Le renard and Rabbit

Extracted and slightly abridged from
The Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“Good morning,” said the fox.
“Good morning,” the little prince said. “Who are you? You are very pretty”
“I am a fox”
“Come and play with me… I am so terribly sad”
“I cannot play with you. I am not tame”
“Oh! I am sorry,” said the little prince. But after some thought he asked, “What does ‘tame’ mean?”
“It is something too often forgotten. It means to “establish ties’”
“To establish ties?”
“That’s right,” said the fox. “To me, you are still just a little boy like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you have no need of me, either. To you, I am just a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we shall need one another. To me, you will be unique. And I shall be unique to you. If you want a friend, tame me!”
“What should I do?” asked the little prince.
“You must be very patient,” replied the fox. “First you will sit down a little distance from me, like that, in the grass. I shall watch you out of the corner of my eye and you will say nothing. Words are a source of misunderstandings. But every day, you can sit a little closer to me…”
The next day the little prince returned.
“You should have come back at the same time,” said the fox. “If for example you come at four o’clock in the afternoon, I shall start feeling happy at three o’clock. As the time passes, I shall feel happier and happier. At four o’clock I shall become agitated and start worrying. I shall discover the price of happiness. But if you come just at anytime, I shall never know when I should prepare my heart to greet you…”

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“Did Rabbit come today?”

Everyday for a few weeks, that was the first thing I said to my mom when I got home from work. That is, if I couldn’t see Rabbit in his favourite “den” between the guppy pond and the garden wall.

Sometimes, just for the sake of it, and because I really do want to see Rabbit, I stand at the porch call out to him. “Rabbit!!” And he comes hopping by. Then I dutifully get cabbage and carrot from the fridge. It is true that cabbage and carrot are rabbits’ favourites. Here is my experiment with Rabbit’s diet and the conclusions

Chinese cabbage- yes, especially the leafy parts
Apple- a bit
Orange- surprisingly so
Honey dew- sometimes
Cucumber- doubtful
Water chestnut- No!

Sometimes Rabbit gets greedy and sniffs my fingers, my toes and me, even as I hold out a piece of carrot for him (I’ve determined Rabbit was a “he” because one day he was lying spread-eagle in our front yard).

Rabbit was not our pet. He appeared one day and we all got excited. He hops up and down the road and we suspect he gets fed in other homes, too. His cheeks did get chubbier after a while. He was the resident SS14/3A rabbit.

I’d like to think I was his favourite. He would eat out of my hands and let me put my face two inches away from his. My sister, who was once her school’s zoo monitor and aspired to be a vet, was a little jealous Rabbit didn’t treat her, the same. But Rabbit would never let anyone stroke his lovely white angora.

He loved to sit on our porch and stretch (and he was very long). There he would lay and when there are occasions on the road in front of our house he would sit up, raise his head and keep watch for a while, before going back to his lazy position. Sis said he was like a pet dog, rather.

Sis and dad borrowed a cage from our cousins who used to have pet rabbits. Sis and cousins tried to lure Rabbit into the cage but he always outsmarted them. He hid under my car instead. After a couple of weeks we returned the cage and were content to have Rabbit come by whenever he wishes.

I used to get worried that Rabbit might get into an accident. But I wouldn’t have put him in the cage anyways. He would hate me for it. He probably won’t have sniffed me- which I took to be an expression of affection. I had to leave him to be free and enjoy the excitement of having him come by every night.

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I really didn’t think boss would let me take leave to go to Redang Island last week. But he did. My colleague, David, was amazed. “How do you do it, Nicole?” A few months ago I took one whole week off to study. David is never able to take leave. I winked and said “Good clients and time management” Ha ha.

I wasn’t too keen on staying at Redang Reef Resort as I had stayed there before. The acoustics of the rooms are very good. You can hear everyone- upstairs and next door. But it is situated right at the end of the beautiful stretch of beach, separated from the others and connected by a stilted walkway. In fact, it has two small beachfronts of its own and you could see schools of colourful fishes just a few feet into the warm blue waters.

Saphie Siew Forti was there on holiday with her mom and her “kakak”. She is the most beautiful, intelligent and friendly five year-old I’ve ever known.

“Why do you put the towel there?”
“So I can lie on it”
“Can I put a towel on it?” (The lazy chairs by the beach under the coconut trees)
“Yes you can”
“I don’t have a towel”
“You can get it from that ko-ko (literally- big brother) at the reception. All you need to do is tell him your room number and you want a blue towel”

She goes and comes back with a blue towel. Arranges it neatly on the lazy chair and manages to move me from my position to help her get the sand out.

She lies down (in imitation of moi) and asked me more questions starting with “why”.

She charmed the whole (small) resort with her tanned rosy cheeks and toothless grins. She blew soap bubbles at everyone who would play with her. She always wanted to sit beside me. She loves to buy things. She bought us ice cream. And soap bubbles in a bottle.

She cut the sole of her foot when she stepped on a piece of washed up coral. So did I. So she had to walk on the beach with her shoes. I didn’t care. Her shoes hurt her feet. So she wore my slippers which were four sizes too big for her. I tried carrying her but she was very heavy.

Steven works in the resort. He was the ko-ko who gave Saphie her blue towel. And me, mine. He got me my life jacket and flippers. He also got me plasters for change, for my foot. Everyday at about six he stops work and takes a swim. I would only go out into the sea during sunset because it gets to hot during the day. He tried showing me where the stingray was hiding and where the eel was peeping out of the coral. But my mask was fogging up and I pretended to see the sting of the ray (but I could see the three baby sharks). He tried to catch a clown fish for Saphie. He said the clown fish is supposed to be the slowest fish. And Chia Hui was trying to catch those white and black striped ones with a Gardenia bag.

He told me about backpacking to see the Borobudur and Angkor Wat. I told him why loved London so much.

Each time I leave the east coast islands, the boat rides were very silent- stark contrast to the lively chatters brought by in-coming boats. I wonder if the boatman notices the difference. Nobody really wants to go back to the “real” world.

We got home about midnight on Saturday. Mom was still up, waiting for sis to come home.

“Did Rabbit come today?”

Silence. “Rabbit passed away”

Sometimes life takes a sudden jolt and makes you ask if you really had enjoyed and appreciated what you have to the fullest.