Ben stood with his hands on his knees, puffing and panting and feeling very red about the face.
"I beat you again," laughed Annie, his best—his only—friend. She barely sounded winded.
He flopped over into the grass, staring up at the pylons a few yards away.
"Mom says it's dangerous to run that fast near the pylons," she grinned, throwing herself down next to him. "I think she's afraid we wouldn't be able to stop in time."
He nodded, taking in air in huge gulps. They lay there quietly for several minutes while he got his breath back. Neither said anything. Ben didn't have anything he wanted to say, and silence wasn't awkward for Annie. He liked that about her.
"Look," she said finally, pointing. "It's Horace. I wonder what's in the box?"
Ben angled his head back to look. He had a strange, inverted view of Horace walking down the path, carrying a large crate with lettering stenciled onto the sides. Ben squinted at it, trying to read the words upside down. Suddenly, white whiskers darted out one of the holes in the crate. As fast as they appeared, they were gone, but it was enough of a surprise to motivate Ben to twist himself around into a sitting position.
"Hey, Annie," called Horace. "Hey, Ben. How ya doing?"
"Good," the young girl answered for both of them.
"Be careful around the barrier, okay?"
"Sure," she responded. "Hey, Horace, where are you going with that box?"
"Animal research," he said, referring to the facility just off the coast of the main island. "Want a look before I go?"
Both children nodded. Horace gently lowered the crate to the ground. He flipped the latches up. "Ready? Come in closer, now."
Annie and Ben knelt by Horace and waited. Ben felt his heart rate speeding up again. He wished Horace would just open the lid already. He didn't much care for mysteries. And adults seemed to try to turn everything into a mystery.
Moving with excruciating slowness, Horace eased the lid up a few inches. Annie put her face close to the opening. "Oh! Ben, look!"
He shifted uncomfortably.
"Don't worry, kid. They won't bite you. Here…." Horace pushed the lid up further.
In a flash, something white leapt from the box, brushed past Ben's arm, and took off towards the barrier. Horace slammed the lid down on the other animals in the crate. Annie cried out anxiously. Ben followed the rabbit.
"Leave it!" Horace yelled. "Keep back from the barrier!"
Ben moved slowly, imagining that he was invisible, or maybe that he was part of the ground beneath him, just as natural and safe as any creature could hope for. "Come on," he whispered. "I won't hurt you. I'm trying to save you." He caught the rabbit's eyes and held them, and the animal stopped running. "That's it." He stretched out his right hand, his thumb against his index and middle fingers as if he were holding something. "Don't you want to know what this is?" He lowered his hand. "You want it?" The rabbit's nose twitched, and it took a cautious hop closer. "Almost." Calmly, he brought his left hand up from his side. The rabbit hesitated, then hopped towards him again. Its whiskers tickled his fingers as it tried to get at whatever it was the boy might be holding. As his left hand came down on the rabbit's back, Ben opened his right hand. "Sorry. Nothing just yet. But soon. I promise."
He scooped the rabbit up and turned to find Horace surveying him curiously. Annie clapped her hands. "You did it! You rescued him!"
"Her," Horace corrected automatically. "They're all females."
Ben looked down into the rabbit's eyes, blood-red against the stark white of its fur. He sighed as he stretched the animal out towards Horace.
"Want to keep her?"
He looked up, startled.
"I would've lost her anyway just now if it hadn't been for you. Besides," Horace smiled, "I don't think I've ever heard you say more than two words at a time to anyone else."
Ben pulled the rabbit back into his arms, his fingers burrowing into its soft fur. "Thank you."
"There's your two for me," said Horace. He clicked the latches down and lifted the crate. "Have a nice day, kids."
"Thanks," said Annie. "You, too."
Horace moved off, stopping briefly to deactivate the barrier before proceeding down the path on the other side.
"She's beautiful!" Annie was all but jumping up and down in excitement. "What are you going to call her?"
Ben shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't you name her?"
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Annie took the rabbit's face between her hands. Her frown of concentration was broken by a laugh. "Rachel," she pronounced.
"Rachel Rabbit?"
"Why not?"
He shrugged again. "That's fine."
"I wonder what they were going to do with her?"
"It doesn't matter." He hugged his new pet to his chest. "Whatever it was, they're not going to do it anymore."
"What do you want to do now?" Annie asked.
He looked towards the jungle, then set his sights on the bungalows. "Let's go home. I promised Rachel something good to eat."
Annie reached out to stroke Rachel's long, soft ears as they walked back. "Don't you just love rabbits?"
Ben smiled. "You know, I kind of think I do."