seconds ticked off.

“I… don’t recall.”

“Unbelievable!” Little Elephant reacted, horrified. “I knew it.”

“Did you?” smirked the businessman. “You knew it was destined somewhere, didn’t you? The luxury cruise. It’s tricky, you see. You know it, although you don’t know where.”

Little Elephant sprang to her feet in a paroxysm of emotion. “Where?”

“Land.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

Why not? Little Elephant fell silent. Between the two brooding giants Nova slowly gained consciousness. Presently he sat up to vomit. The sea poured in gallops. The businessman started, releasing an agitated yelp.

“Water!” he observed. “Water everywhere!”

“What? Where?”

“Nova! Nova!”

“Ah. See water, lung water, your water, deep water, yes water, sea water—”

“Little Elephant—?”

“Water goes from teeth to heart. Sizzles to the penetralia, you have the deepest heart of all hearts. Beware of treason. The moment you tramp on no-man’s land you are exempt from water not sea, the saline blessing sinning against trickster —”

“Stop the sea, won’t you?”