An Elephant in the Garden

That night, a policeman comes to see Mutti to ask about the elephant in her garden. She expected the visit and answers all his questions, assuring him she has permission to keep Marlene there and that Marlene is not a threat to anyone’s safety. After inspecting the garden to make sure it is secure, the policeman leaves.

Marlene becomes the center of attention in the neighborhood. Children come to look at her through the gate and offer her bits of food. Whenever anyone visits, Marlene wanders over to see them. After a few days, Lizzie goes into the garden alone to see Marlene. As they speak to each other with their eyes, Lizzie knows they each are “making a friend for life” (64). She is sure she and Marlene understand each other’s troubles.

Marlene lives peacefully in the garden until a large, aggressive dog begins appearing at the gate to bark furiously at her. Each time he returns, Marlene runs at him, trumpeting and waving her ears, which makes the dog more aggressive. The dog’s owner comes to the gate one evening with the dog, who continues to harass Marlene. Mutti has a “heated row” with the man, who is swearing, shouting, and shaking his fist when he leaves. Disturbed by the encounter, Marlene paces in the garden all evening; Mutti, Lizzie, and Karli take her for a walk to help her settle. In the park, the dog suddenly appears, snarling and growling at Marlene. Marlene charges at him, chasing him away, and will not stop when Mutti calls her. Lizzie knows that Marlene will not stop until she chases the vicious dog out of sight or tramples him to death.

Mutti, Lizzie, and Karli chase after Marlene while she pursues the dog, trumpeting and not letting him escape. The sound of air-raid sirens begins “wailing” over Dresden. Mutti calls Marlene again and again, but when she does not return, Mutti says they must go home and get into the bomb shelter. Karli refuses to leave Marlene and runs after her. He falls to his knees, struggling against Mutti and Lizzie when they pick him up to hurry home. At that moment, they hear the bombers. The sky soon fills with “a thunderous throbbing roar […] then the bombs [begin] to fall, behind [them], on the city, on the far side of the park, on where [they] had come from, [their] street, [their] house” (71). Lizzie sees the planes “flying across the moon […] hundreds of them up there” (72). The bombs fall all over Dresden with the “flash of explosions” and “fires raging everywhere” (72).

Running away from the city to reach the countryside beyond, they stop to rest for a moment. Kneeling in the snow, they hear the bombers overhead and then the sound of shooting and screaming. Mutti and Lizzie know that the animals at the zoo are being shot. As Mutti cries uncontrollably in anger and grief, Lizzie and Karli hug her, and Marlene embraces the family with her trunk.

Mutti tells Lizzie and Karli they will walk to Aunt Lotti and Uncle Manfred’s farm, where they will have food and shelter; she assures Lizzie that the “family row” with Lotti and Manfred is in the past, and “they [would] welcome [Mutti and her children] in with open arms” (75). Joining hundreds and then thousands of terrified, traumatized people fleeing Dresden, they walk with Marlene through the freezing night and following day with only snow to eat.

Caught up in the ever-growing crowd of refugees, Mutti directs her family to leave the road and take a shortcut through the woods. After walking several more hours, they reach a stream that flows into a pool of water where everyone, including Marlene, can drink. Karli is too tired to continue walking. At Lizzie’s suggestion, he rides the rest of the way on Marlene’s back; no one has ever ridden Marlene before, but she is content to have him there. As they walk on and on through the second night, Lizzie begs Mutti to stop, but her mother refuses to allow Lizzie to give up. They reach the farm at dawn only to find it deserted; even the animals are gone. Walking into the barn in search of hay for Marlene, Lizzie finds a man lying in the hay wearing an unfamiliar blue uniform. Mutti identifies him as the enemy, “one of the bombers that has destroyed our city. British. RAF” (91). Mutti grabs a pitchfork and walks toward him.