Water for Elephants

Marlena dresses quickly and returns to perform in the show. Jacob and Marlena proclaim their love for each other and pledge to do whatever it takes to be together. They plan to escape the circus in Providence after Camel is handed off to his family. Jacob tells her about Al’s threat. She brushes it off, but he tells her about the six men who were red-lighted in Davenport. Walter is angry when Jacob tells him that Al knows about Camel. Jacob tells him about his and Marlena’s plan to escape, but Walter feels that Jacob is abandoning him. August follows Marlena everywhere, begging for her to return. He attacks her and tries to put her wedding ring back on her finger. Al is frustrated with the lack of progress toward Marlena and August’s reconciliation. Jacob says she’s afraid of August, and they need more time. Over the next few days, Marlena performs but Rosie doesn’t, and the crowds grow impatient and angry. Al eats with August to keep him away from Marlena. Jacob and Marlena meet secretly to have sex. Jacob has fitful dreams of crocodiles chasing him. He knows the situation is untenable. In Poughkeepsie, the train is raided, and all their alcohol is dumped. The circus is run out of town twice, and the crowds demand the return of their money. On payday, no one’s paid but the bosses: “For the first time in the show’s history, there is no money for performers” (282). Marlena tells Jacob she’s pregnant with his child, and Al tells Jacob his time is up. Jacob worries that Camel and Walter are in danger, but Earl restrains Jacob and throws him out of the tent. Earl tells Jacob to stay away from the evening show, but he attends anyway. While he hides under the grandstand, he catches a man looking up ladies’ skirts. While throwing the man out, he realizes that Rosie isn’t cooperating with August in the ring. Suddenly, Rosie charges toward Jacob. He tries to run after Marlena, but August pushes him away, and Blackie grabs Jacob and knocks him unconscious.

Somehow Jacob makes it back to his car. Walter applies a wet cloth to his face, awakening him, but he’s groggy from the head injury. Jacob worries about Marlena, but Walter convinces him it’s not safe to intervene. They must wait until Camel leaves. Camel is hurt that they want him gone, but Walter tells him it’s best for everyone. Jacob tells Walter that Marlena is pregnant. After Walter is asleep, Jacob takes his knife, climbs atop the train, and jumps from car to car to get to August. He finds August sleeping alone and raises the knife to stab August but can’t bring himself to do it. Leaving the knife on the pillow, Jacob clambers back to his car.

Camel and Walter are gone, and the car door is open. Jacob sinks to the floor in grief, and Queenie comforts him. The next morning, Jacob barges into Earl’s car, demanding to know what happened. However, Earl wasn’t a part of the incident. He promises Jacob he’ll get answers, saying, “[L]et me tell you something, kinkers don’t get tossed, even lowly ones. If Walter got it, they were after you” (301). Ten men were thrown from the train. Jacob looks for Marlena and notices Al watching him. He tries to speak with her, but Earl intervenes and separates them. Earl is trying to help Jacob but must pretend he’s following Al’s orders. Marlena tells Jacob about money hidden in their car, and he spends the rest of the day plotting how to get into the car. Grady finds him and tells him that Camel didn’t make it and Walter died from his injuries. The other men survived and are planning an attack in revenge. He warns Jacob to get himself and Marlena out of the way before it begins. The band suddenly begins playing “The Disaster March,” signaling an emergency, and they hear a thunderous crash. Someone has let the animals loose, and a stampede is raging through the main tent. Jacob frantically searches for Marlena amid the chaos. He spots her standing near Rosie. August is yelling at her. Rosie pulls up her iron stake with her trunk and smashes it into August. He collapses to the ground, and the stampede tramples his lifeless body. Rosie shields Marlena from the charge, during which many spectators are also trampled. Marlena faints, and Jacob carries her away from the carnage.

In the days following the stampede, the remaining circus workers try to find the animals. They can’t find the big cats or the bear but eventually find one lion hiding in a diner in town. Authorities remove August’s body for investigation. Al is missing. Local officials demand that the circus vacate the area. The Nesci Brothers Circus arrives and begins making offers for the remaining equipment and animals. Jacob scrambles to form a plan. He calls Dean Wilkins at Cornell and tells him all that has occurred in the last three months. Wilkins is shocked into silence but agrees to let Jacob return to Cornell and complete his exams. The Nesci Brothers try to take Rosie, but Jacob claims her, telling them she’s dumb and can’t follow commands. After she fails their trial, they agree to leave her. Jacob sees Marlena fighting with another group from Nesci to keep the horses. They relent, and Jacob realizes that he has a lot of responsibility: “Dear God. Not only am I unemployed and homeless, but I also have a pregnant woman, bereaved dog, elephant, and eleven horses to take care of” (317). Marlena and Jacob realize that the only solution is to join Ringling Brothers, where the animals will be safe. They find Uncle Al’s body. Someone has strangled him. Jacob and Marlena take Bobo the chimpanzee along with the other animals.

The elderly Jacob sits in the nursing home, still sad that his family forgot him. Simon was his first child with Marlena and was born while they were still with Ringling Brothers. Of all the children, he should know how much the circus means to Jacob. Determined not to miss the performance, Jacob shuffles his way out the door and over to the circus tent: “I may be in my nineties, but who says I’m helpless?” (322). When he tries to walk in, a teenager named Russ stops him, as Jacob doesn’t have money for a ticket. However, the manager, Charlie O’Brien, escorts him inside to a ringside seat. Jacob tells Charlie he was with Benzini Brothers and Ringling. Charlie mentions the infamous stampede and asks Jacob to meet with him after the show and tell him about his experience.

After the show, Charlie and Jacob share a drink, and Jacob tells Charlie his life story. He reveals the truth about Rosie, admitting it was the only thing he ever kept from Marlena. Jacob reminisces about raising five children. They retired from the circus, and Jacob became the vet at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, where Rosie spent her final years. The horses lived with the family on their property. A police officer arrives, looking for a missing man from the nursing home. Charlie lies, telling him that Jacob is his father. He asks Jacob to join the circus as a ticket-taker. Jacob is happy, knowing he’ll live his final years in his favorite place.