Excerpt-

Sharon leaned to John speaking so the Masai driver, George could not hear her. " When do we start for the valley?"

John stroked her hair and kept his voice low too. "This is the only outfit I could find that could even get us close. We need to appear to be just like any other clients until I can get to the camp manager and enlist his help."

She kissed him on the cheek satisfied that John would keep them on track.

George pointed to a group of elephants not far from the crude road. Four large ones faced the truck keeping a baby one behind them. "Look, see how the momma and females protect the baby. They are very good parents." Further down the road she was astounded by the number of wildebeests they saw. These were strange, awkward looking animals. George joked that it was a creature put together when the gods had finished everything else and had nothing but leftover parts. The adults carried wide curved horns, humped shoulders, and short black manes. They were everywhere. The Serengeti was alive with the greatest migration on the planet and she and John were right in the middle of it. They passed from the open plains into a thicket of acacias and high brush.

The vehicle stopped abruptly and Sharon looked through the windshield trying to appreciate what was happening. In the road ahead of them a huge elephant with long tusks stood angrily flapping his wrinkled gray ears. She didn't know much about elephants, but this one looked like it was ready to charge them.

She took her eyes off the elephant for a moment to see how the driver guide was reacting. Her pulse pounded hard as George was clearly frightened. She looked back at the elephant that was now stomping and bellowing. John reached up and put his hand on her shoulder. It was a small comfort.

Sharon whispered to George. "Why is it doing that?"

"Oh, he is a bull and he is very unhappy with us. I think he may charge any moment now."

"Why don't you get us out of the way?" John sounded a little anxious. But it was a good question, why the heck weren't they backing up at full speed?

"I do not want to move until I know why he is angry. Probably we are close to a baby. If we go the wrong way and move towards the little one, he will surely attack us."

Sharon saw him slide his hand onto the gearshift. She was starting to breathe hard. The situation had a surreal feeling to her and the image of this elephant on the verge of attacking them made her a little lightheaded.

Sharon winced at the irony of the situation. Back in another part of the world she was in charge of selling one of the most advanced products of the twenty-first century. Now here she was about to get trampled to death by an elephant, along with John and a Masai guide who probably grew up in a mud hut. God sure had a sense of humor. She had never imagined the map could lead to this kind of trouble.

The elephant took a step toward them. George inched the truck back ever so slowly. "Do you see a baby anywhere?"

Sharon looked around frantically. She was perspiring from the heat and the tension pumping through her veins. The dirt roadway, which was little more than two worn tire tracks, was narrow, hedged in on both sides by thorny acacia's and shrubs. The angry bull fully occupied the path ahead of them, and the road behind them was winding and treacherous.

She forced herself to stay calm. Her fingers were cold and her palms turned clammy. She searched for some kind of escape route but none was in sight. The safest place was in the safari cruiser, but as they faced the elephant, the vehicle was exposed as being suddenly small and fragile. She desperately wanted someplace to hide.

Her eyes were fixed on the bull, and it trumpeted again. It was pawing forward aggressively. She imagined it could easily push the truck over with its head and stomp the cruiser into sheet metal with its great feet. The thing must be fifteen feet tall. She couldn't even begin to guess how much it weighed. Her muscles tightened into knots at the idea of her head or chest being crushed under the massive beast.

The truck inched back a little faster now. The elephant became increasingly agitated. The animal's ears were fully extended making it appear even larger. It stomped the ground and made a bluffing charge toward them, stopping after only a few steps.

She glanced back when George shouted. "There's the baby."

To the rear of them a baby elephant came out of the brush onto the road. It didn't stand much higher than the door handles, and under other circumstances she would have thought it was cute. As it was, the sight of the baby enraged the bull who trumpeted louder than ever.

"I am sorry, this is very bad. We are between the big one and the little one.

Please hold on."