The One and Only Ivan

good-bye

When George and Julia come that night, George doesn’t get his mop or his broom. He gathers up his tools and belongings while Julia runs to my cage.

“This is my last night, Ivan,” she says, and she presses her palm to my glass. “Mack fired my dad.” Tears slip down her cheeks. “But the zoo lady said maybe they’ll have an opening there in a while, cleaning cages and stuff.”

I walk to the glass that separates us. I put my hand where Julia’s is, palm to palm, finger to finger. My hand is bigger, but they’re not so very different.

“I’m going to miss you,” Julia says. “And Ruby and Bob. But this is a good thing, really it is. You deserve a different life.”

I stare into her dark eyes and wish I had words for her.

Sniffling, she goes to Ruby’s cage. “Have a good life, Ruby,” she says.

Ruby makes a little rumbling sound. She puts her trunk between the bars and touches Julia’s shoulder.

“Where is Bob, anyway?” Julia asks. She looks around, under tables, in my cage, by the trash can. “Dad,” she calls, “have you seen Bob?”

“Bob? Nope,” George says.

Julia’s brow wrinkles. “What’s going to happen to him, Dad? What if Mack shuts down the whole mall?”

“He says he’s going to try to keep it open without the animals,” George says. He stuffs his hands in his pockets. “I’m worried about Bob too. But he’s a survivor.”

“You know what, Dad?” Julia gets a gleam in her eye. “Bob could live with us. Mom loves dogs, and he could keep her company, and—”

“Jules, I’m not even sure I have a job yet. I may not even be able to feed you, let alone some mutt.”

“My dog-walking money—”

“Sorry, Jules.”

Julia nods. “I understand.”

She starts to leave, then runs back to my cage. “I almost forgot. This is for you, Ivan.”

She slips a piece of paper into my cage. It’s a drawing of Ruby and me.

We’re eating yogurt raisins. Ruby is playing with another baby elephant, and I’m holding hands with a lovely gorilla.

She has red lips and a flower in her hair.

I look, as I always do in Julia’s pictures, like an elegant fellow, but something is different about this drawing.

In this picture, I am smiling.