He and Dawn stood next to me, reading the poster.

"Poor little elephant. Imagine being stuck in a cage at the Valley Park Shopping Center," I said.

"Where's that?" Logan asked.

"Near Stamford," I replied. "They bought the elephant from a circus, and are using him to promote the shopping center. This is awful. The poor thing doesn't have any room to move around."

Little Babar looked so sad peering out from behind the prison bars. I could feel my eyes filling with tears. (Did I mention that I am very emotional?)

"Uh-oh. Find your handkerchiefs." Dawn groaned. "Mary Anne's going to cry."

Logan, who is used to seeing me cry at television commercials, patted my arm. "Don't get all worked up. Babar will be okay."

"That’s right," Dawn added, pointing to the bottom of the poster. "See? They're taking up a collection to raise money to move him to a real zoo."

Now my vision was definitely blurred. (Once I start, it’s hard to stop.) I dug in my purse for some money. "I'll give Babar some-

thing. Here's a dollar and thirty-three cents."

Logan held a dollar bill in the air. 'I'll chip in a dollar."

Dawn emptied her entire coin purse in the palm of my hand. "That's all I can find. But Babar can have it."

As the movie line pushed forward/1 stepped out. I raced inside the candy store and found a small can marked, Money for Babar, sitting on the counter beside the cash register. I stuffed in the dollars and change as fast as I could, then hurried to join my friends, who had just reached the ticket window.

'Teel better?" Logan asked as he handed us our movie tickets.

I nodded. "A little. But I'd feel a lot better if I knew Babar was leaving that awful place."

We found three seats in the middle of the theater. Logan, great guy that he is, bought popcorn and soft drinks for Dawn and me. Soon the lights went down and the opening credits began to roll. It was hard to concentrate on the movie, though. All I could think of was that sad little elephant's face. I knew I wanted to do more than drop a few coins in a can, and hope for the best. But what?