The Elephant in the Room

James was smoking on the balcony when Mike got home. Normally, when James went out to his "social events" he was out much later. Mike lit up a cigarette and stood next to him. "Hey, how was the party?"

James' eyes widened as he ran his hand through his hair. "On a scale of one to ten, about how crazy do you think I am?"

Mike laughed at first, but James was serious, so he decided to reply a little more carefully than he normally would. "Uh... I guess like a four or something. You're pretty down to Earth."

James took a deep drag and let out the smoke slowly. "If I said there was an elephant in the room, would you think I was crazy?"

Mike knew that James wasn't drunk. It almost looked like a drink would sober him up. "Do you mean like the expression?"

"No like a literal 10 ton elephant standing in the middle of the ball room that no one even acknowledged. Not metaphorically, not an expression, a giant elephant literally standing there."

Before Mike could even say anything, James continued, "No, not a stuffed elephant, not a picture or sculpture, a living breathing elephant."

This time, Mike took a long breath from his cigarette. "At this party you were at?" James nodded. "Did anyone else say anything about it?"

"Not a word."

"Did you ask anyone about it?"

"I couldn't. I was stunned speechless. There were a lot of people there I respected, my frickin' hero was at that party. I tried to get people to look in that direction, just to see if they were fuckin' with me, but not one reacted to it, even when facing it. Just before I was about to run over there and try to touch it, I left. I couldn't handle it anymore."

"The party's probably still going on, I could go with you."

"No way. If we went, and you didn't notice it, that four would be a 15. I'm happy where I am."

"If you say so." Mike flicked his cigarette off the balcony and walked inside.