Page 43 - Just Deserts

Excessories

founding, six years ago, to awaken the public to the very real threat to
the world’s elephant populations, it is only in the past month that our
efforts have borne fruit. I wish I could say that it was something in
our literature that did it, or one of our rare appearances on television,
but in fact the catalyst appears to have been an occurrence
completely unforeseen and out of our control, the Excessories
scandal.”
Murmurs of assent flowed back to Scattergood from his
audience. “As all of you know,” he went on, “the revelation that
human teeth from East African famine victims had been palmed off
on buyers looking for poached ivory had a galvanizing effect on the
wealthier segment of our citizenry. I saw an article in the paper last
week that indicated the rich are now totally unwilling to be seen
wearing anything that might be taken from an animal on the
endangered list; and if they cannot be seen with it, they have no use
for it. The demand, therefore, for poached ivory at high prices is
plummeting in this country. As a result, the price a poacher can get
for raw ivory is also declining precipitately. Ellen Edelweiss, our
number cruncher,”—here he paused to acknowledge the presence of
the woman—“has estimated that the immediate effect will be the
sparing of at least two dozen African elephants.”
Applause prevented him from continuing for almost a minute.
“Yes, with no effort on our part, a change in American behavior
is having a direct impact on the survival of the species we are
dedicated to preserving intact in the wild. That, of course, is the
charter of POP. How long this turn-around in attitude will
persevere is anybody’s guess. Were we merely passive observers of
the phenomenon it would not matter. But we have our own plan of
action, thwarted thus far by a lack of funds. Our education
committee, ably headed by Wilmot McDervish,”—another nod to a
face in the crowd—“has for years been developing ways of
reaching out to school children, shoppers in malls, straphangers in
subway trains and viewers of public service announcements.”
He paused for dramatic effect. His listeners leaned forward,
folding chairs creaking loudly.
“Well, I am very pleased to announce that we will be able to strike
while the iron is hot! The wave of guilt propagated by the
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