“There’s something depressing about the elephant exhibit at this zoo,” commented the young woman, gazing out into the grassy enclosure. There was a sympathetic look about her—in the long line of her brown skirt and the peculiar cant of her head, which made it look as if she were about to loll off to sleep. It was windy that day, carrying the rich scent of the animals even as it carelessly tossed her ash blond hair into her still compassionate eyes.

“What’s that?” inquired the man to her right, slouching lazily against the fence with his elbows poked up through the bars. He kicked aimlessly at a half buried Bazooka wrapper, saturating another layer of dirt onto his well-worn sneakers.

“It’s just—here are these animals…so big, so graceful,” a ghost of a smile touched her lips, “I mean, look. It’s almost like—almost like they’re dancing.” She extended a faintly trembling hand, index finger crooked to point out the pack of mammals that strolled uneasily through their enclosure. One was delicately maneuvering a pile of branches with the long curl of its trunk; another briskly showered sand and mud over its back.

The man tossed a glance over his shoulder, brow arching in disbelief. He looked back to his companion, squinting as he thoughtlessly tossed the dark locks of his hair away from his face. “Yeah. I guess. A very…slow, awkward dance.”

“No, no. They’re dancing,” she insisted, inhaling sharply as she clasped her hands together, the ghost on her lips dissipating. “It must be so strange and wonderful to see elephants where they belong. In—In Africa. I would like to go to Africa.”

The man chuckled and shook his head, pushing himself away from the fence to wrap his arm around her brittle waist. “Yeah, maybe once we’ve both paid off all our school debts.”

“Maybe. Do you think, maybe, out in Africa…they don’t feel so…”

“What’s that?” he asked again, but he had already stopped paying attention, his focus shifted to the sight of a quarreling couple in front of the tiger pen.

She sighed, looking over her shoulder at the elephants as they walked.

“Trapped.”