Word: howdah

 

howdah

\ HOU-duh \  , noun;

1. (In the East Indies) a seat or platform for one or more persons, commonly with a railing and a canopy, placed on the back of an elephant.

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              “I want to get off!”  Screamed the child.  The kid had been screaming his little head off for the entire ride, much to his mother’s—and everyone else’s—chagrin.  Carry was tempted to actually go and do something to shut the kid but, but since it wasn’t hers; there was nothing she could do other than put up with it.  She was just glad her own kids were much better behaved, and in fact were making a very pointed effort to enjoy themselves despite the boy who was most likely just acting out for attention.  After all, that particular kid had been the most eager to go on the ride in the first place, yelling that he wanted to ride, instead of wanting to stop riding. 

                The ride in question here was on the back of an elephant.  The local zoo had started these elephant rides in a desperate plea for additional funds, and had taken a page from circus acts and trained a few elephants for the purpose of taking kids and their parents around a track with various colorful paintings of other animals and nature scenes scattered around.  They could see some of the other animal enclosures from their heightened perch as well, and was really the only part of the ride worth looking at in Carry’s opinion.

                On this ride were three small families:  Carry and her two kids, a single father and his sulking early teen daughter, and the poor mother with the screaming kid.  She could guess why the latter was there, and she had taken her kids up even though they had been largely indifferent at first.  The man had probably gone up there on the slim chance he could meet a single mom, and took his daughter, who was obviously too old to enjoy a ride like this, to make him seem more fatherly.  Unfortunately for him, Carry was happily married, and the other woman seemed to be wearing a wedding ring as well, and so he was out of luck and had to put up with the screaming kid in addition to his own daughter’s sulking.

                “Now, now dear, let’s not make a fuss.”  Said the kid’s mother, looking at the other two adults apologetically.  The kid ignored her pleas for quiet and went on screaming.  Carry was sure he would have gotten up and stomped around if there was any room to do so.

                As it happened, there wasn’t. All three groups had been crammed together in a small rectangular platform that had been strapped to the large animal’s back.  There was no room to move very well in the cramped space, let alone throw a tantrum, even for the young child.  Her own kids were too busy looking over the railing of what they had called the saddle at the animals.  Carry knew it had a different name than that, since the man leading the elephant had told them it. Her kids just called it a saddle because they thought the name sounded like ‘howdy’, which to them meant cowboys, which meant saddles.  Carry just thought it was cute and couldn’t bring herself to correct them.

                She was very glad they were so occupied, otherwise they might try and do something with the screamer.  If that happened, the screaming might become infectious, and her own kids might start screaming.  Of course for them it would probably be more of a completion to see who could scream the loudest, but that would only make it worse. 

                “She should just stick a piece of candy in the kids mouth and be done with it.”  The teen girl muttered to herself.  Although most probably didn’t hear it, both Carry and her dad were close enough that they did hear her comment.

                “Now, Tina, that’s not the solution to every problem.”  The man said quietly.

                “Why not?  Works for the kids I babysit.”  Tiny said, much louder than her father did.  Carry made a mental note to never enlist this particular girl for babysitting duties.

                “Because if you do that, you’re teaching them that they get a reward for acting badly.”  He said. 

                “Not my problem.  By the time that kind of stuff matters, they’ll be out of my hair.”  She said.  Carry was suddenly tempted to ask where the girl babysat, just to make sure there was no chance she would be looking after her kids any time soon. 

                The man looked around, not sure what to say to that.  His eyes met Carry’s and he looked at her like he was seeking some kind of support.  Carry wasn’t really sure what to say either.  She didn’t have any experience with teens, since her kids were many years away from that milestone, and so couldn’t really offer any kind of meaningful advice.  When it was clear that she wasn’t going to be of any help, he looked at the other woman, who was still engrossed in trying to get her own child to stop screaming. 

                “Just, try to find a different method of dealing with them.”  He said finally.  Tina just slumped back in her already cramped seat with a huff and crossed her arms over her chest. 

                A furious giggle erupted from her kids, and she looked over at what was happening, glad for any kind of momentary distraction.  The zoo had placed the elephant ride track very close to some of the other animal habitats, one of which was the giraffes.  One of them had leaned its long neck over the railing and was apparently very interested in her kids, much to their delight.  Carry probably figured it was the lingering smell of the popcorn they had been eating earlier rather than them, but the result was essentially the same. 

                Her younger child, Joe, reached out to pet its head before the slow moving elephant moved away, and the giraffes’ long, black tongue emerged, licking the boy’s butter and salt stained hands.  The boy laughed furiously, the wet tongue ticking his hands more than anything.   The furious laughter had the side effect of drawing the screaming child’s attention long enough for a moment of relative peace to come to the small group.  The little boy reached his hands out to the giraffe as well, hoping to gain its attention.  But his arm was too short, and the elephant was already moving away, and so was well out of reach. 

                When they moved outside the range of its long neck, Joe sat back in his seat, very happy with how the ride had turned out while her older boy, Mike, just looked out for his opportunity to show his brother up with a different animal.  The interruption also seemed to have calmed the screaming boy down a bit.  Instead he had taken to sulking quietly, apparently imitating the teen girl.  It was a step up though, and his mother looked to Carry gratefully, as if she was the one who orchestrated the entire thing.

                By that time, the ride was over anyway.  The zoo worker got the elephant to kneel, letting the families get off of the small platform.  He thanked them for the ride with faked politeness, his eyes showing just how tired the job was making him.  Her boys bounded off happily from the back of the elephant, already looking for the next attraction to see.  The mother of the screaming child had picked her son up and was taking him over to the nearest food vendor.  Apparently she had heard Tina’s ‘advice’ and was going to give it a shot.  The girl herself was walking quickly away, her shoulders slumped as she moved, with her father in close pursuit. 

                Carry just watched her owe kids for a while as they scrambled over each other as they raced over to the next animal exhibit.  As she went over to join them, she was now very, very glad she had the kids she did.

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Yeah, we all know these kids, don't we?  Or at least we've seen them around at various locations.