Chapter 4 - The Tree

This time of year had become familiar to Kehaar. The air turned sharply colder, the sun slunk along the southern horizon, and the nights grew long. The natural signs were rather dull to him, though. What Kehaar liked to do was observe the yearly ritual of the humans at this time. The spectacle was quite impressive from the air.

Lights of a various colors would be strung around the men's towns, hung on the branchless trees that bore even brighter lights which illuminated the trails that the cars ran on, and which gulls like Kehaar loved to alight on.

The humans would bustle in and out of immensely large stores, from which they brought things out and to their own homes. People seemed to gather not only food like this, but any manner of fascinating objects such as clothes and toys for the children. Of course, this packing activity happened all year, but much more so at this time.

Large groups of people would gather and sing is that strange man-fashion outside of this nest and that one. The singing was strangely beautiful, but not so much as the sounds of the sea that wafted over the cliff side nests in the summer.

Another oddity was the men's interest in evergreen trees. It had taken Kehaar quite some time of curious surveillance to figure out what he knew about this ritual. The men would get their car to run out to some forest, at which point, they would select some young evergreen tree. This tree would be severed at its base, at carried by the car back to the humans' nest. The tree was taken inside and decorated lavishly with lights and glittering objects, and was put by a large window to be seen by the world..

These activities - the packing, the decorating, the singing, the tree- harvesting - were indeed all beyond Kehaar's comprehension. But they always surrounded this time of year, when the days were at their shortest.

I guess it doesn't matter why they are doing it, thought Kehaar, but it sure is interesting to observe it. Kehaar was also trying to take his mind off of the death of Blackberry. The Watership rabbits were his best friends outside of the seagull world, and the sad news had depressed him to no end.

*** Blackberry was dozing again, having satisfied his hunger on the flay left inside his cage. Just now, an odd noise began to grow. Blackberry recognized this as the muffled sound of an approaching hrududu.

The far wall of the burrow suddenly opened and Blackberry saw the hrududu again. It crawled back into its burrow, bearing an evergreen tree on its back. Blackberry didn't consider the strangeness of this sight, for at that terrifying moment, Blackberry thought that he was going to be crushed, but his squealing stopped the hrududu short. The boy that had tried to catch him earlier, a man, and a woman, presumably a family, got out of the hrududu. The man and woman carried the tree away, but Blackberry didn't see where they took it, for he was too busy trying to hide under his blanket. The boy was kneeling outside of his wire web was making odd cooing noises at him, much to Blackberry's distress. Eventually, the woman called the child away and Blackberry was left in peace.

*** "I get to put on the angel!"

Everyone pitched in to decorate the tree. Greg and Karen carried the tree into the house from the garage, leaving a trail of needles. Greg then struggled to install the tree into its tree stand on the living-room floor while Karen cleaned up the needles. Then, the parents put up the light strings after Josh helped find the burnt-out bulbs and replace them. Greg took on that especially tedious task just for one string of bulbs where all of the lights had to be on, or all would not work. After the lights were on, the green and red bands of tinsel were wrapped around the tree carefully by Karen and Josh. Then, everyone put on the various glittering glass ornaments. Every year, at least one or two would be broken in the process. The number of glass ornaments had been slowly diminishing, but there were still plenty left, although there were no more complete sets. At this point, the silvery strands of tinsel were hung lavishly on top of everything, until the tree looked almost like a cone-shaped waterfall

The last step in the decoration was the angel, which was put on the top of the tree. This honour was reserved for Josh, who was hoisted up so that he could drop the angel onto the very top bough of the tree. The angel had only an inch to spare under the ceiling. The tree looked perfect.

"Oh, rats! I remember that string from last year," grumbled Greg, as one of the bulb strings flickered and went off. He wiggled several of the bulbs, but to no avail. He stood back and let out a loud sigh. "Oh, well - it's just one string. The tree still looks okay." Greg didn't feel that way, though. He was a perfectionist at many things, and decorating the Christmas tree was definitely one of them. Already, he was planning on spending all day and night if need be to get the lights working again.

Just then, the lights blinked back on of their own accord. "Ah!" beamed Greg, "Perfect again!" After waiting for a couple of minutes, the lights were still maintaining their colourful vigil on the tree. He never gave the lights another thought.

"Mum! Can Hopscotch see the tree?"

"Oh, Josh, I think the rabbit should stay in his cage. He's still wild, I'm sure."

"Can't I just take the cage in here?"

Greg replied to this one, "It's too heavy for you, son."

"Well, can you carry it?"

"Leave the rabbit where he is, Josh. I don't want a wild rabbit running around the house."

"But he won't if he's in his cage," reasoned the boy, but he knew to stop his quest when his father gave him one of his "end-of-discussion" looks.

Having failed at this, Josh returned to the garage and sat next to the cage. He spent the rest of the day there, talking to the terrified rabbit, and trying to pet him, only to pull out his hand when Hopscotch snarled at him. Josh only left when he was called back in briefly to eat dinner. And instead of playing with his peas and potatoes and finishing last as usual, he gobbled his meal right down, excused himself, and returned to his new friend.

The weather was turning colder again, and the garage - which wasn't as well- insulated as the rest of the house, was cold enough for one's breath to be seen. Karen peeked into the garage and suggested that Josh spend some time warming up in the house. Josh cheerfully declined his mother's invitation.

Returning to watching the evening news, Karen finally said to her husband, "Dear, I think I'm going to put Hopscotch's cage in the house. Josh will never leave it alone, and it's so cold in the garage. I don't want to see him catch a cold and be miserable during Christmas." Seeing her husband open his mouth to object, she quickly added, "Don't worry - the rabbit won't leave the cage, so there won't be any harm done. I'll see to that."

Greg let out a sigh, and relented, "Oh, all right, but we mustn't spoil the boy."

Karen got up and called back, "Not to worry, this is just for now."

Josh was delighted when he was told that the rabbit and cage were moving inside. Josh had wanted Hopscotch to see the Christmas tree, so he directed his mother to put it in the corner of the living room by the tree.

"Josh, the presents have to go there."

"Aw, Mum, just so he can see the tree, please?"

"Oh, fine, then," she replied, plunking the cage down by the tree and evoking a squeal out of Hopscotch.

Josh knelt by the cage again, adding, "And, Hopscotch can stay in my room tonight!"

"Don't push your luck, dear. I'm not carrying that thing up those stairs. Leave the rabbit here - and just for tonight!"

"All right, Mum." Josh didn't care that much, he was just glad that Hopscotch was able to see the glorious tree. He wondered what his bunny thought of the colourful sight.

When Hopscotch buried himself in his blanket, the family laughed. Josh started to open the door, but his father cautioned, "I wouldn't do that if I were you - you'll get bit again, and then it'll escape - then you'll really be in trouble."

Josh closed the door and resumed watching his hiding rabbit, hoping it would show itself again. But, Hopscotch appeared to fall asleep and remained under his blanket for the rest of the evening, while the family collected the Christmas gifts and piled them under and around the tree and the rabbit's cage, then settled in to watch television.

*** Laying in his cage by the hrududu, Blackberry's fear of his eerie new surroundings had diminished somewhat. He still couldn't recall just how he had gotten here, but he reckoned that the humans had probably found him hurt or sick. And, he had no idea where Bigwig might be - was he hurt or sick, too? Blackberry just lay there, trying not to despair.

It was hard not to be miserable, though, when the boy returned and insisted on staring and making noises at him. The young human refused to leave, and whenever he touched the cage, Blackberry would growl as ferociously as he knew how, and even tried to nip at the boy's hands whenever he thought he had a chance at reaching them.

After a long while, when the daylight in the hrududu's burrow was beginning to fade, the boy's mother appeared, and must have called the boy away, as he promptly left. Blackberry took advantage of the lull in torture to get some much-needed sleep. No doubt, the boy would return again.

It was dark, but suddenly the hrududu's burrow was bathed in light again, as a light on the roof of the burrow suddenly shone. His curiosity vanished when he saw the boy yet again coming to stare at him and "talk" to him. This is never going to end, thought Blackberry, burying his head under his paws and the blanket.

Blackberry was almost tharn before things became even worse. Now, the boy's mother was there. She reached out and actually lifted the cage into the air. Blackberry shut his eyes tight, and flattened himself against the bottom of the cage, trying to keep his balance. What are they going to do? Are they going to kill me now? Am I their dinner? Blackberry had no reason to think otherwise.

When he opened his eyes again, he was still being carried, and was inside a much warmer and brighter part of the man-burrow. He hardly had time to marvel at the strange sights that he had never seen before, such as the numerous lights that seemed to be the source of all light and heat in the burrow. The mother finally put the cage down roughly on the burrow floor, surprising Blackberry, as he squealed in protest. Finally, things were still.

Blackberry didn't recognize the tree that had earlier been carried by the hrududu. He was too terrified of his new surroundings to notice the glowing tree. He had never been inside a man-burrow before, and he quickly decided that he hated it much more than the hrududu's burrow, which had been bad enough. He protested by growling and squealing at the boy who insisted on pestering him, but to no avail. Finally, when some lettuce was placed in his cage, Blackberry nibbled on it a bit, then dug under the blanket to hide from the human threat as best he could. I can still smell them, but at least I can't see them, thought Blackberry, and they can't see me.

*** "I'm sorry, Fiver, I should never have doubted you. Blackberry is alive, at least, I don't see why he can't be."

"Well, you're one, Vilthuril," replied Fiver, "But the rest of the warren is a different situation. If just you and I were to go out searching, we'd fail for sure. Neither one of us would survive out there. We'd need the Owsla along, and I know neither Hazel nor Bigwig would stand for it."

"Then, we'll have to hope," whispered Vilthuril, "And it wouldn't hurt to try persuading a rabbit or two in any event." Vilthuril nuzzled her mate, but he had already fallen asleep from the exhaustion of his dwindling fever and the worry over Blackberry.

*** Blackberry was standing in a wood of great evergreens. Fiver called out to him, but he seemed not to hear. Blackberry snuffled about on the needle- strewn forest floor, apparently looking for flay. However, food of any value was rarely seen in such forests.

Fiver could smell something threatening now. Wrinkling his nose, he soon recognized the scent. It was smoke. The danger was immediate. They were on a very dry forest bed, and if a fire was nearby, surely it would soon consume the entire place. It was imperative to leave immediately, although with wind blocked by the trees, Fiver knew not which direction to take.

"Blackberry!" called Fiver again, stamping the needle-strewn ground, "We have to get out of here! There's a fire coming!"

Again, Blackberry seemed ignorant of Fiver's urgent warning, so Fiver decided to hop closer. Just then, Fiver realized that he was now looking at Blackberry from high up in one of the trees - how he got there he could not recall. Looking into the distance, the fire was obvious and advancing towards them. Tree after tree exploded instantly into flame, and the roar of the fire was growing by the moment.

Looking down again, Fiver could see that Blackberry was now aware of the danger. However, his friend was now encased in a wire cage. Blackberry bit and clawed at it, but could not escape. He began squealing and thrashing at the unyielding wire.

Fiver thought that he should try to get out of the tree to help his friend, but was just then torn rapidly away from the tree by an unseen force. He floated away from the desperately frightened Blackberry, and watched in horror as the flames began consuming the trees under which Blackberry was trapped. The agonized squeals came to him over the roar of the fire, and as Fiver continued to float strangely away, both the squeals and the roar receded.

"Blackberry! Get out! Get out! Run! Run!"

"Fiver! For Frith's sake, what is wrong?"

Fiver could feel Vilthuril nuzzling him sharply in the darkness. Fiver was too frightened to reply.

Vilthuril continued, "You were squealing something about Blackberry and some danger... Can you remember?"

"I... I... Fire... Trapped..."

"You were in a fire?"

"Yes... No, Blackberry was... I could see him, but I couldn't get to him."

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, Vilthuril, the danger that I couldn't understand - now I know... It's the fire, that's the danger."

"If Blackberry is with the men, how could the danger be fire?"

"I don't know... I... I... just don't know." Fiver remained awake for the rest of the night, trembling as Vilthuril tried in vain to comfort him