Rabbits
Magical chimeric creatures that have hopped throughout my life. My favorite story is Watership Down, because it played a note that still resounds in my soul: wild animals are better wild. That’s been amended to allow habituation in emergencies. But there’s more to rabbits than that.
Saying ‘rabbit, rabbit’ first thing on waking, or last moment on New Year’s Eve, facilitate good luck for the month or year to come. Rabbit’s feet also, cruelly, impart the holder with luck. The trope of ‘the rabbit died’ noting pregnancy is redundant because the rabbit dies anyway.
Volumes have been written on the Easter bunny but suffice to say I have more than one stuffed rabbit.
There are small statues, representations of rabbits throughout my garden. I prefer them to caged rabbits and they give me joy. It’s as if a fairy is embodied there.
In Watership Down, Hazel followed his instincts and Fiver’s insights to save his friends but it was his courage that moved the story. He must save his warren.
Bugs Bunny is a locked character to me. No one can do it but Mel Blanc so what we have is all we’ll ever get but that’s plenty. An early influence on my humor and still a favorite character.
I’m hoping that if at least one person says ‘rabbit, rabbit, rabbit’ at midnight tonight we’ll have a lucky 2020. We need all the luck we can get.