Follow the Elephant by Beryl Young

counter. He frowned as Ben explained. The man barely looked at him. “We have no Lost and Found. Sorry.”
    Again Ben hunted in every corner of the entrance and into the passage. He shoved his way through the guides, looking around the floor, up and over all the sandals, the slippers, the clogs, the loafers, the sneakers, big and little, until he found himself back in the sunny courtyard in front of the Taj.
    Gran was still sitting on the bench and had stopped crying. She saw his face. “You look terrible, Ben.”
    “I’m all right,” he said.
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yep, I’m just going to wander around and take some pictures.” He had no idea what to do next. With his heart thumping, he quickly shot pictures of the Taj. Then he got a photograph of the bullock mowing the lawn. Another of two little children trailing behind their mother. Another one of the bullock.
    “Do you want to go, Ben?” Gran said as she came up behind him.
    “I’m not in a hurry now,” Ben said. Why couldn’t he just lie down and bury his head in the grass and never have to explain anything to anyone?
    “I don’t like the way you look. Come on, let’s go back to the hotel.”
    On the way out, Gran stopped at the postcard rack. “These cards have the story about the Taj on the back. I’ll pick some out and you can pay for them.”
    Ben froze. “I’ve got good pictures, Gran. You don’t need postcards.”
    “But I can mail these, Ben. I’d like to send cards back to Canada.”
    He couldn’t put if off any longer. He’d have to tell her. Ben heard himself mumble. “I can’t pay for them.”
    “What did you say?”
    “I don’t have the money, Gran.”
    “What?”
    “I don’t have the money. I lost my wallet.”
    Gran’s voice seemed very loud. “You’re telling me you’ve been robbed?”
    “I don’t know. I think I might have dropped the wallet. They don’t have a Lost and Found here. I’ve searched everywhere.”
    Gran threw her hands in the air, shook them and let them drop. “I knew it. You’ve been pick-pocketed. I was stupid to let you keep all our money in that wallet!” She was yelling now.
    “Calm down, Gran.”
    Frantically she began to sweep her eyes around the entranceway. “I think I know who did it. That man who was pestering us to hire him as our guide. He got a little too close. He took it!”
    Then, at exactly the same moment, both Gran and Ben saw the man Gran had been talking about come toward them. Ben recognized the man’s big ears — and his own blue wallet in the man’s outstretched hand.
    “I believe this belongs to you?” the guide said.
    “It does! Where did you find it?” Ben said.
    “It was turned in to the man at the water kiosk and I told him I thought I’d seen you with it as you came in from the ticket booth. I remembered your Canada hat.” With an easy smile, he handed the wallet to Ben. “Please check inside. I think you will find the money there, but please count it.”
    Gran’s face broke into a smile and she reached out to shake the guide’s hand. “Thank you so much.”
    “You are most welcome, indeed, memsahib. I do hope your son got some good photographs.”
    “She’s my grandmother,” Ben said.
    “I would never have guessed. The memsahib looks so young.”
    Gran was beaming at him. “We’d like to give you a reward.”
    “No, no, memsahib. Most happy to be of service.” The guide made the
namaste
gesture and turned to join the other guides.
    Gran said, “I feel so guilty thinking that nice man had robbed you.”
    “Just goes to show, most people are honest.”
    “You are one lucky boy, Ben.”
    “I know I’m lucky. It was scary.” Ben started to put the wallet in his pocket. “I don’t know how I lost it. I always put it back in my pocket. I’ll be extra careful with the money from now on, Gran. It will never happen again, I promise.”
    Gran stopped in her tracks. “Benjamin, it will never happen again because if you want to handle the