The End of a Year (And a Rabbit)

The lazy winding down of our regrettable year got a boost Thursday, when my brother, Chris (the suburban twin!) texted a kind of S.O.S. to me, sister, Sabrina and oldest friend, Shari. “OK, which one of you is going to come over and help me remove this dead rabbit that got stuck in the drainpipe?”  it read. The attached photo looking like a size 10 bride trying to get into a size 2 dress.

Aesop’s “The Tortoise and the Hare” is a lesson in acting steadily, not carelessly

“Not me,” said Sabrina.

“Do the old ‘throw a contractor bag over it and grab it,’” suggested Shari.

Chris joked that it was “A New Year’s reminder to lose weight,” admitting that laughing about it was the only way he was going to summon the will to remove it. (While our mother’s labeling the rabbit “Trumpian” added more comic fuel to the fire later that night.)  

Having briefly removed myself from the four-way conversation, I jumped back in with “A New Year’s Poem” (Elmer Fudd reference and all):

After the sanity we’ve had to feign, only 12 hours still remain. So just hold your nose, at twenty-twenty’s close, and pull the wabbit from the dwain.

Seemingly minutes later, Chris texted back with:

And as I pulled it from the mud, my mind did go to Elmer Fudd. Who joined a most uncanny lot, with ‘ol Glenn Close & her evil pot. Of those who would do bunnies harm. But this ‘lil guy he bought the farm, through no ill will or bad intent, into too tight a hole he went. So, while it’s sad that he got stuck, I think the guy could change my luck. Cause while his life is now kaput, I think I’ll keep his rabbit’s foot.

In China, the Hare in the Moon is depicted mixing the elixir of immortality

I later laid out both words and picture on a single page and shared it with everyone, prompting Shari to remark, “There’s a children’s book in there somewhere.” And yes, the proverbial hare has been the subject of countless tales. (Though any dark moral found in Chris’ photo seems less Aesop than Atwood.)

In some Native American legends, he is Nanabozho, creator of the earth, and bringer of light and fire.  In the Panchatantra tales of India, he’s a cunning Trickster pitted against Elephant and Lion. German folklore has its Raurackl (or horned rabbit). While the African hare stories that traveled here on slave ships were transformed into the famous Br’er Rabbit stories of the American South. 

In some Native American tales, Nanabozho is a revered teacher of sacred rituals, in others a cunning clown

In some Native American tales, Nanabozho is a revered teacher of sacred rituals, in others a cunning clown.

With me pretending to bristle at my brother’s brilliance, he reminded me that “It’s not a competition, buddy.” And anyone who has witnessed our twinship would agree it never has been. A loving moment of one-upmanship, maybe—but in the end, nothing more than two people trying to make their friend and family laugh. Personally, a guffaw (remote or otherwise) from Chris, Sabrina and/or Shari, and I’m done! They’ve made my day.  

And they helped make the last day of 2020 exactly what it needed to be.