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As the quartet hopped along, the bright sky around them grew shades darker. The trees seemed bigger and thicker, blocking out the light that had felt so warm and inviting.
“It better not rain,” black rabbit complained. “I just got my fur done.”
Allison nodded in agreement, also looking up, thinking that rain would put her in a terrible mood. From up ahead, they heard the sound of someone talking and the clinking of dishes. They moved toward the noise and, in a small clearing beneath several trees, a table stood, decorated and ready for tea.
“Now this is what I’m talking about,” black rabbit exclaimed, rubbing his two front paws together.
“Me too!” Allison grinned, suddenly remembering how hungry she was. She and black rabbit hopped quickly to the table and were just about to sit when two gigantic legs stepped right in front of them.
“And just what do you think you’re doing?” a voice boomed from above them. The looked up to find a man with an oversized hat tilted on his head and a chipped tea cup in his hand. He stared down at them with an expression that could only be described as crazy. One might even say mad.
“What’s it look like we’re doing?” black rabbit asked, moving to hop around the man. “We’re hungry.”
The man moved, blocking black rabbit’s path.
“But this is my tea party,” the man said, waving his hand at the table, dripping a bit of tea as he moved.
However, a drip of tea from a regular sized tea cup is a huge drop of tea on a little rabbit head, which is exactly what happened to Allison.
“Hey!” she shouted, shaking out her fur. “You just dripped tea on me!”
“So?” asked the man. “It’s my tea.”
“But it’s my head,” Allison argued.
The man simply laughed, sounding rather mad as he did it. “But don’t you see? I am free to do whatever it is I want to do. Tea time!” And with that, he turned over his cup and dumped all the tepid brown liquid right on Allison’s head.
Allison jumped back, drops flying from her fur. “Hey! Just because you are free to do what you want to do doesn’t make it right!”
The man tilted his head to the side. “Do you mean I can’t use my freedom to do whatever I want to do? But isn’t that what you came here to do?”
Allison tried to think of a response, but the dripping tips of her ears were growing colder and colder by the second.
“Come on,” black rabbit said, turning around and hopping to join the others. “What I feel like doing is getting out of here. Who needs his stupid tea party, anyway?”
Turning to go, Allison was stopped by the voice of the man, sounding all of sudden sane and not mad at all. “Is it right? To do whatever I want? Or is it ever wrong?”
She glanced back over her sopping wet shoulder to catch a glimpse of the man rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Then he shrugged, laughed, and went back to his tea party.
Allison hopped away, each bounce squishing, again pushing back the feeling that she was missing something.
To be continued…
Crystal Mazzuca
