"I Won't Forget"

 

"Come on," Mark's mother said to him, "you've got to put it back now." Mark glanced up at his mom, then set the plush elephant down on the shelf. She picked him up; he looked away. 

"You said I could get him next time," Mark whispered, his chin resting so firmly on her shoulder that he felt each word that he spoke as a drop of pressure underneath his jaw. He watched the elephant get farther away as his mom carried him down the aisle, as if he were in the car and watching it through the rear window while she drove.

"I know, honey, but I had to pay the man to fix the washing machine, remember?" she said. "Next time," she told him, "I promise." 

Instead of listening to his mother's promise, though, Mark was staring at the toy elephant, whose head he swore he had seen turn toward him. A slight stretch of his neck forward, and Mark was able to see the elephant raise its trunk and fold its ears back against its body.

"See you later, Mark," the toy elephant said.

Mark looked at his mom; her gaze was locked ahead of her. He looked back at the elephant.

"Please don't forget about me," it said.

"I won't forget," said Mark. His mother looked at him then, just as the plush elephant lifted its trunk higher and waved goodbye behind her.