Where DO the Rabbits go?

It was a cold Tuesday afternoon. No one, it seems, does anything on a Tuesday afternoon especially a miserable one like this. It was raining, it was miserable and everyone looked miserable. People were just going about their daily lives without any sense of purpose.

A friend and I were sitting in a coffee house drinking lattes waiting for another downpour to pass before we resumed our wasted afternoon window shopping trip. My friend needed cheering up. She had recently split up with her boyfriend, she hated her job and was having a tough time in general. I was doing my best to to raise her spirits but today it was a no go. We talked about her ex and how he had cheated on her, she was becoming tearful and I tried my best over and over again to take us away from the subject of how sad she was.

"Hey, how about the new Buffy?” Nothing ” How about Going to the cinema ?” was greeted with silence.

This went on and on and eventually we just sat and stared out of the window for a while. A new heavier downpour had started and we looked at people sheltering in doorways and business men running with their briefcases over their heads in a vain attempt to keep their crappy business men suits dry. I smiled at a small child standing under an awning shivering and soaking but still looking happy she was trying to catch the rain in her hands. He mother caught me staring and pulled her away and shook her head at me. What's wrong with being nice I thought, people are not nice anymore, I decided again that I should do a good deed a day and ignore the miserable people.

It was while I was making this deal with myself that my friend asked me the strangest question I had ever heard.

"Where do the Rabbits go ?” she asked without even looking up.” She asked this perfectly normally, like if she had asked where are the toilets? or do you speak English?”

“What?” I replied, somewhat taken aback.

"Where do the Rabbits go?" she said again.

“What Rabbits? where? Are you being metaphorical?”

“No I was just sitting here watching the rain and I suddenly thought to myself where do the Rabbits go?”

I thought about her question for a few moments completely confused . “Well I haven’t seen any for a while, but I suppose this is the city and I guess we don’t get many Rabbits round here. I’m sure there will be some in the pet shop on the corner or maybe if we go far out of town there will be someone who breeds them. Why don’t we go and look at them in the shop now?”

“No I don’t mean I haven’t seen any for a a while. My niece has two for instance. I mean where do the rabbits go before the magician pulls them out of the hat?” She looked at me sheepishly. “I’m sorry I should probably explain myself.”

I sat confused I didn’t really know how to respond to her. “Could you start from the beginning?”

My friend cleared her throat and breathed very deeply. “Okay”

“I must have been around seven or eight years old and my parents took my sister and I to the circus. It was the first time I had ever been and I was so excited. There were clowns, acrobats and animals. My sister even got to touch an Elephant! My parents walked behind us arm in arm while we ran around shrieking with excitement, we were like one of those perfect families you see in TV commercials, you know the ones who advertise gravy or saloon cars. I was so happy that I actually thought I was going to burst. We had seen everything at least twice and it was getting late. We were about to leave when I saw a magician surrounded by a group of other children and he looked amazing in his black top hat and cape. Even at this late time my parents said it was okay for my sister and I to go over and watch, I think they thought it would finally tire us out and that we would fall asleep in the car on the way home so that they could finally have some normal conversation. We ran over and sat down with the other children and the magician was performing all these wonderful tricks that made us all whoop and clap with excitement. There was one trick however, that I thought was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life. The magician removed his top hat and waved his magic wand over it and recited the magic words ABRACADABRA ! He then pulled from the hat a floppy eared white rabbit and we all went crazy with excitement. I just sat there completely amazed. I had never seen anything as wonderful as that in my short life!" My friend wiped away a tear and i knew she was remembering her parents who had passed away within six months of each other only a year ago.

"The show was over and the magician thanked is and went into a trailer. My family made to leave and they noticed that I wasn’t following them. They asked me if i was okay as I had tears in my eyes, but I wasn’t upset as they were tears of happiness and explained that seeing the magician was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen. I’ll never forget that night or the feeling of utter amazement. I remember being in the car on the way home, it had been such a long and exciting day that my sister had fallen asleep, but I kept on bombarding my parents with questions, over and over again. I asked Where do the rabbits go? They MUST go somewhere? where were they before the hat? is there some magical world somewhere with forests and hills that millions of white floppy eared rabbits live and dig there homes before a big white glove comes and pulls them away from their home and family? Do you think this upsets the rabbits or do they know that this is their job and they will be put back one day? Surely he puts the Rabbits back after he finishes his tricks? Or is the hat a door into that world? My parents laughed and said it is magic and that no one knows how magic works and that is why it called magic. Where do YOU think they go?”

I didn’t realize she was asking me.

“I Don’t know” I said, quickly trying to pretend that I had followed her story. ”It’s not something I’ve given much thought to, I mean, I have seen loads of magicians on TV in my life and we always went to the circus when I was a little, My husband even took me to one when we first met. I thought it was just a trick, you know, something to entertain the kids, I mean, there’s no such thing as REAL magic is there? it’s just something to entertain us; its just an illusion.”

My friend sat back in her chair and looked sullen. Like I had just told her that we couldn’t go to the zoo after I had been telling her all week that we could.

I looked out of the window. The rain had stopped and people had started to leave the sanctuary of the doorways and returned to the street to proceed going about their business. The sun was trying to break through the clouds and it looked like it may turn out to be a nice day after all. I looked at my watch it was ten to three in the afternoon. I looked at my friend, who looked like a little girl again, I had an idea, I looked again and this time she looked up. I smiled.

“I have a plan. why don’t we get out of here and get a decent drink? It’s happy hour in France! we then go and find a magician and see if he pulls a rabbit out of a hat and if he does we will run up to him and ask him out right - where do the Rabbits go ? I’l grab him and you can shout HEY YOU! WHERE DO THE RABBITS GO BEFORE THEY APPEAR IN THE HAT? DO YOU REACH INTO A MAGICAL WORLD THAT’S FULL OF FLOPPY EARED WHITE RABBITS WAITING TO BE PULLED OUT OF HATS BY MAGICIANS ALL OVER THE WORLD ! TELL ME NOW !” my friend smiled and looked altogether more cheerful.

“Lets go!” she yelled and put on her overcoat and I went to the counter to pay for our coffee. we linked arms and went out into the street to find a bar that could accommodate to strange women in need of dutch courage.

Twenty minutes later we were sitting on a balcony bar with a large gin and tonic each. My friend sipped her drink and asked me where on earth were we going to find a magician on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of October.

“That’s easy. We get into a cab and say to the driver take us to the circus and he will take us to the circus, it’s as simple as that”

My friend giggled ”Won’t the Taxi driver just think, oh god two drunk ladies are trying to take ME for a ride here, and throw us out of the cab?”

“We’ll soon see” I replied “Drink up, we’ve got rabbits to see”

We found a taxi almost straight away and as we climbed in I asked the driver in my most serious voice possible:

“Do you happen to know if there is a circus performing in the vicinity?”

The taxi driver looked both of us up and down and rubbed his beard. He smiled and said: ” Are you girls serious?”

“Deadly” we replied in unison.

“Well I don’t know why two girls your age want to go to the circus, but I happen to know about the tourism in this area and especially tourist attractions like a circus and I’m so sorry to tell you that it is the wrong season for the circus, you see it is just too cold, if the circus were to tour at this time of year the animals would catch cold.”

“I’ts not animals that we want to see sir it’s a magician. We need to see a magician so that we can perform a very important scientific experiment. Money is no object, if you can find us a magician today I will give you double your fair plus one hundred extra.” My friend hit me on the arm. ” Don’t be stupid, it’s not THAT important!” she made to get out of the cab and I pulled her back in.

“It IS that important! You have made me curious now.” I clipped my seat belt into place and sat back arms folded and face set. I wanted to see where the rabbits go. The driver looked thoughtful for a few seconds “well if it’s just a magician you are after I could take you to the casino just outside of town. They have sideshows there and mostly it’s just dancers and comedians but you never know, you could get lucky and it’s the best suggestion I can offer with such short notice.

“Maybe it’s our lucky day ” I shouted

“To the casino!” screamed my friend. I handed the 100 to the driver and he declined my offer.

“The fair will be twenty, that’s all I need.”

I thought about it. I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll go and see our magician if he is there and and you take the money and go play the casino, and if you are right, and it is our luck day, we will find out where the rabbits go and you will win some money. If you don’t accept the full amount then why don’t we split it thre ways? If it IS our lucky day then you will make some money and my friend here will get to find out where the rabbits go AND make some money. If we lose you will get your fair and a tip ! do we have a deal?”

The taxi driver smiled at us and said that we had a deal then he looked at us in the rear view mirror and said ”So tell me - what is it about the rabbits ?” We pulled away and my friend told him her story about where the rabbits go.

The casino was huge. As we pulled up my friend and I gasped and started to get really excited. it looked completely out of place on the outskirts of our small town and I couldn’t believe I had never heard of it before - we complimented the driver of his knowledge of local gambling facilities. As we walked in we were hit by a strong smell of cologne through cigarette smoke. We made our way to the bar and halfway through our second gin and tonic we felt confident enough to survey the floor. The casino floor was divided into four gambling areas around a central ring. We could see gaming tables in two of the areas and slot machines in the third. The fourth area and central ring were allocated as non gaming areas and we could see dancers and shows starting up and this was what we were interested in. We made our way over to the cashier to get our chips.

My friend was growing anxious and impatient. ”Come on!"she yelled at me, "let’s find our magician.” We made our way into the depths of the casino and our taxi driver went to the gaming area. We saw lots of dancers and jugglers but what we saw next made my friend yelp with delight. There was a signs advertising the Magnificent Mr Chips and underneath it was an animated neon sign showing a hand pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

“It’s starting in five minutes ” My friend cried. We made our way to the edge of the small crowd that gathered around half watching and talking among themselves. The magician stood up to the small elevation that acted as a stage. He stood up and there was a small ripple of applause. The magician proceeded to go through a repertoire that included pulling long handkerchiefs from his sleeve and joining silver rings together. He made a watch vanish and appear in another persons pocket and everyone smiled politely, where do the watches go? I whispered to my friend, feeling slightly pleased with my own joke but it was no use she was captivated, silently praying for the main event. then, to a roll of recorded drums, he removed his top hat and placed it on a small table in front of him. The magician waved his magic wand and shouted ABRACADABRA!! The magnificent Mr Chips held his arm aloft and flexed his fingers...My friend grabbed my arm.

“This is it,” she gasped.

The magician plunged his hand into the hat and pulled out a large, white, floppy eared bunny rabbit. Again this was met with a few smiles and a some light applause.My friend and I didn’t care, we yelped and clapped and screamed. The magnificent Mr chips looked at us somewhat uneasily and gave an embarrassed smile.

“Thank you.” He said. He must have thought that these two ladies don’t get out too much or they have had too much Gin.

“Do it again!” screamed my friend.

“Do what she says!” I yelled. So he did and we screamed again and clapped and screamed some more. I looked at my friend and she was so happy, I could have cried for her.

By the time the show was over we had watched the Magnificent Mr Chips pull at least half a dozen Rabbits out of the hat on the small table. My friend had screamed until she could not scream any more. The magician had retired to a small anti room and the small crowd dispersed however, my friend and I decided to hang around.

“Do you want to go and speak to him?” I asked her.

“No! What if he told me that it wasn’t really real and it was all fake and not a proper illusion with real magic. I would have to believe that there was no such thing as magic and then what would I have to left to believe in? Right now, in this moment, I am so happy; it’s like being a little girl all over again; I just want to believe what I believe and I believe in the magic.”

I hugged my friend and said “If you are completely sure then let’s go.”

“In a minute I have to go to the bathroom.” My friend went to find the toilet and I started looking around the small stage area where the Magnificent Mr Chips had made her day. I was so happy that I had cheered her up and that we had finally put do bed something that had played on her mind after all these years; it had taken her mind off her break up if anything. I imagined her on the way back from the circus as a child “Mummy where do the Rabbits ? Daddy where do the Rabbits go? I looked at the magician's table still with its black velvet cloth over it covering the table from top to bottom. I lifted the cloth slightly. As I thought under the table was a cage and in the cage where six identical floppy eared white Rabbits. I dropped the cloth just in time as my friend came running back to me still beaming.

“What you doing?” she asked.

“Nothing” I lied ” I just saw the Magnificant Mr Chips, He thanked us for our enthusiasm.”

“Wow where is he I want to go and speak to him! I want to thank him for making my day.”

“He said he is very sorry and would like to speak to you too but he has to go and put the rabbits back in the hat before their parents start to miss them.”

My friend looked sad. ”Come on." I said and took her by the hand. “Let’s see is any of that magic will rub off on us in the casino”

Hand in Hand we went to try our luck.