Free Chained by Lynne Kelly

glance at the water trough. In my head I try to count how many trips to the spring and back it will take to fill it. I wonder how fast Nandita will empty it.
    “Give her a bath in the spring every evening,” Timir continues. “Keep hold of her chain when you lead her around. We can’t have her wandering like she’s free to go where she wants. She needs to know you’re in charge. I think that’s enough instructions for now. Any questions?”
    Yes, a thousand. I do not dare ask anything else.
    “All right, then,” Timir says. “You’ve had it easy so far, with no elephant here. It is time to end this vacation of yours and start working off your family’s debt to me.”
    Start? In my mind I scratch out the seven marks on the stable wall I thought I had earned.
    “Now get to work,” Timir says.
    It takes five trips to the spring to fill the water trough. I head back to the arena, where Sharad is leading Nandita around, holding her chain close. He pulls the chain back when she tries to run from him.
    *   *   *
    After washing the lunch dishes, Ne Min hands me a glass bottle about the size of my arm, filled with milk. “The elephant will be ready for lunch, too,” he says.
    “Don’t take too long,” Sharad says when he sees me approaching the arena with the milk. “She needs to get back to work.” He pulls a cloth from his pocket to wipe the sweat from his face, then leaves me alone with Nandita.
    She notices the milk as soon as I open the gate. She reaches for the bottle, but I pull back in time to hang on to it.
    The rubber top of the bottle looks like part of a cow’s udder, so I hold it over Nandita’s head for her to drink as she would from her mother. She grabs the bottle with her trunk. The milk dribbles onto the ground as she tries to feed herself. She spins away when I try to take it back. I chase her around the arena, hoping to get her to drink the milk before it all spills. I wonder if it will be this exhausting to feed her every time.
    I lead her out of the arena, through the trees and toward the stable to let her get some hay and water. When Nandita dashes toward the trough, I fall to the ground and the chain slips from my hand. She fills her trunk with as much water as it takes me to collect in one trip to the spring. She pours some of the water into her mouth, but saves some to spray onto her back and at me.
    “You’ll have more water for drinking if you stop playing around with it!” I watch the water sink into the ground.
    But Nandita doesn’t seem to know I am scolding her. For a moment, I catch a glimpse of that smile she always wore in the forest.
    I grip her chain tightly when it’s time to lead her back to the arena, but Nandita runs toward the trees, dragging me behind her. She stops and reaches for a mango branch, but I jump up in time to grab the fruit first. Nandita squeaks and reaches for the mango with her trunk.
    “Not so fast,” I tell her as I back away. “You’re going to have to follow me to get this.”
    We walk to the arena, Nandita bumping into me the whole way while trying to take the mango. I keep it close to my chest and I turn away whenever she reaches for it. Finally we make it through the arena gate, and I hold out the mango. Nandita snatches it from my hand and runs across the arena before dropping it into her mouth. She swings her trunk and calls out a trumpet sound.
    “You’re welcome,” I say, and slump against the fence to catch my breath.
    *   *   *
    When I put Nandita in the stable for the night, I decide to go to bed, too. Before I fall asleep, I take out my pocketknife. I pick out a new log and stab the knife into it, marking my first day of work that matters.
    I’m so tired, the bed of straw feels almost comfortable. I have never been so tired. Nandita is not so sleepy. She groans as she paces around the stable and bangs the walls with her trunk. I try to ignore her, but she grabs my blanket with her trunk and walks away.
    “Nandita,