Alfred and Lulu: Gnu Talking

Alfred and Lulu: Gnu Talking
by
Robin Hall


Alfred Gnu was worried about his sister Lulu Gnu. She had been behaving strangely for some time now. Most gnus would spend their days eating, following the herd, snoozing, snoring and to be quite frank most were a bit windy. Lulu ate, followed the herd, snoozed, snored and was windy too but there were other signs that worried Alfred.

Take flowers for instance. Lulu would spend entire days gazing at a single flower. She would move around to see it from other angles, turn her head sideways and almost upside down just watching that flower. She would lie down and watch the flower from ground level too.

Why if her new friends Umar and Hattie were nearby on the lookout, Lulu would get up before dawn just to see some of the flowers open with the sun. By the day's end some were completely gone. Others would change over a few days. Still others seemed to keep on blooming and blooming. Lulu's world was filled with beauty and splendor which she could not share with anyone.

She knew just where all the prettiest flowers on the plains were, when they bloomed, which opened with the sun, how long they lasted and which ones were tasty treats for other animals. Sometimes she would watch from a distance while ants, spiders and other creatures came to the flowers for various reasons. She wondered what those reasons were and studied the tiny animals closely till she figured out what each did with their own flowers.

This was the other thing Alfred worried about, bugs. They were everywhere yet Lulu loved watching them all to see what they were about. "Hmmm," thought Alfred. "Something strange is going on here."

Now everyone knows that gnus can't talk but very few people know about gnu talk. Its like body language humans have such as being antsy, smiling, frowning, winking, and all but just for gnus.

Most gnus noticed the basics of gnu talk like when the herd was getting ready to rampage, prancing when they were scared and the funny bounce step just before they hiccuped. Alfred of course knew much more and he saw all the signs right there with his sister.

Lulu was smart, just like Alfred. But how could that be? Alfred knew that he was a gnu. Lulu did too. He didn't know how he knew but he did know. Lulu did too. She had that bright curious look in her eyes. She was always on the lookout for new beautiful flowers. She had made friends with Alfred's friends Umar and Hattie too.

One day Alfred got up early, had some left over Twinkies he had saved for breakfast then he followed Lulu on one of her flower walks. Now this was the very strangest thing yet. Lulu had taken to wandering into the bushes, stopping briefly at a flower, then moving on to another and another all day. Weird. A flower walk.

After a week of this, Alfred was bursting to ask Lulu what she knew but neither could talk, so what could they do? What would you do if you couldn't talk? You could sign. You would have to learn lots of signs that others knew, practice them and get to know them.

Alfred had seen tourists who did that. Every country seemed to have a different sign language just like they had different spoken languages. Alfred had even learned a bit and knew of a school nearby where they taught signing but there were no gnu-talk schools to go to.

Then it hit him!! "We can make up our own signs, gnu talk deluxe, even dance to communicate." Alfred had seen some wonderful dancing in his 3 years and knew he was on to something.

He began the very next day. Every time Lulu would go near a red flower, Alfred shuffled his front feet. When she stared at a blue flower, Alfred twitched his nose. When she went on her flower walks Alfred wiggled his mouth. Everything Lulu did regularly, Alfred made up a sign or dance for.

Lulu watched Alfred and thought he was teasing her. Then it hit her too. He was gnu talking to her. The next day Lulu followed Alfred all over and made up some of her own signs and dances. Why even their friends Umar and Hattie joined in making up signs. It was wonderful watching the four of them make up their own language.

Every day, one would be the teacher and make up signs for things they couldn't talk about yet. Umar liked to nap a lot so he got to name that. He would yawn and paw the ground. Hattie the chimp loved climbing trees. Her sign for that was to jump up and hoot.

Alfred, Lulu and Umar the lion had a bit of trouble with that one but they all practiced a lot and got very good at all the signs. What a troupe they were. Dancing, prancing, hooting, pawing the ground and all while out on their daily flower walks with the group of them gnu talking, lion talking and chimp talking.

Say, wouldn't it be neat if people could learn the same signs and be able to talk to each other all over the world? Cooperation is what our little troupe had. Maybe they know something that we don't. Who ever said animals were dumb? Not me and I bet not you either.