The Rose Bush Home

Tony rubbed his eyes and had a good stretch. He scratched behind his ears, jumped up, landed on all fours, and wagged his small bushy tail. Tony, you see, was a hare. He lived with his mother, father, and little sister in a thicket right in the middle of a cornfield.

But the corn was ripening now, and all around them, huge, terrifying machines had begun rumbling and roaring. Tony’s father explained that the people were harvesting the corn. Tony didn’t understand why they couldn’t just collect the ears of corn in their paws, like he did. But one thing was certain: the machines were coming closer and closer, and soon their burrow wouldn’t be safe.

“I think it’s time we moved,” said mother hare, as she bit into a juicy yellow corn cob the next morning.

“You’re right,” agreed father hare, “anyway, all the corn will be gone in no time. And with all those machines around, we couldn’t dare stick our noses out of the burrow.”

Tony’s little sister Tessa didn’t know how to talk yet. She simply sat watching them with her big, round eyes, while munching on a crunchy carrot.

And so it was. They didn’t have many things to pack or prepare. Hares wear fur coats all year round, eat whatever nature provides, and play with whatever they come across. At midday, when the sun was high in the sky, the machines went quiet. The people had left for a while, to rest and eat their lunch. It was time for the hare family to head out. Mother hare had one last look around, while the young hares scampered off excitedly behind their father, toward new adventures.

“Ah well,” said mother hare, as she waved goodbye to their old home, “what matters is that we’re…