-1A Fable That Will Never End

By Panny

"Daddy, tell me a story."

"Alright then...

"There once was a cat. It was a young cat who'd never gone outside of it's yard because the world was a very big place and seemed quite scary.

The cats mother told the cat to go to the schoolhouse down the street.

But that sounded much too hard and the cat did not.

The cat had a best friend, the duck. There wasn't anything special about the duck, but he was very nice to the cat. They were good mates for a long time. One day the duck told the cat to go with it on a trip.

But the cat was afraid and the cat did not. The duck didn't want to leave the cat, so he stayed too.

So the cat stayed home and played in its yard with its mother and the duck.

Then one day the cat met a rabbit. He wasn't an overly handsome rabbit, and come to think of it, he could be somewhat of a git too. His ears and nose were so big that others often picked on him about them.

Now, the rabbit was in all sorts of trouble but it did not ask the cat for help. The rabbit told the cat to just go home. So the cat did.

Then, a few days later, the cat ran into the big nosed, big eared, rabbit again. He was in trouble again, because it seemed to like to follow him about. Once again, he told her to go home.

But the cat did not.

This time, said the cat, I will not be afraid. And the cat helped the rabbit and they became friends.

The rabbit asked the cat to go on an adventure.

And the cat did. And she found out is wasn't all that scary.

The rabbit asked the cat to trust it.

And the cat did.

The rabbit asked the cat to hold his hand.

And the cat did.

The rabbit asked the cat to go with him to the ends of the universe.

And the cat did.

Then one day the rabbit told the cat to go home so he could fight a scary dog.

And the cat did. But not for long. The cat went back for the rabbit to save him. She took care of the scary dog, but the rabbit got hurt."

The little girl gasped in her bed and her father smiled, ruffling her hair.

"But it was alright, because he was a magic rabbit. Only problem was, to heal himself he had to turn into a brand new rabbit.

The cat was sad she had lost her daft looking rabbit. But, it turned out, he had turned into a very handsome rabbit. He was twice as daft as the old rabbit in his own ways, but he still wanted the cat to be his friend.

The rabbit asked the cat if she still wanted to hold his hand.

And the cat did. It made the duck sad that the cat was going off with the rabbit again, but he let her go and waited for her to come back.

Later on, the rabbit asked the duck to come along, so the duck did. The rabbit, the cat, and the duck had a lot of fun together. But, the duck found a new home that he liked even better and told the cat and the rabbit to go keep having adventures without him.

Even though it made the cat sad to say goodbye to the duck, they left him behind and continued their adventure.

The rabbit asked the cat to love him - though not in those exact words because the rabbit was still a bit of a stupid git.

And the cat did.

The rabbit asked the cat stay with him forever.

And promised she would.

Then one day the rabbit and the cat had to say goodbye because she had gotten stuck at the ducks new home. The rabbit asked the cat to have a good life so the cat did.

And even though they were very far away, and it was too hard to travel, the cat told the rabbit to come back soon.

And it took a very long time, and a lot of hard work, but the rabbit did."

The little girl, tucked under her covers stared up at her father thoughtfully. "Is that story about your cat?"

"Sort of." He smiled.

"So are you the rabbit?"

"No," replied Mickey Smith. "I was the duck."