The Rabbit

The Rabbit

“You might as well come out. You can’t fool me.”

A sound came out of Amy’s closet, “cheap, cheap.”

“I’m going to come over and open the door. If you’re really a bird, you can fly out.”

Amy carefully opened the door, standing aside in case something flew out. Nothing did. Soon a small puff of what seemed to be smoke floated out and landed on the corner of her bed. As she watched, it slowly turned into a small white rabbit.

She looked at it, and then, “No, not a rabbit either. Rabbits don’t start as smoke. Why don’t you just turn yourself into what you really look like. You’re not going to fool me now.”

The rabbit spoke. “My name is Bayley. This is actually what I do look like when I’m not smoky, or invisible.”

“Rabbits on earth don’t talk.”

“I thought so, but, thought I’d try,” said the rabbit.

“Should I be afraid?”

“I was just looking for a place to stay. I’m not comfortable in the rabbit holes, and the other rabbits are afraid of me.”

“Do you look like this where you come from?”

“We all do, we’re Reathons.”

“Well, why are you here?”

“I’m supposed to be studying earth, but the ‘rabbits’ won’t talk. I don’t think I was given enough information. We Reathoners can sometimes be very dense...”

“Rabbits too, well, rabbits here anyway. I don’t think they talk at all.”

“Well, I’m stuck for a while...”

“You can stay here. How long is ‘a while’ in Reathon language?”

“Ah... a few years, your time.”

It was seventy-six years actually. Amy ended up opening a rabbit farm just to camouflage Bayley’s longevity.

When the ship came to pick Bayley up, Sandy went with him, and lived another three hundred years on Reathon.