The One and Only Ruby

One morning, Ruby resentfully stayed in while the other elephants played outside; she’d gotten a thorn in her foot the previous day. Jabori comforted her but then had to go to help out with other elephants. Odongo left to hunt.

Ruby smelled smoke. Worried, she trumpeted, but no one heard her. Ramming her door, Ruby managed to escape. The orphanage was quiet; no one was around.

Ruby ran around looking for a caretaker, feeling panicked.

Ruby reached the top of the hill. Smoke was billowing from the orphanage below. Her foot hurt. She entered a human cabin, strange smelling and filled with unknown objects, but no one was there. She trumpeted loudly, but still no one came.

Looking out the window of the human house, Ruby saw flames and smoke. She ran away from the house.

Ruby saw four humans in a truck at the bottom of the hill with dart guns and ropes.

Ruby points out that people pay good money for baby elephants.

Ruby sees that Uncle Ivan, Uncle Bob, and Aunt Kinyani are upset by the story; she apologizes for upsetting them, but Uncle Ivan insists that she need not apologize. They encourage her to continue.

Ruby was transported in a series of trucks, usually by night. She thought of Jabori and the other elephants, wondering what happened to them.

Ruby was taken onto a ship. She was held in a dung-filled crate below deck, where she was scared and seasick. Finally, they reached land, and she was put on another truck.

Ruby was sold to the Fizzle Brothers Family Circus. She was given the name Ruby, and walked in a circle in a tent behind a large elephant called Fiona, who was sullen and withdrawn.

The circus ran out of money and Ruby was sold to a man called Mack.

Ruby points out that Aunt Stella was in a circus for years. Ruby found her own circus experience demoralizing and depressing; she doesn’t know how Aunt Stella managed so many years of it.

Ivan agrees; he doesn’t know how Stella did it.

Ruby arrived at the mall. It smelled like a circus and she was reluctant to come out of the truck. Stella approached the ramp to coax Ruby out, promising to do her best to care for her. Ruby heard Stella whisper, “I just hope my best is enough” (161).

Ruby observes that Aunt Stella saved her from unhappiness, by loving her and caring for her. She acknowledges that Aunt Stella asked Ivan to find Ruby a better home, which Ivan did.

Ruby is done with her story. Uncle Ivan and Uncle Bob are both crying (which for animals is more of an internal expression than human crying). Ruby apologizes for upsetting them. Both of her uncles praise her for being such a brave elephant. Uncle Ivan insists that it was good that she didn’t keep her pain bottled up; he considers that maybe it is time for him to talk about Stella too.

Carmen, one of the zookeepers, calls Ruby. Before Ruby leaves, Uncle Ivan tells her that she was all the herd Aunt Stella needed, and that she brought Stella immeasurable happiness.

The next day, Ruby leaves the pavilion as soon as it opens, running into the dewy morning as her aunts call out, “It’s your Tuskday!” (168). She goes over to the hole in the fence, trying not to draw attention to herself.

Ruby pokes her head through the hole. She sees trucks and digging machines and dirt piles. She reflects that she does not know what she will do on the other side of the hole, but that escaping would allow her to avoid her Tuskday ceremony. Halfway through the hole she gets stuck.

Ruby feels like she is going to cry, just as she did after she saw Jabori. She reflects that this is odd, because she didn’t cry much through all her awful experiences in Africa and afterwards.

She hears Aunt Akello calling her.

Aunt Akello sees Ruby stuck in the hole, and then unexpectedly asks if Ruby wants to hear a riddle. Aunt Akello asks what time it is when an elephant sits on a fence, and then gives the answer: Time to fix the fence. Ruby chuckles politely, although she has heard this one before.

Ruby explains that she was curious to see what was on the other side, but Aunt Akello doesn’t believe her. Aunt Akello tells Ruby that she was nervous for her own Tuskday ceremony; she was intimidated by her new responsibilities and wondered if she’d ever be able to lead a herd. Ruby points out that she now leads a herd, but Aunt Akello says that this is an easier task in a zoo than in the African wild, where she was born. Ruby is interested to learn that Aunt Akello was also from Africa.

Ruby tells Aunt Akello that, in Africa, elephants were killed for their tusks, and that she hates her tusks. Aunt Akello tells Ruby that she has nightmares about elephants being killed too; she comforts Ruby, stroking her back with her trunk.

Aunt Akello points out that, although tusks are a burden in some ways, they can also be helpful. She uses her tusk to widen the hole, and tells Ruby that she can step forward (through the hole) or backward (back into the enclosure). Ruby chooses to step backward.

Aunt Akello tells Ruby more ways in which her tusks are useful: for digging, for play fighting or real fighting, and for removing bark. She explains that humans use tusks for ivory, with which they make piano keys or statues.

She stresses that although Ruby isn’t free in the sanctuary, she is safe, and this is a tradeoff. Ruby still doesn’t know why something that has brought so much misery (elephants’ tusks) should be celebrated; she reminds Aunt Akello of the bones of the tusk-less elephant on the savanna. Aunt Akello, who saw many similar skeletons, including that of her own mother and grandmother, admits that adults don’t always have all of the answers.

The other elephants are waiting for Ruby by the pond. As they approach the herd, Ruby admits that she wishes Aunt Stella could have been part of the herd, and could have been here for her Tuskday. The elephants happily sing that it is Ruby’s Tuskday. They have made a big circle out of sticks, leaves, and flowers. Ruby steps into the middle and the older elephants stand around her. Ruby lightens the mood by asking why it’s called Tuskday, not Tusksday. The other elephants laugh; Aunt Akello says that Tusksday too hard to say.

They begin with a moment of silence for their ancestors. Ruby reflects that the world’s sounds makes a beautiful melody. The elephants gather and touch a curved stick (which looks like a tusk) in the middle of the circle, and Aunt Akello asks them to honor the presence of Stella. Ruby doesn’t want to call her “Stella of The Exit 8 and Big Top Mall and Video Arcade”; Aunt Akello suggests, they call her “Stella of the African Savanna,” but Ruby asks if she could be “Stella of the Park,” because she would have loved to a part of their park herd (196). Aunt Akello agrees.

The elephants chant the Four Lodestars, or guiding principles, of being an elephant: An elephant is not an elephant without kindness, wonder, courage, and gratitude. Aunt Akello asks Ruby to tell the herd about what Tuskday means to her. She is nervous.

Ruby is unsure what to say; she feels that tusks mean little when you’re a captive elephant, and far too much when you’re a wild elephant. Ruby says that growing tusks means taking care of others the way others have taken care of her. She asks hopefully whether it also means that she can have an hour more of mudfun every day.

Aunt Akello tells Ruby that she will now take part in a simple and powerful ritual every day; it is a “checkup of [her] heart and mind” (202), and consists of asking herself two questions: “What gift did the world give you today? What gift did you give the world?” (203). Aunt Akello asks her to explain what the questions mean. Ruby, remembering what Stella taught her, answers these questions easily.

Ruby goes to see Ivan, Bob, and Kinyani. They ask her how Tuskday was. She tells them that it went well, and that there was a special place set for Stella; they know this already, as they talked to Aunt Akello the previous day. Ruby is touched to have people who are looking out for her.

They begin sharing Aunt Stella’s favorite riddles and exchanging stories about her.

That night, Ruby reflects on what gift she gave the world that day. She reflects that she was brave at her Tuskday ceremony, even though she was afraid, and that she expressed her love and gratitude to her aunts.

As for the gift the world gave her, she feels overwhelmed with options and counts herself very lucky.

In an author’s note, Applegate explains that climate change is reducing the resources available to elephants in their natural habitats. Furthermore, horrific poaching practices continue to claim the lives of elephants, as well as leading many elephants to be sold into solitary and unpleasant lives in small enclosures. She directs readers to a couple of sites where they can learn more about elephants, and about how to support elephants living in the wild or in ethical sanctuaries: www.elephantvoices.org and www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org.