Word: clackings
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...soundlessly advances to the edge of a water hole, its trunk raised high to catch the first scent of danger. Satisfied that the way is clear, it signals and is joined by a second elephant. In ritual greeting the two behemoths entwine their trunks, flap their enormous ears and clack tusk against tusk, sending the cold crack of ivory across the Ngulia Hills. That same sound is heard 10,000 miles away in Hong Kong and Tokyo, where ivory traders stack tusk upon tusk -- more than 800 tons, scrubbed clean of blood and connective tissue and laundered free of illegality...
...placed the ivory section with the bullet on his family altar. "We sprinkle some water on it every day," he says, "so we can pacify the spirits of the dead elephants." Even as he speaks, there are more and more elephant spirits to placate, and the clack of tusk against tusk in Africa grows fainter and fainter...
...Clack-clack-clack...
...Clack-clack...
...rail yard to board in darkness. Railroad police are everywhere with spotlights. No sleep again. Just after midnight they find a grain car with a narrow porch. Twenty minutes later, the freight pauses to add an engine, and aliens from the Mexican border clamber aboard frantically. Finally, the clickety-clack commences for the last time. A hobbyist road-named the "Gentle Giant" defines this moment. "You face nature, and the train is your friend," he says. "All your senses are alive. You'll love your wife, your children and your home better." Three weary faces framed in a sunrise breaking...