Short Story: She Put Down the Book

A story for you today:

She closed the book, placed it on the table, and finally, decided to walk through the door.  It hadn’t been a very good book, she reflected as she walked out into the sunlight.  Romances put her in an odd mood, since she had always been so unlucky in love in her own life.  Why did she want to read about someone else’s good fortune in love, no matter how different her circumstances?

Because she was so lost in her gloomy thoughts, she almost tripped over the rabbit sitting on the sidewalk.  At the last minute she realized there was a foreign object in her path and adroitly sidestepped it.  Then she looked down in surprise.  Why was the rabbit not moving?  She would have expected it to flee long before she got close enough to nearly step on it.  She bent down to examine it, but it did not appear to be injured.  It hopped forward slowly, stopped, and looked back at her.  It repeated this maneuver several times, and she had the impression it wanted her to follow it.  Curious, she indicated her willingness to follow, and the rabbit took off in the direction of the railroad tracks with her in hot pursuit.  She enjoyed running after the rabbit, as if she were playing a game of tag, but the creature was in deadly earnest. 

It led her to where another rabbit was curled up in a ball of pain in the shadows of a honeysuckle bush, and she saw one of its back legs was caught in a trap. Who would have done such a thing, she wondered angrily as she worked to free the trapped rabbit.  Its mate stood beside her, watching avidly as she pried the jaws of the trap open.  Once the rabbit was freed, she inspected its wounded leg, took some salve out of her pocket, and liberally applied it to the wound.  The rabbit stood tentatively on its sore leg, then it kissed her hand gratefully and hopped off into the woods, and its mate did the same.  She continued on her way, pondering the book she had read and the scene she had just witnessed.  Strange to think that humans could write such tender words about romance and then invent such terrible ways to torture their fellow creatures. 

It was a gorgeous early summer day.  The birds were singing in the trees, and she pulled out a camera and took photos of the birds, the trees, and the wildflowers growing along her path.  She recorded the birdsong and marveled at the variety of life in the forest.  She found a shady tree to sit beneath and pulled a journal and writing implement from her pocket.  The book had been a diversion and not part of her original mission, but she supposed she should mention it.  Her boss wanted to know about these humans, and she had certainly gleaned some information about them from their primitive literature.  She wrote about the humans’ house, the book she had read, and her observations about the rabbits.  Then she wrote her conclusion:

“While there are life forms on this planet capable of advanced communication, they do not seem to have much respect for the other life forms around them.  I therefore respectfully submit my recommendation that we do not pursue contact with them.”  She closed the journal and sighed; off to another planet.  Well, it beat a desk job.

Famous Hat