Freedom, a Modern Fable

Jack is almost free. His pulse races and his breathing is loud, especially for a Jack Rabbit. Pale light cracks through the crumbling ceiling of soil. It must be night. That would be fine for Jack. He loves the night. He loves the day. What he hates is being caged. He digs to be free, and he is almost there. With just a few more strokes of his small arms, he has enough room to emerge. Jack whispers, “I’m free,” as he sticks his head and neck out of the hole and into the mouth of something huge.

“Whoa!” Jack screamed, ducking back into the hole a split-second before the jaws snapped shut. “What was that?” He backed up a few hops down the hole. “It doesn’t matter. Just go back,” he told himself.

“Come back here rabbit” came a loud, angry voice. “I’m hungry!”

“I am not your supper,” Jack said.

“Maybe not,” said the voice, “but you will be a meal soon. Now that I know you are there, I will dig under this wall and eat you.”

“What are you?” asked Jack, already hearing the sound of paws scratching the earth.

“A coyote! Why does it matter? You are prey and I am predator.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter. I am just trying to get out of here.”

“Why would you want that? Aren’t you fed every day, like me? Aren’t you comfortable here?”

“Yes, I am fed and comfortable,” said Jack, “but there is something in a rabbit that wants to run and jump and have fun: to outrun or outsmart the animal chasing them.”

“Well, you can’t outrun me now, Jack Rabbit. There’s nowhere to go. You’re not very smart digging without knowing where you’d end up. I almost had you in one bite.” Coyote paused digging to laugh. “No bother. I will be in there soon to savor you instead of gobbling.”

Coyote was right. It wouldn’t take long for him to dig into Jack’s cage. Now Jack knew that he was not the only animal trapped here and he imagined that Coyote’s cage was like his, only larger. Jack's space was cramped. He could almost stretch out and touch cold both walls simultaneously and his tall ears could touch the low ceiling if he stood on the tip toes of his big feet. 

Jack crawled back into his cage wondering how many other animals were trapped like him. Then he said to himself, “What does that matter? I won’t be around much longer to care. Coyote will be in my cage soon, then I will be in his mouth.”

“What am I going to do? What can I do?” 

He looks at the tight space, the walls and ceiling, and the front glass. Through the clear wall, he sees a floor of stone. He can’t dig through stone. That’s why he dug under his right wall. Digging out was the only way he could think to get free and the back wall seemed too thick and unpromising. 

He speaks his thoughts, “Maybe freedom is under the other wall. But maybe not. If Coyote is on my right, what or who is on my left?” He sighs, closes his eyes, and forms a plan. “I will have to be more careful if I even make it.”

Jack starts digging under the left wall. Behind him, sounds of scraping and grunting grow. Fear drives Jack to dig even faster. Often a tiny claw rips out of his front paws as he pulls back the earth. But there is no time to stop for tears. They just run down his face as blood runs down his paws.

After a few hours of frantic digging, he pauses near the final crust of earth above him.

“Hello?” Jack says, hoping for no response; that could mean freedom. No response comes. Jack pushes the last layer of soil away, terrified that another coyote’s jaws will be waiting, freedom or not. 

Against the fear of death, Jack keeps his eyes open while he emerges. He sees…another cage. No freedom here. 

“What are you doing here?” A voice pierces Jack’s disappointment and plunges him back into fear. He slides back into the hole. Then he realizes that the voice isn’t a coyote’s. It’s smaller; smaller than Jack. It’s sharp but also deep and slow, and not exactly menacing. 

Jack, summoning all his courage, peeks out of the hole again and speaks into the dark cage. “Where are you? What are you?” Still nervous, Jack keeps talking, “I am trying to escape this place and I am a rabbit. My name is Jack if you care.”

“My name is Monster. And this is not your escape.”

“Well, I know that now. Do you eat rabbits?”

“I don’t know what a rabbit is, but you look too big for me. Besides,” he huffed, “I am not hungry.”

Jack took a chance crawling into the cage with the self-proclaimed monster. “You don’t know what a rabbit is?” 

“No. I don’t even know what I am.”

Jack walked toward the voice. He beheld a fat lizard, whose skin was yellowish with a black-speckled pattern. Jack was relieved, for the most part.

“I know what you are. You are a Gila monster.”

“A Gila Monster? So…I am…more… than just Monster?” 

Jack moves closer, but Monster doesn’t react. Jack says, “Yes. You are a Gila Monster, a special desert lizard, and I know all about you.”

“You do? What can you tell me?” 

“I can tell you a lot, but I am in trouble. A coyote is digging his way to eat me now. He is probably in my cage already. I was trying to escape and found him instead.”

“If you want to escape you will have to dig out Coyote’s cage,” says Monster.

“What? How do you know that?” 

Monster tilts his head. “This place is all I know. I saw Coyote brought into these cages a long time ago. His is the last cage. I saw you come in yesterday but didn’t know what you were. Many animals have come in, and have been put in these cages, but you are the only one I have ever spoken to.”

“How long have you been here?” Jack asks.

“I was born here, well, in another cage,” Monster answers.

Jack thinks for a moment. He knows that freedom is just beyond Coyote’s wall but he hears Coyote digging under this one. He smells Coyote’s murderous breath. 

“Don’t you want freedom, Monster?” Jack says, surprising himself. 

“Freedom? What would I do with freedom? I am safe, warm, well-fed, and satisfied right here,” Monster says, walking to his favorite spot.

“But you aren’t able to see the sky or hunt for food or,” Jack stops short. Dirt sprays into the air from Coyote’s forceful digging. “Monster, if you help me I will help you.” 

“I don’t need your help, rabbit. I am comfortable right here, remember?” Monster says.

“Yes, I remember.” Jack hopes Monster will understand and continues. “You don’t have to help me. Soon, Coyote will break through into this cage and eat me. But then, well, he might eat you.”

Monster, barely moving, to begin with, freezes and considers.

Jack adds, “We have a better chance together.”

“I am small, even compared to you,” said Monster. “What can I do?”

“More than you know.”

Jack tells Monster about himself, and they quickly make a plan. Often, Jack sees Coyote’s snout jab into their cage. Coyote is sweaty and slobbering, hungry for his hard work’s reward. Soon, his snout stays pressed against the hole, making a steady progression forward. Jack and Monster execute their plan.

“What will you do to my new friend in this cage?” Asks Jack.

“I will eat him too,” Coyote replies, still digging furiously.

“Stop, Coyote!” shouted Jack.

“No! I almost have you,”

“That’s why you can stop. I have nowhere to run. But I will make a bargain with you.”

“A bargain?” asks Coyote, slowing down his paws.

“I will let you eat me right now if you promise not to eat my new friend.”

Coyote stops digging, his snout showing under the wall, and “I accept your terms, rabbit.” He tries hard not to show the lie on his face. He thinks to himself, “I may stop for a moment to savor Jack, but soon I will resume and eat whatever poor creature is in this cage.”

Jack hops over to Coyote and says, “Open your mouth, and I will drop in, almost like when we first met.”

“Very well. Hurry up.”Coyote lays his head down on the freshly dug earth, then opens his mouth wide, and waits to taste rabbit. Instead, Monster breaks the soil underneath Coyote’s mouth and bites him hard on his lower lip.

Coyote yelps and jerks back, yanking Monster out of his hole. Monster dangles from Coyote’s lip, pumping venom into Coyote every second. Coyote bucks, then claws at Monster, but nothing changes Monster’s attachment. 

After a few moments of torment, Coyote collapses. Jack hears silence and crawls into his original cage as Coyote dies. 

“You can let go now. Are you all right?” Jack says.

Monster lets go and ambles over to Jack. “I am not happy that Coyote is dead, but I am better than “all right”. I know who I am now, that I am strong, brave, and-“

“Venomous!” Jack interrupts. 

Yes, venomous. And I was wrong before, Jack; I did need your help. I didn’t know what I didn’t know, but now I do. Thank you.”

“You are welcome but I should be the one thanking you for saving my life.” 

“You can in a little while. The coyote was just step one, correct?”

“Yes, step one. Are you ready to dig? Gila monsters are better diggers than rabbits, or at least they can be, with practice.”

Grinning, Monster says, “Then let’s get started.”

They move back into Monster’s cage together and start digging under the far wall that has not been disturbed. 

“How many of the other animals do you think will want freedom?” Jack says.

Monster replies, “I don’t know. But it’s worth asking.”