Elephant Speak: A Devoted Keeper's Life Among the Herd Interior Layout

when the fields lay fallow, Leonard supplemented their income
by laboring in the fetid meat-packing plants of Sioux City.
Before and after school, Roger helped his father work the farm
and care for the livestock, while Virginia assisted their mother
with household tasks.
In 1947, Myra bore a son, Donald Henneous, who quickly
became ten-year-old Roger’s biggest fan. As soon as he could
toddle, Donald followed his big brother everywhere, keeping
up an endless barrage of commentary and questions that
amused and annoyed Roger by turns.
In February 1950, the leather plunger on the farm’s well
pump cracked. The house and barn had no indoor plumbing,
so water was drawn one heavy bucketful at a time from
a manual pump attached to a well pipe located in a five-footdeep
by four-foot-square pit packed with straw to keep the
works from freezing. Until the pump was repaired, everyone
on the farm, including the animals, would go thirsty.
Leonard and thirteen-year-old Roger suited up in layers of
wool and flannel and headed outdoors, determined to have
the work done before nightfall. They successfully separated the
pump from the well coupling and installed the new plunger,
but when they tried to screw the pump’s four-foot pipe back
onto the coupling, it cross-threaded every time.
The temperature hovered in the single digits. Frigid air
turned their breath to steam and gnawed the naked skin
around their eyes, exposed above the scarf line. Down in the
pit, Roger could barely feel his hands and feet. Leonard was
equally miserable standing on the rim to guide the pump from
above, but there was no going indoors until the job was finished,
and evening chores were waiting.
Tired and frustrated, Roger flexed his stiff fingers inside
their gloves and lined up the two pieces of metal for the umpteenth
time. Once again, the threads skewed. Leonard’s foggy
26 ◆ Elephant Speak: A Devoted Keeper’s Life Among the Herd