Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway THE HILLS across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went on to Madrid. What should we drink? the girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.Its pretty hot, the man said.Lets drink beer.Dos cervezas, the man said into the curtain.Big ones? a woman asked from the doorway.Yes. Two big ones.The woman brought two glasses of beer and two felt pads. She put the felt pads and the beer glasses on the table and looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.They look like white elephants, she said.Ive never seen one, the man drank his beer.No, you wouldnt have.I might have, the man said. Just because you say I wouldnt have doesnt prove anything.The girl looked at the bead curtain. Theyve painted something on it, she said. What does it say?Anis del Toro. Its a drink.Could we try it?The man called Listen through the curtain. The woman came out from the bar.Four reales.We want two Anis del Toro.With water?Do you want it with water?I dont know, the girl said. Is it good with water?Its all right.You want them with water? asked the woman.Yes, with water.It tastes like licorice, the girl said and put the glass down.Thats the way with everything.Yes, said the girl. Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things youve waited so long for, like absinthe.Oh, cut it out.You started it, the girl said. I was being amused. I was having a fine time.Well, lets try and have a fine time.All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasnt that bright ?That was bright.I wanted to try this new drink. Thats all we do, isnt itlook at things and try new drinks?I guess so.The girl looked across at the hills. Theyre lovely hills, she said. They dont really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees.Should we have another drink?All right.The warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table.The beers nice and cool, the man said.lts lovely, the girl said.Its really an awfully simple operation, Jig, the man said. Its not really an operation at all.The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on.I know you wouldnt mind it, Jig. Its really not anything. Its just to let the air in.The girl did not say anything.Ill go with you and Ill stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then its all perfectly natural.Then what will we do afterward?Well be fine afterward. Just like we were before.What makes you think so?Thats the only thing that bothers us. Its the only thing thats made us unhappy.The girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out and took hold of two of the strings of beads.And you think then well be all right and be happy.I know we will. You dont have to be afraid. Ive known lots of people that have done it.So have I, said the girl. And afterward they were all so happy.Well, the man said, if you dont want to you dont have to. I wouldnt have you do it if you didnt want to. But I know its perfectly simple.And you really want to?I think its the best thing to do. But I dont want you to do it if you dont really want to.And if I do it youll be happy and things will be like they were and youll love me ?I love you now. You know I love you.I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and youll like it ?Ill love it. I love it now but I just cant think about it. You know how I get when I worry.If I do it you wont ever worry?I wont worry about that because its perfectly simple.Then Ill do it. Because I dont care about me.What do you mean?I dont care about me.Well, I care about you.Oh, yes. But I dont care about me. And Ill do it and then everything will be fine.I dont want you to do it if you feel that way.The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station.Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the ri