That Morning

That Morning

“That is amazing,” Mom said. “I didn’t even know people could talk to rabbits.”

“Some people…” Andy cut into the conversation.

“Some people, yes,” said Mom. “I don’t know if I can, but I’ve never tried.”

“Well,” said Andy, “most people don’t really want to talk to rabbits anyway so they don’t try, and rabbits don’t talk a lot, really…”

“Yes, I have noticed that. So, the rabbit told you that a deer came into the yard and stepped on my tomato plants… this morning, right?”

“Yes, this morning. Probably when you were talking to Aunt Jinny on the phone.”

“And the rabbit saw it all, huh… I wonder why a deer would come into our yard. I suppose it could have jumped the fence, but I didn’t know deer liked tomatoes.”

“Oh, they do.”

“And the deer seems to have stepped on more than it ate actually.”

“Maybe it wasn’t very hungry?”

“What else did the rabbit say… anything?”

“Um, it said it was sorry about your tomatoes.”

“That’s very sweet. Did it say that in English?”

“English?”

“You know, the language you and I speak…”

“Oh, well, not really. It was more rabbitty.”

“And you understood what it was saying?”

“Yes?” Andy said, quietly.

It’s funny because I was looking out the window when the tomatoes got smushed, and I didn’t see a rabbit, or a deer…”

“Ah…”

“Ah, nothing. Tell me what really happened…”

“I’m sorry! I forgot to be careful. I was chasing a frog!”

“Next time please tell me the real story first.”

“First?”

“Yes, because I want you to go to your room, and write down the story about the talking rabbit, and you, and the deer.”

“Mom!”

“Go,” he went.

Eighteen years later he published his first, of many, very successful, children’s books.