TIme for a Short Story. "Bunny? What Bunny?"

Bunny? What Bunny?

By 

TS Paul

 

“There was a giant bunny out in the yard last night!” Fergus trotted across the kitchen table.

Both Grandmother and I froze at his words. “Uh, what?”

“Bunny. You know. Fuzzy, long ears, hops around a lot, eats grass and flowers? The garden has lots of them hopping around.” Fergus sniffed at the jar of jelly sitting in front of me.

“I know what a bunny is! What do you mean by giant?” I looked toward the ceiling and rolled my eyes.

“He was much bigger than the regular ones. Bigger than Zeus even.” He trotted toward the bowl of strawberries next to Grandmother. She lifted it up out of reach. Fergus stared up at her for a moment and changed direction.

“Stop trying to eat everything. Finish the story about the bunny.”

Fergus stopped in front of the plate of waffles but didn’t try to eat one. “Fine. I was up last night in the kitchen…” He paused and looked right then left. “It was just a snack. I promise!”

Grandmother broke in. “Is that what happened to Minerva’s fresh Apple pie? That was supposed to be for lunch today you little pest.”

He looked over at her and seemed to shrug. “I like apples. So I looked out the window and there he was. Hopping across the lawn. It was carrying some sort of basket thingy in his mouth. I only continued to watch because it came up the stairs and hopped in front of the window. Did you zap a rabbit? Because that spell might help me get bigger.”

Fergus’s look was one of accusation. He claimed he liked being small sometimes, but the dream was still there to be bigger.

“Just you the squirrels and the jackalopes. I would tell you if I zapped another animal. Are you telling me you saw the Easter bunny last night?”

“Easter bunny? What’s that?” He trotted over and snagged a stray crumb of waffle.

I sighed. “Grandmother?” She was so much better at explanations of this kind than I was.

She glanced at me and shook her head. “Fergus there are several religions as well as folklore associated with the holiday.” Grandmother gave him the highlights.

“So people worship this guy? Is he a zombie like on TV?”

“He’s not a zombie.” Grandmother threw up her hands. She muttered something about crazy unicorns.

“Why would a bunny lay eggs?  Does it make a nest like birds? Flying giant rabbits would be cool. I’d like to fly.” Fergus jumped in the air a couple of times.

“It’s an allegory. Children like it.”

“One of those big lizard things? You said it was a rabbit.”

Unicorns. “Those are Alligators. Allegories are something else. So what did you really see outside?” I looked at him.

“Giant rabbit. I told you.” He sniffed at my plate. “You going to eat that?”

“Fergus the Easter bunny doesn’t exist. It’s just something they tell kids.” I pushed my plate toward him. He hopped up and nibbled on a waffle.

“If you say so.”

I glanced at Grandmother and she shook her head slightly. “Fergus, you do know the difference between fantasy and reality right?”

“Of course I do. Fantasy is those guys on TV that are always waving and riding around in big cars  Reality is the giant rabbit I saw last night.” He continued to eat the waffle.

“Guys on TV? What guys on TV?” I looked down at my plate. He was now standing in the middle of a pool of maple syrup. I made a mental note to clean his sticky feet off before he tracked it across the house.

“You know. They work in that big white building you took me to once. It had a big statue outside.” Big white building. I tried to think of the places we had gone together.

“Politicians? You’re saying that politician aren’t real?” The big building was the Capital.

“Sure. You told me that TV wasn’t real. Remember?” I glanced at Grandmother and she was holding her hand across her mouth trying to laugh.

I was at a complete loss for words. Grandmother started to laugh. “Go ahead. Tell him about politicians. I want to hear what you say to him.” She was giggling now.

Trying to think of an explanation I jumped when Minerva said something. “What’s up with you?”

Grandmother was laughing even harder and Fergus had maple syrup dripping down his long face. I grabbed my chest. My heart slowed down again now that I realized it was her.

“We were explaining the differences of shows on TV to real life.”

“How’s that working out for you? He’s not the sharpest tack in the box.” Minerva set a large decorative basket on the table.

Pointing at the basket I said. “I was just about to tell him. What’s that?”

“Easter basket. I found it out on the porch. The eggs look like they’re ostrich. I haven’t had one of those in a while. Who wants a big ass omelet?” She grabbed the basket and stepped over to the stove.

“See! I told you I saw a big bunny.” Fergus hopped off the plate leaving a trail of sticky hoof-prints.