Forever After - By David Jester Page 0,74

and plastic which were used to shield them from the wind and the rain at night. The sheets had been lifted and stacked an hour ago, my parents beating me to the morning unveiling.

I ran to the first cage and ducked my head down, frightening the black rabbit inside. ‘Good morning Blackie,’ I cried, sending it running into the sleeping quarters where a slab of wood blocked it from my view. I sighed and shifted along to the other cage. A tame white albino rabbit greeted me, excited.

‘Morning Snowy,’ the rabbit looked genuinely pleased to see me and allowed me to stroke it through the mesh on the cage. If I had tried that with Blackie she would have bitten my fingers off.

My brother had brought the two rabbits home from school a month ago, a teacher had been giving away a new litter and he had managed to trick her into believing that he had our parents’ permission to bring home two. A good way to trick parents who refused to have pets in the house was to show up on the doorstep with two tiny rabbits and an innocent smile.

‘But why two?’ Mum had pleaded.

‘I didn’t want David to feel left out,’ Graham had announced.

As brothers who were separated by a mere year and a half we were always close, even if that did mean countless arguments and fights, destroying the house and our mothers’ nerves.

I picked the black rabbit straight away. We were told they were both females so we kept them in the same cage for a while, but then they started to fight -- or at least my parents told me they were fighting. In later years I would learn that my mother and her bewildered friends considered the possibility that the rabbits were lesbians before they concluded that the white one was male.

‘I can’t let you out,’ I told Snowy. ‘I’m letting Blackie out and I don’t want you two fighting again. Mum says to never let you fight ever again.’ I walked across to Blackie and opened the door to the sleeping compartment, she looked at me with something resembling fear and disgust as she hid in the corner of the hay-filled room.

‘Come on,’ I said meekly, trying to usher her out. She snapped her head forward, ears lowered, and tried to bite me. I quickly pulled my hand away, ‘Ha-ha!’ I pointed at her, teasing her with my unbitten fingers. ‘I’m too quick for you.’

‘David!’ my mother was shouting at me. I turned to the open door to see her walk into view. ‘What are you doing?’.

‘Playing with Blackie.’

‘She’ll bite you and scratch you again,’ she warned. ‘She’s made a mess of your arms.’

She was right. It was summer and I always wore a T-shirt. Whenever I picked her up she kicked, flipped and bit until she drew blood or dug her claws into my skin. My arms were a testament to bunny abuse.

‘But if I don’t let her out she won’t be able to play.’

‘And how are you going to get her back in?’

I smiled a cheeky smile. ‘With your help?’

‘Okay,’ she nodded, falling to my manipulation. ‘But you’re picking her up,’

I tried to smile, victorious, but the rabbit had flesh in her sights.

‘Ow!’ I screamed, yanking my hand out of the cage and holding it to my chest. ‘She bit me!’

My mother smiled, her face said, ‘I told you so.’

I looked into the cage as the rabbit finally moved, jumping out now that I was out of the way. As she scurried past my feet I was sure I saw a glint of satisfaction in her eyes.

‘Get washed and ready when you’re finished,’ my mother had drifted back into the kitchen. ‘You’re leaving for the safari park in four hours,’ she called.

I smiled, a small torrent of excitement crept up in me. I felt giddy and then:

Sniff Sniff.

I ignored the sniffing and looked at the rabbit who was currently weighing up the options of leaping from the deck and onto the grass, a fall of about five inches. ‘I’m going to see some more animals later--’ I told her, pausing.

Sniff Sniff Sniff-if-if-if.

‘--Ones even more vicious than you.’

The rabbit leapt down and ran away. After breakfast I would be forced to chase her around the garden and try to usher her into my arms, using my mother as a sheepdog and bracing myself for a world of pain.

We made the short journey to Christine’s later in the day. Fresh marks adorned