Chapter Six - The Discovery

"Vilthuril?"

"Yes, dear?" Vilthuril nuzzled Fiver. "Your fever is even better now, Fiver."

Fiver ignored the observation. "It's Blackberry. The fire danger didn't kill him; he's escaped. But not from the men. He's still with the men... only somewhere else. Somewhere strangely familiar. I can't place it just now. I don't know if it's a place that I've been, or only seen in some vision before."

"Do you think that you can see where it is?"

"I just can't tell right now," said Fiver in a slightly aggravated tone, "Give me time."

Vilthuril pressed on. "If you can find out where, we can go rescue him... ourselves if necessary."

Fiver winced. "If he is closer or further away, I can't... see it. "

"Don't worry, dear," whispered Vilthuril, "We will find him."

Suddenly, Fiver seemed to go tharn. Then, he started whimpering, then scratching at his head. "Oh, Vilthuril, I can see him! He's surrounded by men! They won't let him go! Light - so much light on him... so many people! Why won't they let him go? Oh! Oh! How can this be? Every man in the world can see him! They're all watching him! Let him go! Let him go!"

"Hush, dear," soothed his mate, "Take it easy. Get some more rest. Blackberry will be home again, I know it." She didn't really know if this would be so, but she wanted to let Fiver believe that she believed it.

*** Kehaar had started to forget the tragedy that had befallen his friends, though he wasn't prepared to pay them a visit anytime soon. He was gliding back from a mostly unsuccessful forage at a local dump (thanks to the snow), and was now returning to a place he had first heard about from some of the area's few more amiable seagulls who didn't mind sharing good fortune. This place was an elderly human couple's home on the edge of a man colony - what we would call a town. This particular couple had a now famous habit (among birds) of leaving out food during the winter. Why this was done was any bird's guess, but nobody was about to worry about it. Humans were a strange lot, indeed. Some shoot us, and some feed us, thought Kehaar.

Hopefully, this day would find the elderly humans in a more friendly mood. The last time that Kehaar and some other gulls had visited for food, they had been greeted with angry squawking by the lady and the banging and throwing of various objects. Why leave us food and then chase us away? he pondered.

Just as dusk was falling, Kehaar alighted in the "feast garden", and found it crowded with flocks of sparrows and various other chattering birds, but no other gulls. That's lucky for me, he thought, I can whatever share I wish with no other gulls near. After gulping down the larger portions that he could find, to the protests of the smaller birds, Kehaar noticed a familiar flickering light in the human's nest. They were watching that fascinating box again.

To Kehaar, men were difficult to fathom, but had the most intriguing contraptions surrounding them. Their cars, their boats, their huge nests, their lights that chased away the night. But one thing that held Kehaar's fascination the most was how they seemed to talk to each other even when they were alone. They had objects that they talked into and that carried others' voices back to them. And, there was that amazing glowing box which seemed to show images of other places, even other times, given the daylight scenery in the middle of the night. The how and why of it was impossibly beyond Kehaar's understanding and interest. Nevertheless, Kehaar could amuse himself for hours by watching the glowing boxes inside of the nests of men, through the holes in the walls that were covered in that strange ice that never melted.

But this night, it wouldn't just fascinate Kehaar. He saw something that at first shocked him, but then caused him to squawk with joy.

***

Blackberry was still groggy from sleep. It took a while longer before his mind was cleared enough to recall what had happened. He thought back again to the search he had been on with Bigwig, and again tried to recall what had happened. He remembered being in a large burrow with a hrududu and a cruel boy, and then that there had been a fire in the man-burrow, which he had escaped.

But, then it struck him. He had tried to escape the fire, but he had never made it outside. So, that brought about only one logical conclusion.

If this was El-ahrairah's warren, it looked suspiciously like another man- burrow. To make matters even more confusing, a dog's barking could be heard. How could there possibly be dogs here? This doesn't make any sense. And on top of it all, he was in another, much smaller cage than the one that imprisoned him earlier.

He knew he was alive the moment another man dressed in white appeared. This human looked closely at Blackberry, then disappeared again. Not long after that, a familiar face returned - the boy who had refused to leave him alone. Oh, no not you again. The boy seemed very happy and was hopping up and down. The man handed the cage with Blackberry inside to the boy, and Blackberry again had to flatten himself on the bottom of his small prison as the boy bounced it around as he carried it.

Blackberry was carried to where the mother and father were waiting, then Blackberry was carried outside, still in his tiny cage. To his horror, he was put inside of a hrududu - it was different than the one whose burrow he had been in. Blackberry protested by squealing and screeching, but the boy put him inside. How can I be in a hrududu? This is too much! The boy was also in the hrududu now, peering intently at Blackberry and making ridiculous human noises at him. Blackberry was too terrified to ponder much about how people traveled in these strange beasts. They can't be alive if we're inside of them, was all he thought before his angst heightened even more as the hrududu suddenly growled and roared into life. Soon, Blackberry had the sense that he was moving faster than he ever had before. He could see the trees passing unimaginably quickly by the windows. Blackberry finally closed his eyes and tried to drown out the terrifying sensations with thoughts of Watership Down.

*** It was Monday afternoon, the day after the fire. The Whitting family was justifiably still in a somber mood as they drove back to their temporary home at Nuthanger Farm and the home of Karen's brother, Mark Cane. They had just visited Jack Clifton's vet clinic to check on the condition of Hopscotch. After a long silence, Greg was the first to break the silence. "Well, do you want to talk any more about what happened?"

"The tree burned our house down and we lost all our stuff," replied Josh.

Greg was silent for a moment and said wistfully, "Well, that's what they say; I suppose it's possible. I wish I had remembered to turn the tree off before going to sleep."

"You needn't fret about it; it's no one's fault," reassured Karen quickly, "We're all safe, and that's all that matters." She looked at Hopscotch in his cage beside Josh and added, "Thanks to our little hopping hero there." Josh beamed at this comment.

"So we can still have Christmas, even without the presents!" he said.

"Yes, Christmas isn't about presents, dear," agreed Karen, "But I bet your Aunt and Uncle Cane are sure to have a surprise for you on Christmas, anyway. And your father and I will, too."

A few more minutes of silence went by. Finally, Greg began again, "It was very kind of your brother to offer to share their home, and to lend their car.".

"Well, he said that as soon as he heard about the fire, he wouldn't have had it any other way," replied Karen.

Greg nodded and thought for a moment. "Was Mark serious when he said he was going to call the paper?"

"Well, the paper's already heard from the fire department, in any case."

"Yes, but I mean, was he going to tell them about Hopscotch saving us?"

Karen glanced back at Josh and his rabbit and smiled. "I don't see why not."

Greg sighed, "Well I reckon that will get some attention."

"Daddy," Josh spoke up, "Mr. Clifton said Hopscotch is all better. Isn't that great?"

"Yes, Josh, it is. I was worried when he wouldn't wake up yesterday."

" Now can I bring him in the house?" said the boy, implying that the rabbit deserved at least that much as a reward.

"Well, you'll have to ask your aunt and uncle about that. It's their house we're staying in." replied Karen.

"Aw, Mum," protested Josh. He knew that his aunt, uncle and cousin Lucy already had lots of rabbits - but they were all kept outside in the hutch. Almost certainly, Hopscotch would end up with the other rabbits while the family was in their temporary home.

As the Whitting's pulled into Nuthanger Farm, they were surprised to see that there was more attention than just the local newspaper waiting for them. A BBC lorry was parked outside of the main house. "Uh, oh," mumbled Greg, "Just the paper, huh? Now what has your brother done?"

"Hey, Dad, are we going to be on TV?" said Josh, perking up even more.

Mark Cane and his wife Wendy were standing outside with smiles on their faces. "Well, Karen, this whole thing seems to have snowballed," laughed Mark, "We only called the paper, honest. It was them that called these blokes." He gestured at the news lorry, then to the house. "They're just waiting to have a word with you. Said you'd be on tonight's news."

*** George and Helen Fox were preparing to relax for the evening in their Whitchurch home. "Helen, the news is starting!" George sat down in his easy chair and kicked off his slippers to relax and take in the day's events. He and his wife, both retired, enjoyed this time of day after dinner. They would watch the news and then play bridge for hours, often with some of their friends that would stop by for a visit. George got up and turned up the volume a bit so that his wife could hear it better. Soon, Helen joined him.

The news program began with the off-camera presenter announcing, "Monday, December 23, 1968. The world today... Or should I say, the universe... The crew of the US ship Pueblo are going home for Christmas after their release by North Korea... Pictures of Earth are taken from the Apollo 8 mission as they prepare to enter lunar orbit for the first time in human history... And, an unlikely Christmas hero here in England - a rabbit single-handedly - uh, make that single-pawedly - saves a family from a house fire."

George looked at Helen. "How the world has changed..." Helen nodded in reply.

Two news presenters appeared onscreen. The man spoke first: "Hi, my name is Vince Phillips. First, the story about that amazing rabbit." He turned to the other presenter, a lady.

"Good evening. I'm Shirley Gardener. We've all heard about dogs, or even horses, saving people's lives. But a rabbit? Believe it. Early yesterday morning, in the Hampshire village of Kingsclere, as Greg and Karen Whitting and their seven-year-old son Josh were sleeping, a Christmas tree fire spread quickly through their home. The only reason that the Whitting's were still around to talk to our reporter earlier today was because of a wild rabbit that they had adopted just days earlier. We go now to the interview..."

The screen changed to a view of a farm yard. A reporter was standing in the yard in front of a house, and his breath was visible in the chilly air.

"This is Carl Layton reporting. We are here just outside of Kingsclere, Hampshire, at Nuthanger Farm - home of Mark Cane and his family. Mr. Cane is Karen Whitting's elder brother. The Whitting's are staying here after the unfortunate loss of their Kingsclere home in the fire early yesterday. Let's go now to our interview..."

The scene changed to the living room of the Cane home. The Whitting's were seated on the sofa, with Josh in the middle holding a shivering rabbit in his gloved hands. Carl Layton was sitting in a chair to the side.

Carl pointed his microphone at Greg. "Greg, what is the first thing that you remember from when you woke up?"

Greg thought for a moment. "Well, my son Josh woke me up, then I realized that there was smoke everywhere."

"Ah, so it is Josh that is the hero."

"Well, I am proud of him, but I must say that it was that confounded rabbit that woke Josh up first." Josh was nodding vigorously at the camera.

The camera shifted to Josh, who tried to hold up his rabbit, which promptly squirmed and growled. Josh set it back on his lap to keep it still.

Carl smiled at the boy. "Ah, that's interesting, then. Where did you find the rabbit?"

Josh spoke up, not shy at all about being on television. "My Dad hit Hopscotch with the car when we were going home after the Christmas play on Friday. Guess what? I was the innkeeper!"

"And you did a great job," added his mother, smiling.

Carl let out a small laugh. "Hopscotch - lovely name. So, then, that is one lucky little rabbit to survive being hit by a car."

Josh beamed. "Yup, he was hurt bad, but he's better now."

Carl sped up the recollection of events, as he knew there was a time limit for the interview. "So, it seems he is your rabbit. Was Hopscotch staying in your room?"

"No, he was in the living room. My mum let me take him inside so he could see the tree. He was in the garage before, but it was too cold."

Carl prodded, "But Hopscotch was in a cage, was he not?"

Greg cut in. "Yes, he was. That's what we couldn't figure out at first. But, after we got out of the house, we found that Hopscotch was all scratched up and was bleeding. And, he had little bits of plastic stuck in his mouth that we figure came from the bottom of the cage."

"So, he chewed his way out, then?" reasoned Carl.

"That's what we figure." nodded Greg, "And he was right next to the tree when it caught fire, so that is plenty of incentive to escape."

"And he woke Josh up then, correct?"

Josh replied, "He jumped right on my bed and screeched at me."

"It's a good thing that Josh had had a nightmare earlier," explained Karen, "That's why I left the bedroom door open, and left the hall light on."

Carl nodded silently. "It's fascinating that Hopscotch would have the presence of mind to wake Josh up. No other wild animal would do that, wouldn't you agree?"

Greg nodded in reply, "I must say, I'm still amazed at it all."

"I guess you could say that Hopscotch is your Christmas miracle."

The Whitting's vocalized their agreement simultaneously.

Carl continued, "Well, this is truly an amazing rabbit. Maybe it will get an award or something."

"Sure, why not," laughed Greg.

"There you have it folks," said Carl, turning back to the camera, "You don't need just a rabbit's paw for good luck - the whole rabbit will work, too."

After the television news went on to other stories, Helen smiled. She loved those kinds of stories that came up now and again on the news that was otherwise filled with politics, war, and crime. Helen grouped stories on the space race into politics. "Well, isn't that a refreshing change, dear?"

"Huh?" said George, without taking his eyes from the television, "What's that?"

"The rabbit, silly," Helen chastened modestly, "That saved that family just then."

"Not as amazing as men going to the moon," replied George in an apathetic tone.

Helen huffed. "Well, I think it's wonderful about that rabbit. Besides, they aren't even landing on the moon - they're just circling it. Landing and coming back again - now that might be something worth the news."

George waved off his wife's rant.

"Oh, bother," said Helen suddenly, looking around, "Those bloody seagulls are back. Look! They've got the nerve to land on our house!" She bellowed at the bird peering in from the windowsill. The seagull took off immediately.