The One and Only Ivan

finally

Julia and George take the pictures to the ring, where there’s room to see them all.

An hour passes as they try to assemble my puzzle. Ruby’s awake now, and she and Bob and I watch.

“Ivan,” Ruby says, “is that a picture of me?”

“Yes,” I say proudly.

“Where am I supposed to be?”

“That’s a zoo, Ruby. See the walls and the grass and the people looking at you?”

Ruby squints. “Who are all those other elephants?”

“You haven’t met them,” I say. “Yet.”

“It’s a very nice zoo,” Ruby says with an approving nod.

Bob nudges me with his cold nose. “It is indeed.”

In the ring, Julia pumps her fist in the air. “Yes!” she cries. “I told you, Dad! There it is: H-O-M-E. Home.”

George gazes at the letters. He spins around to look at me. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence, Jules. You know, a once-in-a-trillion kind of thing, like that old saying about the chimp and the typewriter. Give him long enough and he’ll write a novel.”

I make a grumbling noise. As if a chimp could write a letter, let alone a book.

“Then how do you explain the rest of it?” Julia demands. “The picture of Ruby in the zoo?”

“How do you know it’s a zoo?” George asks.

“See the circle on the gate? There’s a red giraffe in it.”

George squints and tilts his head. “Are you sure that’s a giraffe? I was thinking more along the lines of a deformed cat.”

“It’s the logo for the zoo, Dad. It’s on all their signs. Explain that.”

George gives her a helpless smile. “I can’t. I can’t begin to. I’m just saying there has to be a logical explanation.”

“Look how big this is.” Julia puts the last piece of Ruby’s right ear into place. “It’s huge.”

“It is definitely large,” George agrees.

Julia watches me. She chews on her thumbnail. I see the question in her eyes.

She turns back to the paintings and stares at them, looking, truly looking.

A slow smile dawns on Julia’s face.

“Dad,” she says, “I have an idea. A big idea.” Julia races around the edge of my painting, her arms spread wide. “Billboard big.”

“I’m not following you.”

“I think this is meant to be on a billboard. That’s what Ivan wants.”

George crosses his arms over his chest. “What Ivan wants,” he repeats slowly. “And you know this because … you two have been chatting?”

“Because I’m an artist, and he’s an artist.”

“Uh-huh,” says George.

Julia clasps her hands together. “Come on, Dad. I’m begging you.”

George shakes his head. “No. I’m not doing that. No billboard, no way.”

“I’ll get the ladder,” Julia says. “You get the glue. I know it’s dark out, but the billboard’s lit.”

“Mack’ll fire me, Jules.”

Julia considers. “But think of the publicity, Dad! Everybody would know about Ruby.”

“You want me to put up a sign that shows Ruby in a zoo with the word home on it in giant letters?” George gestures toward my pictures. “A sign, incidentally, that just happens to have been made by a gorilla?”

“Exactly.”

“And you want me to do it without Mack’s permission?” George asks.

“Exactly.”

“No,” George says. “No way.”

Julia goes to the edge of the ring, careful not to step on any of my paintings. She picks up Mack’s claw-stick. She walks back and hands it to her father.

George runs a finger along the blade.

“She’s just a baby, Dad. Don’t you want to help her?”

“But how would it help, Jules? Even if lots of people see Ivan’s sign, it doesn’t mean anything’s going to change.”

“I’m not exactly sure yet.” Julia shakes her head. “Maybe people will see the sign, and they’ll know this isn’t where Ruby belongs. Maybe they’ll want to help too.”

George sighs. He looks at Ruby. She waves her trunk.

“It’s a matter of principle, Dad. P-R-I-N-C-I-P-A-L.”

“L-E,” George corrects.

“Dad,” Julia says softly, “what if Ruby ends up like Stella?”

George looks at me, at Ruby, at Julia.

He drops the claw-stick.

“The ladder,” he says quietly, “is in the storage locker.”