“And, now, please welcome to the stage…”
I gulped nervously. My eyes darted all around trying to catch anyone’s eye, looking for a glimpse of reassurance— but everyone backstage was too busy setting things up for my performance. I was alone.
“With his legendary vocals and signature style…”
I tapped my hooves in an attempt to release some stress. Everything depended on this show— my future was on the line, along with all the promises I’d made to my friends and family and everyone who ever doubted me. Soon, you’ll see, I’d told them. I’ll prove giraffes can be stars, too.
What if they were right? What if I was completely crazy? It was too late to turn back now… “Gellert the Giraffe!”
The crowd went wild. A roar of applause boomed from the other side of the stage while they all cheered my name…
“Gellert! Gellert! Gellert! Gellert!”
“Gellert! Wake up!”
My eyes fluttered open. I unfolded my neck to look in front of me and found my dad’s tired expression looking back. “Everyone’s gone to breakfast, you’ll be left with nothing but bitter leaves if you don’t hurry up.” He immediately started trotting away, towards the trees our tower tended to frequent.
“Sorry, dad,” I sighed, standing up from my small bed of soft sand and trudging along beside him. I didn’t like any leaves at all, really, but I didn’t want to eat bitter ones, if I absolutely had to have them.
Okay, okay, I don’t need to bore you with the details. Breakfast was boring, like every other day. I hung out with the other giraffes my age by the sun, like every other day. Each morning I wake up, I chew on some leaves, I bask in the sun, I go to sleep. That’s the life of a giraffe— and to some of you, it’ll sound like the absolute dream life.
For me? Not so much.
See, humans think giraffes are mute, but that’s not exactly the case. We do have voices— the thing is, we can only hear them in our mind. We communicate telepathically. Again, to some of you, that’ll sound real cool. But to me, it gets in the way of my greatest dream: becoming a rockstar.
When I was a very young calf, a safari group drove by our home, breaking several of the reserve’s rules by loudly blaring music. I fell in love with the sound instantly. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard before— sure, birds could chirp really nicely, but it would never compare to the symphony of an electric guitar solo. Immediately, I knew whatever humans had going on with this, I wanted to be a part of it. But my dad wouldn’t hear it.
“Your hooves are much too big to play guitar, or bass,” he argued. “You couldn’t sit down to play drums, and, well, you may as well forget about singing.”
He was right, but that didn’t make it sting any less. For him, it was easy to wave my dreams away, but for me, well, I couldn’t let my ambitions crumble that easily. I knew I had to try. I just didn’t know how.
That was, of course, up until one warm summer evening. I was picking off some leaves and eating them— as usual— when I looked down and saw a small human calf gawking at me.
“Can I help you?” I cocked my head to the side, trying to communicate my confusion in a way the tiny human could understand.
She laughed excitedly and held up what seemed like a glowing screen full of small, colorful squares. I bent my long neck down to take a proper look at it and tapped one of the squares with my nose.
The tablet emitted the sound of a single drum being hit, and it was as if a lightbulb went off on top of my head. That’s right! Humans had technology! Even those who wouldn’t play guitar or drums or sing could make music with the help of these little screens.
I tapped another square, and another, and another, trying to play a consistent beat. The human seemed absolutely delighted to watch me do this.
My dad snuck up behind me curiously. “What’s that, Gellert?”
“It’s some sort of device,” I replied, not looking up. “It can make music! Look.”
As I demonstrated what I’d managed to come up with so far, a second, taller human walked up towards us. “My, look at that!” he gasped. “That giraffe’s playing music!”
A crowd quickly gathered up around us, listening intently as I composed my very first masterpiece. Some pulled up what looked like even smaller screens and held it up in front of them, as if taking pictures. After a couple of minutes, a safari guide broke through the multitude and turned around to face them.
“Alright, everyone! We need to leave now. You can look at the giraffes some more if you come to tomorrow’s tour..”
Everyone sighed and aw-ed dejectedly as they returned to the safari vans. The guide turned to face me with a spark in her eye. “Well, then, didn’t know we were so musically talented, did we?” she laughed. “I should make arrangements with Veronica, we could get you some of those button thingies they give dogs.. You could play music for us on every tour, eh?”
I nearly jumped from excitement. My dream was turning into reality— I was gonna be a star!
Story and illustration by I. Castellanos from the Dominican Republic
