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Happy 40th Birthday Ellie! is written on a big banner outside the elephant exhibit at the L.A. Zoo in curly, pink font.
Chris, Buck, and Eddie all stand under it, heads tilted in curiosity.
"Do you think she likes it?"
"Maybe pink's her favorite color."
"Can elephants even see color?"
"They can, actually! Their strongest colors are blue and yellow."
"So, they're colorblind?"
"Kinda what it sounds like."
"So maybe this banner is less pink and more… Grey."
"A silver, perhaps. A fetching silver."
"To accent her skin."
"A dignified lady, for sure."
"Would she wear pearls?"
"I mean, wouldn't her tusks count?"
"I don't know, does she have a set of formal tusks?"
"Formal toenails?"
"Aww, did she get a birthday pedicure?"
"I hope she got little flowers painted on them."
"No, but actually, you know elephants in captivity do get regular pedicures, right? Because in the wild, they're walking tens of miles a day, helping to keep the skin and nails healthy, and in captivity, they just don't. So they have to get pedicures to trim the nails, make sure they're not cracking, and keep the foot pads from going necrotic."
"Necrotic?"
"It means that the tissue dies."
"I know what necrotic means."
"Then why did you ask?"
"Because the literal last thing I ever think about an elephant is their foot tissue dying."
"I've seen pictures. It's gross."
"You remember the first time we came to this zoo?"
"Of course I do."
"What do you mean, of course? You were seven."
"What, you think seven-year-olds don't have memories?"
"Okay, you know what, fair enough."
"We got cups of Dippin' Dots and sat on the grass and watched the flamingos."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
"Oh yeah, I remember that! I'd never been to this zoo before."
"And then we came back for Zoo Lights over Christmas."
"Was that the first time we broke out the wheelchair?"
"I think so?"
"But I remember, cause you got so excited when you saw it in the paper, that we came out for Ellie's 30th birthday."
"Oh yeah!"
"Really? Okay, how do I not remember that."
"How do you not remember that? You made her a cake!"
"I made her a what?"
"No, he's right, you made a batch of cupcakes and you tried to draw an elephant on one of them."
"I can only imagine how well that turned out."
"Eh, not that good."
"But we ate them anyway."
"Am I hallucinating, or did I try and sneak one in for her?"
"Oh, you absolutely did. It got smushed in your pocket because you thought wrapping it in napkins would help."
"Gross."
"Oh yeah, laundry day was so your day."
"Bud, don't you wanna get back to your classmates? Senior year and all, instead of hanging out with us."
"I mean, yeah, in a minute. But it would feel weird to go to the zoo without you two."
"So maybe we'll just take a minute with Ellie?"
"Yeah. Just a minute."