The Year of the Rabbit

by Allison Symes

This year is the Chinese Year of the Rabbit. Some of the characteristics of rabbits are silliness, shyness, and curiosity. They can also be high spirited. I don’t think that just applies to rabbits though! Certainly, the high spirited aspect could definitely apply to Bugs Bunny, a childhood favorite of mine. I always did love his wisecracks.

So I wondered for this month’s flash fiction column, how could I set a story theme around this?

Usually when I’m working out themes, I go back to basics and look at characteristics. There is usually something you can use here and that is the case for this month’s challenge.

I often use characteristics to bring a character to life and that in turn helps me work out the kind of trouble they would end up facing. Naturally then my story shows how they deal with that trouble.

So characteristics are a great starting point for any story because you also work out why your characters have the ones they do. If you have a character who is a miser, what drove them to become that way? There is a story there - and not just the one by Dickens. So for this month’s challenge, I thought I would bring in one or two of the above rabbit characteristics in a story and show how these affect my characters. A curious and high spirited character is bound to end up in trouble you could write about, for example. There is good potential for comic stories here.

Then I discovered rabbits are up for challenges, which was news to me I must admit. They can do agility courses (presumably low level!), but can jump hurdles, go through tunnels and up and down ramps. This was also news to me but I love the idea of this.

So my thought for a story theme was to write a tale which involved a shy character responding well to a challenge. It is an interesting mix that rabbits can both be shy and up to a challenge! So this will be your theme to write to this time.

What your character sees as a challenge is up to you but by the end of your story, your character should have been challenged and responded in some way. But you will need to show your character is shy, one of the rabbit traits, and how they overcome it enough to meet that challenge head on. Usual word count of 300 words applies. Hope you enjoy my challenge story below and I look forward to reading your tales.

At Some Time

‘At some time you must do it. Do this now, Miranda.’

‘Whenever I think today is the day I get nervous and cry off. So much could go wrong, Cheryl.’

‘You insisted on coming to this school for new challenges and here you are hiding.’

‘Cheryl, don’t ever be a counselor, will you? You need to be sympathetic.’

‘You gave me a hard time when I deferred my driving test. Now it’s your turn. Out with that wand. You can do this.’

The sound of crashing from the ceiling reverberated for minutes.

‘You okay, Miranda?’

‘Yes, Cheryl. I didn’t aim my wand near the ceiling. Why on earth has it collapsed?’

There was silence broken by the sound of people running.

‘You’ve got ten seconds to invent an excuse, Miranda.’

‘Much help you are, Cheryl.’

To the girls’ surprise, the running continued past their classroom.

‘Let’s find out what’s happening, Miranda.’

Reluctantly, Miranda followed Cheryl into the long hall. At the far end there was a group of teachers, wands outstretched. The dragon they aimed at had its fire extinguished thanks to being brained by a collapsing ceiling.

‘This could be okay, Cheryl,’ Miranda whispered. ‘The school force field should repel dragons. How did it get through?’

‘Not our problem,’ Cheryl whispered back. ‘But don’t be smug. Yes, you’ve met the challenge of using your wand in combat for the first time. You’ve killed a dragon. Do you want to be sent on every dragon mission?’

‘It’s not where I saw my career going, I must admit. Fireproof underwear is so not fetching! Do you think we can tiptoe out without anyone noticing?’

‘It’ll be a challenge to get past that lot. Worth trying though!’

The girls tiptoed as fast as they dared. Nobody appeared to notice.

Allison Symes, who loves reading and writing quirky fiction, is published by Chapeltown Books, CafeLit, and Bridge House Publishing. Her flash fiction collections, Tripping The Flash Fantastic and From Light to Dark and Back Again are out in Kindle and paperback. She has been a winner of the Waterloo Arts Festival writing competition three years in a row where the brief was to write to a set theme to a 1000 words maximum.

Website: https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/