Talking to the Animals

The air was cool and as a lot of the trees were only party covered in leaves – the canopy above had spaces where the brightness filtered through. A soft light, gently made its way from top to bottom – bits of dust and tiny insects danced their way down on the sun beam. I leaned back as far as I could without toppling over and looked up. Blue sky filled the spaces that bare branches made and as I slowly watched high above I felt like I was spinning around. Or were the trees spinning? Whatever was happening was making me dizzy with delight and I fell down onto the carpet of moss and the fallen leaves, and just lay there. The smell of the forest enveloped me and I breathed it in slowly savouring the heady strong odour of leaves, wild flowers and dampness. Reaching out I felt for a violet and snapped it off, bringing it close to my face for inspection. Perfect shaped petals, a mix of dark blue and purple – my favourite colour ever. “How amazing you are” I told it. “Your heart shaped petals symbolise love and peace, and you have been around for hundreds of years but yet you never die out” and all over the forest floor the violets gently nodded in agreement.

My eyes are shutting and I drift off waiting…..

The shrill sound of a bird awakens me out of my light sleep and as I quickly sit up I see the bright orange and yellow of the bird’s breast. Darting quickly to one side, its mouth opens and then shuts – leaving the worm it has deftly snatched from the ground dangling from its very pointed beak. One last frantic wiggle from the worm and it’s gone – breakfast for the wren. I just lay back down, comfortably observing the birds flying above, arms behind my head, relaxing and waiting. A line of birds fly past, following the leader until one of them decides to show off with a figure eight pattern, no one seems to take any notice so the bird flies back into line and they continue on their journey.

“Hello” a jaunty voice calls out. I’m not sure if it is directed at me so I sit up quickly and have a look around. I can’t see anyone but as I stand up to have a wander I notice some grey fur poking out from behind a large group of ferns. “Is that you Wilbur?” I call out, and the grey rabbit hops out from behind the ferns and over towards me.

“It is indeed my dear. I’m sorry I am so late but it took longer than expected to pick the wild mushrooms today”.

“Oh that’s quite alright. I’ve had a lovely time relaxing on the soft carpet of the forest floor and I actually had a little snooze too”.

“How are you?” the rabbit asked, wrapping his furry paws around Rachel – nuzzling slightly into her neck.

“Oh you are so soft and warm Wilbur, just as I always remember you being. I am very well thank you, and yourself – are you well? She replied with a question

“Extremely thank you. Shall we go inside and put the kettle on he asked her?”

“Oh lovely but first shouldn’t I have the ‘you know what’ Wilbur?”

“Oh yes of course or how will you fit into the house? Silly me! “He chastised himself.

The rabbit reached behind a prickly bush and pulled a tiny round object from it, offering it to Rachel from his dark grey paw.

She put it into her mouth and swallowed, shutting and screwing up her eyes as if willing the object to go down.

And then, like magic Rachel began to shrink. Quite slowly at first and then at the last ten second mark, ‘zoom’….with a slight whooshing noise she was as small as the rabbit. She looked exactly the same in every way except for her size.

“Righty o then” Wilbur said to Rachel, “we can go inside now”.

They stepped around the back of a huge tree that was stripped of all bark and looked smooth and silvery. A short way up from the base of the tree was a small rough brown area in the shape of a door – an old fashioned church door. Wilbur knocked three times and the door opened inwards.

“Rachel. How lovely to see you” exclaimed an excited voice. “

We were wondering when you would come and visit us again. Come inside” a very silky furred white rabbit gushed as she grabbed hold of the tiny Rachel and hugged her so tight that Rachel could hardly breathe.

“Steady on Bunny, you’ll break her ribs” said Wilbur laughing.

Rachel looked around the spacious room and noted that there were an extra two beds since the last time she had been here. “Do you have additions to the family that I don’t know about?” she asked Bunny.

“We do but we are just minding a couple of our friend’s children for a few weeks. Their mother and father decided to go to the New Forrest for a holiday and we quite happily said yes to look after them. They play so well with our two that it’s no bother at all. The four of them go into the forest to play and we have to go searching for them a few hours later. They know the boundaries but we still worry if they have been away too long.

“And how are Cinnabun and Bugs? They must be quite big now?”

“Well you’ll see them when they come home from school. They are getting tall. If I need anything taken down from a shelf I just ask them!”

Rachel looked around the familiar room while Bunny made the tea and brought out the biscuits she had baked for the occasion. Nothing much had changed inside the house. It was as always, neat and clean. A floral rug sat just inside the door for muddy paws to be wiped on.  

When the tea, served in dainty china cups was ready and placed on the table – an oak tree table that Wilbur had made many years ago - they all sat down. The wooden seats were scattered with coloured cushions, matching the curtains that were moving gently from the cool wind blowing in the window.

“I’m just so happy to see you Rachel. How are you doing at University? You must be in your final year?” Bunny asked sipping her tea and nibbling at a biscuit. “Remember when we first met you – quite a few years ago now. Little did we know that we would be in the books you were writing – famous rabbits!” Bunny mused quite pleased at the thought. “And your illustrations are very flattering!”

“We’re hardly famous Bunny – really? How can we be when no one actually knows us except Rachel? And to everyone but her we are just a few more pesky rabbits living in the woods.

“Cute ones though” Bunny added!

“Well you know that I would never tell anyone about you except in my books – imagine what people would think of me being able to talk to woodland animals. I think I might be taken straight away to be assessed!” and at this statement they all laughed.

“How are all of your friends doing?” enquired Rachel.

“Well I’m not sure if you know but Hetty Hedgehog now has twelve children. The family have two oak tree logs that they all live in. We had a terrible job trying to push the second hollow log alongside the first one, but in the end with all the animals helping, we managed.

“Don’t forget the news about Freda Fox” Bunny interjected, pouring more tea for them all.

“Oh yes, of course. Freda fox unfortunately got caught stealing from the Jamieson families vegetable plot last spring and took a few pellets to her rump! Luckily for her she could struggle back to her Den and recuperate. Of course our family and theirs don’t mix for obvious reasons but I still don’t like to hear of anyone getting hurt. Her pups are getting big now so we don’t let our two near them either.

“Did you know I’m writing another book at the present time – about the badgers? Rachel asked. “I’ve never had much to do with them but I’d like to get to know them and I thought that perhaps you could introduce me to them some time?

“Of course my dear” said Wilbur “They are quite sociable but very safe to be around – you don’t have to fear them and if you really wanted to get into their ‘good books” excuse the pun (although it’s the badgers who will want to get into your good book!!) – You could come back one day with a large container of earth worms, as they love them. They are always eating! A very large family of badgers lives in a clan on the other side of the woods. They put us to shame with the cleanliness of their setts – always dragging out the old hay to replace it with fresh hay they have taken from the farmer’s barn. Anyway when you are ready to talk to them, come here first and I shall take you there – after we’ve shrunk you of course.

All of a sudden there were three very loud knocks on the door and Bunny rushed to open it. Cinnabun and Bugs almost crushed each other trying to be the first to reach Rachel and give her a warm friendly hug.

“Hello you two big kids Goodness me you’ve both gotten tall,( although if Rachel was her normal human size they would probably only be up to her calves). Your fur is so dark now Cinnabun. I remember last time I saw you it was a dark grey colour. It does suit you though”.

Cinnabun threw back her head and laughed…”Oh that’s very kind of you to say so Rachel but there is a reason my fur is so dark at the moment”. At this the whole family began to laugh. “Go on tell her, tell Rachel what happened”.

“Now I’m intrigued” Rachel said waiting for the story.

“Well….” She began “I was in Mr. Chapman’s garden eating his blackberries when I was spotted by one of their dogs who decided to try and catch me. I was scampering and hopping as fast as I could, right past Mr. Chapman himself, who happened to be spray painting his fence. As I ran towards him, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, spun around to get a good look but still had the spray can in his hand, and…..just as I was in line with him, he sprayed me, accidentally of course….well I think it was accidentally?” Anyway I had to hide in a disused warren down the lane way amd the longer I stayed in there, the dryer the paint got. When I eventually plodded home the paint was very dry and very dark!

“And we didn’t recognise her at first when we opened the door”

“I had to show Mum my birth mark behind my ear before she would let me into the house” Cinnabun finished with.

“Oh well, it all ended up ok and you look lovely too” said Rachel.

“You will stay for dinner won’t you Rachel?” the children chorused. “We have a little bit of homework to do first, but it won’t take us long. Then perhaps we can play a game of hide and seek while dinner is being prepared?”

“Yes, we insist Rachel” said Bunny “I’ve made a big pot of vegetable stew. 

Rachel accepted the invitation – the vegetable stew sounded yummy and Rachel thought of the times her grandfather told her about the rabbit hotpot her grandma made for dinner after the men of the family had been out rabbit hunting. She looked at her friends sitting next to her on the couch and shuddered.

Dinner was delicious. For pudding Bunny had made a carrot cake.

Rachel didn’t think she would get out of playing ‘hide and seek’ with the children, and she was correct about that!

“Aaaah, you scared me Rachel! Bugs screamed as Rachel ‘booed’ him from under his bed just as he was bending down to check if she was there.

“Serves you right” she laughed shimmying out from the bed and wiping the dust and hair from her clothes. “I love playing hide and seek with you two – there are so many tiny spaces we can squeeze into. I’m not so keen on chasey because there’s no way I can every catch you two nimble rabbits! But now I have to go home or my mum and dad will wonder where I am”.

They all hugged each other outside the house with the rabbits telling Rachel that she mustn’t leave it as long til the next time, and Rachel promising she wouldn’t. “Now here’s the berry you need to swallow to grow back to your normal size” and Wilbur handed her a dark coloured berry the size of a pea.

Rachel gulped until it was down her throat and immediately began to grow to her normal height. She gave a big stretch before starting off down the woodlands path, turning to wave as she walked away.

It was now early evening and the orange sun was just sinking below the horizon. The air was much cooler now and Rachel took her torch out of her pocket to shine a beam through the blackness of the forest. She saw the red brush of a fox’s tail as it rounded the corner at great speed and she wondered if it was late for dinner. Birds sang their evening songs, hidden in the branches of trees as if telling their friends that the day had been wonderful and tomorrow would be another bright day.

Rachel was half skipping and half walking. She always felt buoyed after a visit to the woods and especially after seeing her friends. It was such a peaceful place to walk through. A group of fireflies hovered above her, moving as she did. She could hear the gentle flapping of their wings and it was as if they were lighting the way home for her. She turned off the torch and let herself be led by the fireflies. She felt safe and comforted knowing she had friends in the woods. “I might put some fireflies in my next story she noted in her head”.

“Where have you been Rachel?” her mum asked as Rachel stepped through the front door of the thatched cottage she and her family lived in.

“Oh just rambling Mum” she answered taking off her walking shoes. “I went a bit too far that’s all. And I was taking notes for my next story”

“What’s it going to be about this time love?” her Mum asked setting down a large plate of dinner for Rachel and telling her kindly, “You must be famished so I’ve given you an extra portion of the pasta”.

“Oh thanks Mum” she replied looking at the huge plate of food and wondering how on earth she was going to eat any of it. “In my next book the main characters will probably be badgers. I’ll do some research and see if they are interesting enough for me to write a story about them”.

“You love your animals don’t you Rachel? It certainly comes through in your writing” her mother told her with pride. But please assure me you’re not turning into one of them…..look at your cardigan covered in rabbit fur! How on earth did that happen?

Rachel didn’t know what to say but decided that quirkiness was always a good thing…”Well to be a really good author you should always try to understand what it’s like to be them so I am!”

“Oh Rachel you really are a little bit strange sometimes, but I do love you”.