Three Penn State students are mourning the loss of a beloved pet elephant named Tushy after the creature mysteriously melted while taking a bath this past Wednesday.
Filled with grief, roommates Abbey Keefer (sophomore-environmental resource management ), Melissa Repko (sophomore-advertising and public relations ) and Jessica Straley (sophomore-crime, law and justice) have vowed to erect a memorial in honor of their cherished friend.
Keefer obtained Tushy, the crazy little elephant, under unusual circumstances last weekend when she went home. Even Keefer admits the way in which she acquired the animal was "somewhat uncommon."
"I went to the farket (not market) to pick up some beans, but while I was there I decided I wanted something else to munch on, so I bought these crackers that came in this cute little box that had pictures of animals on it. But when I got home and opened up the box I realized it wasn't filled with crackers ... it was filled with animals."
Keefer was surprised and unsure of what to do next. After almost seconds of deliberation, she initially resolved to turn the animals into a shelter, but she soon felt that they would be mistreated, considering what she has seen in films like Beethoven and Jurassic Park. Filled with compassion, she finally decided to keep the animals and to care for them.
She says that it was an agonizing decision, but in the end she knew it was the proper thing to do. Keefer claims that what happened next totally invalidated her decision, however.
On Easter morning, Keefer's younger brother, Phil, in a fit of primal rage, ate all but one of the animals. In just a few minutes, Phil managed to devour as many as 18 different creatures, including: donkeys, monkeys, camels, lions, bison and elephants.
Abbey was "horrified" when she saw what her brother was doing, but she regained composure and was able to save the last elephant. She says that she tried having her brother admitted to a mental hospital, but when the doctors seemed more interested in other things she concluded that the facility wasn't a quality institution.
"I decided the mental hospital was not fit for my brother," says Keefer. "I mean, the kid eats like 20 animals and the doctors are more concerned with asking me if I hear constant voices and things of that nature."
Disappointed, Keefer returned to State College that night but not alone. Tushy --who she aptly named for her late best friend who died in a grapefruit accident earlier this year -- accompanied her.
During the car ride the two "got to know each other better." Keefer played a lot of Beatles music, which Tushy really seemed to enjoy.
She says that when Ja Rule came on the radio, though, he turned an extremely weird shade of gray and began gagging profusely. Once the song finished, Tushy returned to normal and even giggled a little bit.
Reaching her destination later in the evening at 8:48, Keefer was worried that her roommates wouldn't take kindly to the new addition, but was overjoyed when Repko and Straley received Tushy with open arms.
"It was so touching that the girls welcomed Tushy," says Keefer. "I could tell he was a little nervous because his trunk was wrapped around his leg; he felt so much better once the girls met him and took a liking to him."
"How could we not love Tushy? He was so cute and so loveable," she said.
Straley admitted she felt a little left out at first because everyone was so preoccupied with the new roommate, but she quickly changed her attitude.
"I realized how foolish I was. I was never mean to Tushy and in fact I was nice to him when he came to be with us, but that's just my nature; inside I felt abandoned.
Soon, though, I remembered my favorite color was purple and then I was just like, 'wow, Tushy is pretty cool.' "
Only a few days later the girls decided to give Tushy his first bath and that's when the unthinkable happened. Keefer said she made the water warm but by no means hot, and she even used special, sensitive bubble bath soap. She helped Tushy in and began scrubbing him, but he started turning "mushy."
"I screamed and kind of jumped back, and as I looked into the water I saw Tushy fall deep into the bubbly liquid and sort of like, I don't know, melt," said Keefer.
"He started to sort of morph or something and he looked kind of gooey," recalls Repko. "He looked like that guy in Indiana Jones when his face melts and I laughed at first because it was so weird, but then I pinched myself because I knew how awful it was that I was chuckling."
Not knowing what to do, Straley unplugged the drain and what was left of poor Tushy's deformed body was washed down with the soapy water; such was the end for the once vibrant elephant.
Sitting in their College Avenue apartment together a day after the accident, the three girls seemed uncomfortable and distant. Repko and Straley sit side-by-side in the love seat, while Keefer is sprawled out on the couch holding a picture of Tushy.
With nowhere else to sit, I take a spot on the floor, which is extremely uncomfortable, not to mention hard on my back.
Keefer and Repko tell stories about Tushy and laugh, but only momentarily as they soon remember that he is dead and never coming back.
Repko recounts the tale of when the girls brought their prized elephant on campus and had a triumphant march on Pollock Road. She says that Tushy looked extremely regal, "like Graham Spanier should have been riding on his back."
Another memory is the time when Tushy became ill and the girls had to care for him.
Keefer recalls the event: "he developed these dark spots so I took him to a friend who is majoring in pre-med. He diagnosed Tushy with something rare called 'mold,' and he had to perform this complicated procedure involving paper towel."
During this cathartic discussion, Straley sits perfectly quiet, looking out the window and refusing to respond to human contact. The girls postulate that this is because she blames herself for Tushy's demise.
As Keefer says, "if we could have gotten him to a hospital maybe he could have made it -- just maybe. When Jess pulled the plug on the drain, she also pulled the plug on Tushy's life."
Keefer looks at Straley and adds: "But I don't blame you," at which point the previously inert Straley jumps up from her seat and runs into her room bawling.
Straley is not the only one with demons, though. Keefer says she'll never forgive herself for what she let happen. When her brother ate the other animals to death, she made an oath to take care of Tushy, and now that he's gone she can't help but feel responsible.
"Tushy is the best friend I ever had and I let him slip away ... literally; how can I live with myself knowing this," Keefer questions.
Trying to find a way to channel their grief into something positive, the girls have decided to build a memorial in Tushy's honor.
Not only have they lost something, the girls argue, but so has the Penn State community. Keefer, Repko and Straley say that Tushy enriched everyone's life, even though he never actually met anyone.
Although still in the planning stage, the three propose to have the HUB-Robeson Center relocated alongside Park Avenue across from East Halls, where there is plenty of open space.
In the HUB's former spot, a life-size replica of Tushy (about 1 square inch) would be placed at the exact point where the main stairs in the HUB currently reside. The rest of the area would be totally bare, except for a few scattered pencils, which would be strategically scattered around the empty grass for aesthetic purposes.
"We still have to get approval," says Keefer, "but this is pretty much in the bag, I think." The girls are excited, and looking at preliminary sketches genuine smiles come to their faces -- the first sign of happiness in a long time.
Even Straley has begun to forgive herself, even though she says she'll never fully get over Tushy's terrible end. She looks at a map of what the newly renovated campus will look like with the addition of the new memorial and utters quietly, "We'll miss ya, Tush."
