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a story about rabbits ... and DEATH!
Aww, I got a book on elephants dedicated to me today. I love my job. She wrote all the letters in my name in different colors, and everything.
I guess I'll go ahead and post this, as it is the only thing I have written in the last week, even though it's just a little something I threw together for my writing workshop. At least I fixed the sex of the rabbit featured in it, which was more than I did before printing it out the first time and inflicting it on my classmates. They said nice things to me anyway. I'm really liking the class, because, for a novelty, everyone in it is really engaged with what we talk about (kids books!) and finds something interesting to say.
"Peter didn't like the trip. It made him all jumpy and nervous." Colin informed his parents, accusingly. The small grey rabbit in his arms was struggling, trying to find something to brace his spring-loaded legs against and bolt, but Colin held him firmly against his chest. His father had bolted towards the cherry-red door with his overnight bag, but his mother lingered over Colin with a wide smile and a reassuring pat.
"There's really nothing to worry about, honey. You'll see once you've had a chance to settle in."
"I didn't say there was, did I? Rabbits don't like car rides. That's all." Colin insisted, but his mother kept smiling that knowing smile down at him, that smile that said I already know what you mean, so I won't listen to a word you say.
Installing his wire cage in an unfamiliar empty bedroom with blue carpet and babyish trucks spattered on the walls didn't seem to make Peter feel any calmer or more at home, so Colin wound up sprawled out on the floor, stroking his fur. Slowly, the rabbit melted into the carpet and let his round, brown eyes sink shut, just like always.
"Don't you want to go say hello to your new neighbors?" his mother suggested brightly.
"No."
"Come and explore your new backyard," his father tried, leaning awkwardly against the doorframe.
"Already seen it, remember?"
"Colin! Come and greet your visitor!"
Colin stood reluctantly and headed out of his room, towards the front door, leaving the rabbit on the floor. He didn't get very far, because a strange girl stopped him short in the hallway. She had red overalls, a ponytail, and a yellowish cat wrapped around her neck like it was something you wore.
"So finally you moved in. I've been waiting forever," she said. "Come outside. My mom would never let me play there the entire time since the last people started selling the house."
Colin was struck dumb, meaning that all he could do was stand there and stare without saying anything, so the girl went on. "I'm Morgan, and my cat is Taz, but he won't come if you call him because he doesn't know you so don't even try," she announced.
"Oh. My name's Colin."
"I already knew that. Your mom told me. So, come on already."
Once again, Colin could think of nothing to say, so Morgan seized one of his hands and dragged him down the hallway through the back door.
"Wait, I left my rabbit in my room," he protested. Airily, she waved her hand, as if to say There's nothing to be worried about, stupid.
"It can take care of itself, can't it? I really like this swing-set. It makes a great fort. Or a castle. I've got a great sword and Taz's a good dragon and you can be the lady in the castle, okay?"
"I don't think I want to." Colin said, rather tactfully, because what he really wanted to say instead was That sounds really boring and I want to go back inside.
"You're no fun. Okay, you can be in the castle with me, and we can be under siege." She tackled the ladder that led to the fort above the swings and sandbox vigorously, dislodging the cat, who shook himself a bit in order to regain his feline dignity and then streaked away. "Or, like, we could try jumping from here."
"I think it's too far," said Colin, who was still on the ground.
"Oh, I don't think so." Morgan dismissed him, but she didn't jump, either. "Be a pirate, and try to board my ship."
"It's not very hard to board a ship that has a ladder and a ramp," Colin observed sensibly.
"I will keep you out, you nasty pirate!" Morgan shouted as Colin tried to walk up the ramp. She pushed him away. He pushed back, then pushed harder.
"Arr!" he shouted. "Shouldn't I have the sword? If I'm the pirate?"
"Oh, all right, let me go get it." Morgan darted past him and out of the yard, down the street. Colin looked around from his far-up vantage point and saw that the yard had a few trees he didn't remember. He had forgotten the slide, too. He supposed he could think of a few uses for a slide and some trees.
Morgan came back with one plastic sword that was drooping off to the right, and one battered piece of wood shaped roughly like a rifle. "If you get a sword, I get a gun, because that's only fair," she said.
"How is that fair? You could shoot me before I got anywhere near you with the sword!"
"Um … well … "
"I'm glad the two of you are getting along so well," Colin's mother chirped, interrupting them just as Colin was about to kill the unmasked spy, to make up for being roundly defeated as the pirate and as the good wizard. "See, I told you you'd find new friends."
"Mom," Colin whined, embarrassed.
"Haha, I got away while you weren't looking," said Morgan, now twenty feet away from Colin and trying to lodge herself in a tree.
"We were planning on going out for dinner, but would you rather we just ordered pizza?" his mother continued, gesturing with the cell phone in her hand.
"Yeah, that would be great." Morgan answered promptly, before Colin could say a word. "I don't like anything on it except pepperoni. And maybe sausage."
"Got it." She melted back into the house.
It was then that Taz the cat, who had been missing in action for some time now, sauntered back into the yard. He placed something soft, limp and grey before his owner and looked extraordinarily pleased with himself.
"Good boy, Taz, now what have you got—"
"That's Peter!" Colin screamed. His voice was funny and hoarse.
"Huh?"
"That's my rabbit!" Colin tumbled out of the sandbox and knelt over the lifeless body stained with blood. Taz hissed at him. "Your stupid cat killed my rabbit!" He tried to shout as loud as he could, but it turned into more of a sob.
"My cat isn't stupid! See what a great hunter he is! He killed three mice in a week once, and I took one of them to cut up because I'm going to be a doctor probably, and it's lots of fun, you'll see."
Colin was staring at her. His mouth hung open because he was too shocked to close it. "Get out of here and take your cat and don't ever come back or I will rip your throats open, too." He had scooped up the dead rabbit, which felt completely different, without any life to give it a shape, and now he had blood all over his shirt, but he didn't care. "I mean it!" he roared.
Morgan fled without one more word.
Dear Colin,
I am sorry about the rabit.
Love,
Morgan
Colin crumpled up the white piece of paper with letters creeping up the page and threw it on the ground. "That's not a good apology," he said.
It had been three days. Colin had unpacked everything in his room, including the rabbit food and the small box of rabbit treats. They had had a brief burial. He cried, some. His father had taken him to a pet store to look for a new rabbit, but given up after a while. "We can go look again when you're ready," he assured Colin.
His mother, though, kept bothering him. She had somehow gotten it into her head that Colin and Morgan were going to be great friends if only he would let the thing about the rabbit go. He had no luck convincing her that they had in fact never been friends and besides, he didn't want to be friends with anyone who didn't care about other people's rabbits.
Dear Colin,
I really am sorry. You should get a new rabit.
Love,
Morgan
Colin tore the stupid-looking card into as many pieces as he could. His mother didn't say anything this time, but later she told him he couldn't play Nintendo for no reason at all.
He missed Peter. He was always nice and quiet to play with.
This one was a longer letter on pink paper, in a pink envelope. Also, someone had told Morgan how to spell "rabbit". His mother slipped out of his bedroom as he read.
Dear Colin,
I should have realized that your rabbit was a pet and you would be really sad about it. I hope that you get another rabbit and that it's really nice like the one that died was.
If someone killed my cat, I would be really mad. I would probably want to put them in jail, except there aren't any jails for cats, but I will keep Taz in my house or in my yard that has a fense he can't get over but he tries. That way he can't kill any more rabbits or other things he isn't suppost to.
Anyway, I feel really bad about it now. If you don't mind I will put some flowers on the rabbit's grave. Except first I have to make some money to buy some because I picked a bunch of my mom's flowers and she got really mad at me too.
Love,
Morgan
P.S. It would be nice if you weren't mad at me any more, but if you are that's ok too.
"I want to go to the pet store now," Colin told his father, who was watching television in his bedroom, but turned it off. "We're getting a new rabbit now," he told his mother, who was flipping through the paper in the living room, but put it down as soon as Colin walked in. "You can tell Morgan she can come and meet him if she wants. But only I can touch the rabbit, and she has to stay away. And no cats."
"That sounds very smart," his mother agreed.
Wow, apparently E.L. Konigsburg just published this book, which is a companion to Silent to the Bone, which was absolutely brilliant, so I must hie myself to a bookstore tomorrow. I seriously recommend every single thing I've read by her, and I'm amazed by how much stuff she's published, both recently and in the past, that I've never gotten my hands on. I pimped out The View from Saturday to my class on Wednesday when it was my turn so to do. Actually, I might make some icons from it, too.
I guess I'll go ahead and post this, as it is the only thing I have written in the last week, even though it's just a little something I threw together for my writing workshop. At least I fixed the sex of the rabbit featured in it, which was more than I did before printing it out the first time and inflicting it on my classmates. They said nice things to me anyway. I'm really liking the class, because, for a novelty, everyone in it is really engaged with what we talk about (kids books!) and finds something interesting to say.
"Peter didn't like the trip. It made him all jumpy and nervous." Colin informed his parents, accusingly. The small grey rabbit in his arms was struggling, trying to find something to brace his spring-loaded legs against and bolt, but Colin held him firmly against his chest. His father had bolted towards the cherry-red door with his overnight bag, but his mother lingered over Colin with a wide smile and a reassuring pat.
"There's really nothing to worry about, honey. You'll see once you've had a chance to settle in."
"I didn't say there was, did I? Rabbits don't like car rides. That's all." Colin insisted, but his mother kept smiling that knowing smile down at him, that smile that said I already know what you mean, so I won't listen to a word you say.
Installing his wire cage in an unfamiliar empty bedroom with blue carpet and babyish trucks spattered on the walls didn't seem to make Peter feel any calmer or more at home, so Colin wound up sprawled out on the floor, stroking his fur. Slowly, the rabbit melted into the carpet and let his round, brown eyes sink shut, just like always.
"Don't you want to go say hello to your new neighbors?" his mother suggested brightly.
"No."
"Come and explore your new backyard," his father tried, leaning awkwardly against the doorframe.
"Already seen it, remember?"
"Colin! Come and greet your visitor!"
Colin stood reluctantly and headed out of his room, towards the front door, leaving the rabbit on the floor. He didn't get very far, because a strange girl stopped him short in the hallway. She had red overalls, a ponytail, and a yellowish cat wrapped around her neck like it was something you wore.
"So finally you moved in. I've been waiting forever," she said. "Come outside. My mom would never let me play there the entire time since the last people started selling the house."
Colin was struck dumb, meaning that all he could do was stand there and stare without saying anything, so the girl went on. "I'm Morgan, and my cat is Taz, but he won't come if you call him because he doesn't know you so don't even try," she announced.
"Oh. My name's Colin."
"I already knew that. Your mom told me. So, come on already."
Once again, Colin could think of nothing to say, so Morgan seized one of his hands and dragged him down the hallway through the back door.
"Wait, I left my rabbit in my room," he protested. Airily, she waved her hand, as if to say There's nothing to be worried about, stupid.
"It can take care of itself, can't it? I really like this swing-set. It makes a great fort. Or a castle. I've got a great sword and Taz's a good dragon and you can be the lady in the castle, okay?"
"I don't think I want to." Colin said, rather tactfully, because what he really wanted to say instead was That sounds really boring and I want to go back inside.
"You're no fun. Okay, you can be in the castle with me, and we can be under siege." She tackled the ladder that led to the fort above the swings and sandbox vigorously, dislodging the cat, who shook himself a bit in order to regain his feline dignity and then streaked away. "Or, like, we could try jumping from here."
"I think it's too far," said Colin, who was still on the ground.
"Oh, I don't think so." Morgan dismissed him, but she didn't jump, either. "Be a pirate, and try to board my ship."
"It's not very hard to board a ship that has a ladder and a ramp," Colin observed sensibly.
"I will keep you out, you nasty pirate!" Morgan shouted as Colin tried to walk up the ramp. She pushed him away. He pushed back, then pushed harder.
"Arr!" he shouted. "Shouldn't I have the sword? If I'm the pirate?"
"Oh, all right, let me go get it." Morgan darted past him and out of the yard, down the street. Colin looked around from his far-up vantage point and saw that the yard had a few trees he didn't remember. He had forgotten the slide, too. He supposed he could think of a few uses for a slide and some trees.
Morgan came back with one plastic sword that was drooping off to the right, and one battered piece of wood shaped roughly like a rifle. "If you get a sword, I get a gun, because that's only fair," she said.
"How is that fair? You could shoot me before I got anywhere near you with the sword!"
"Um … well … "
"I'm glad the two of you are getting along so well," Colin's mother chirped, interrupting them just as Colin was about to kill the unmasked spy, to make up for being roundly defeated as the pirate and as the good wizard. "See, I told you you'd find new friends."
"Mom," Colin whined, embarrassed.
"Haha, I got away while you weren't looking," said Morgan, now twenty feet away from Colin and trying to lodge herself in a tree.
"We were planning on going out for dinner, but would you rather we just ordered pizza?" his mother continued, gesturing with the cell phone in her hand.
"Yeah, that would be great." Morgan answered promptly, before Colin could say a word. "I don't like anything on it except pepperoni. And maybe sausage."
"Got it." She melted back into the house.
It was then that Taz the cat, who had been missing in action for some time now, sauntered back into the yard. He placed something soft, limp and grey before his owner and looked extraordinarily pleased with himself.
"Good boy, Taz, now what have you got—"
"That's Peter!" Colin screamed. His voice was funny and hoarse.
"Huh?"
"That's my rabbit!" Colin tumbled out of the sandbox and knelt over the lifeless body stained with blood. Taz hissed at him. "Your stupid cat killed my rabbit!" He tried to shout as loud as he could, but it turned into more of a sob.
"My cat isn't stupid! See what a great hunter he is! He killed three mice in a week once, and I took one of them to cut up because I'm going to be a doctor probably, and it's lots of fun, you'll see."
Colin was staring at her. His mouth hung open because he was too shocked to close it. "Get out of here and take your cat and don't ever come back or I will rip your throats open, too." He had scooped up the dead rabbit, which felt completely different, without any life to give it a shape, and now he had blood all over his shirt, but he didn't care. "I mean it!" he roared.
Morgan fled without one more word.
Dear Colin,
I am sorry about the rabit.
Love,
Morgan
Colin crumpled up the white piece of paper with letters creeping up the page and threw it on the ground. "That's not a good apology," he said.
It had been three days. Colin had unpacked everything in his room, including the rabbit food and the small box of rabbit treats. They had had a brief burial. He cried, some. His father had taken him to a pet store to look for a new rabbit, but given up after a while. "We can go look again when you're ready," he assured Colin.
His mother, though, kept bothering him. She had somehow gotten it into her head that Colin and Morgan were going to be great friends if only he would let the thing about the rabbit go. He had no luck convincing her that they had in fact never been friends and besides, he didn't want to be friends with anyone who didn't care about other people's rabbits.
Dear Colin,
I really am sorry. You should get a new rabit.
Love,
Morgan
Colin tore the stupid-looking card into as many pieces as he could. His mother didn't say anything this time, but later she told him he couldn't play Nintendo for no reason at all.
He missed Peter. He was always nice and quiet to play with.
This one was a longer letter on pink paper, in a pink envelope. Also, someone had told Morgan how to spell "rabbit". His mother slipped out of his bedroom as he read.
Dear Colin,
I should have realized that your rabbit was a pet and you would be really sad about it. I hope that you get another rabbit and that it's really nice like the one that died was.
If someone killed my cat, I would be really mad. I would probably want to put them in jail, except there aren't any jails for cats, but I will keep Taz in my house or in my yard that has a fense he can't get over but he tries. That way he can't kill any more rabbits or other things he isn't suppost to.
Anyway, I feel really bad about it now. If you don't mind I will put some flowers on the rabbit's grave. Except first I have to make some money to buy some because I picked a bunch of my mom's flowers and she got really mad at me too.
Love,
Morgan
P.S. It would be nice if you weren't mad at me any more, but if you are that's ok too.
"I want to go to the pet store now," Colin told his father, who was watching television in his bedroom, but turned it off. "We're getting a new rabbit now," he told his mother, who was flipping through the paper in the living room, but put it down as soon as Colin walked in. "You can tell Morgan she can come and meet him if she wants. But only I can touch the rabbit, and she has to stay away. And no cats."
"That sounds very smart," his mother agreed.
Wow, apparently E.L. Konigsburg just published this book, which is a companion to Silent to the Bone, which was absolutely brilliant, so I must hie myself to a bookstore tomorrow. I seriously recommend every single thing I've read by her, and I'm amazed by how much stuff she's published, both recently and in the past, that I've never gotten my hands on. I pimped out The View from Saturday to my class on Wednesday when it was my turn so to do. Actually, I might make some icons from it, too.