Page 28 - The Gluckman Occasional Number Four

suicide. He could find no way out of his problems: the public would
never take him seriously, and the idea of being just a clown, a circus
act, drove him crazy.
It was almost midnight. After
heaving a mighty sigh, Arturo set
out to take a long walk off a
short pier. His massive legs felt
heavy as stone, but he forced
himself to move, step after step,
toward his doom. As he
approached the end of the pier
he became aware of an agitated
squeaking sound from the
groaning planks beneath his feet.
It was a rat. The elephant stopped in his tracks, afraid that he
might tread upon the rodent and squash it. The rat took the
opportunity to scoot up Arturo’s trunk and cling to his leathery ear-
flap. “Don’t do it!” squealed
the rodent. “Don’t jump!”
Arturo realized that the rat
must have been following him
all the way from the
warehouse. He started arguing
with the tiny creature. He told
him that he had nothing to live
for, that nobody understood
him, and that there was
nowhere he could go to escape
his horrible fate
Talking quickly but calmly, and in a very
cultured voice, the rodent told Arturo that
he was the distinguished stage actor, Basil
Ratbone. Basil said that he had been
following the elephant’s career from
Hollywood, where he was making
television commercials for processed
cheese spread. He loved classical music,
and was very sad to see the brilliant young
maestro disappear from the podium. On
his return to New York, he happened to see an elephant skulking