PROMPTuesday #10

Okay, so I'm joining in all the fun. Today's prompt:

You’re in a bookstore. You see stacks and stacks of books, but one in particular catches your eye. Something about the title. You’re intrigued. You pick the book up, open it, and read the first paragraph. Now you’re hooked. What is the title of the book and what did the first paragraph say?

The rules:

* You must write your entry in 10 minutes. This encourages top-of-mind, primal thinking before the ego and judgmental brain kicks in. Just set a timer, make your kid count to 600 slowly, whatever. It’s an honor system. And I trust you.

* Keep to 250 words or less.

* Please have fun. Don’t put pressure on yourself. Together, let’s rediscover the simple joy in the writing process.

* Post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.

And now, my entry:

An Elephant's Birthday

She walked across the dusty yard, navigating around the hills of fire ants to the pecan tree in her great-grandmother's backyard. She had not been to this spot since she was eleven years old. That was the time she and her cousins had found the dead squirrel on the railroad track up the hill from the house, and she had been surprised at the stench of death. She sat under the pecan tree and wept, feeling the burden of being pregnant for two years with a horrible secret. The tears dripped down her nose, into the red dust, creating tiny moist red clay spots. Two years was a dreadfully long time to be pregnant with anything, she thought, and resolved to tell him that very day.