The Elephant

A Short Story

The Los Angeles County Fair—a retired accountant picking garbage—an elephant on a dark path.

Numbers had always been Michael O’Brien’s life. Now, he spent his days stabbing, and counting, the different types of bags tossed as garbage onto the fairgrounds, instead of being an accountant. He felt old and lifeless, like Ollie the elephant trudging through the grounds. But then Ashley Adams appears on the scene, first looking for directions to the exhibits booth to work, then following the dark path beyond the Ferris wheel back to her rental car.

What could possibly go wrong?

The Elephant, like all of the short stories in the ‘80s Tales of a Traveling Saleslady series, is a work of fiction based on the real-life travel and sales experiences of the author. The final section, "The Story Behind the Story," is an autobiographical memoir, including author notes that detail the transformational moments experienced by the author.