The Elephant Vanishes: Stories

The narrator, a product-control clerk at a department store, explains that he was watching kangaroos at the zoo when he was reminded of a letter of complaint he received at his job. In the letter, a woman complained that she had bought a Mahler record by mistake when she actually intended to buy Brahms. The man was so intrigued—and even sexually aroused—by this letter that he has decided to make personal contact with the woman. He writes her a letter that he calls “The Kangaroo Communiqué.” In the letter—which is actually a voice recording—the man introduces himself and explains his job, admits he would like to sleep with the woman, and reveals that he wishes he could be “in two places at once” (64). The letter is punctuated by the man’s reflections on kangaroos.