In 2009 I found a note saying that my presence was a burden. It was not a great day.
The rabbit walked from hole to hole and outstayed his welcome in each. ‘You’re a burden’ said the fox who’d supplied bed and board to the rabbit for a few evenings. ‘Don’t you know my den was only made for me and my friends? There simply isn’t enough room to be comfortable when you’re bouncing around the place’.
The rabbit knew this, but didn’t know what to do. There were a few nice looking burrows around the area, but each of them cost a fair few carrots, carrots that Rabbit didn’t have at the time. Rabbit looked around at his make-shift home and simply said to the fox ‘I know. I’m sorry. Thank you’ and, ignoring the fox’s grudge, snuggled himself down to a good night’s sleep anyway. There are very few nights left where a good night’s sleep will be available, so he wanted to soak them up and had no choice but to continue to sponge from friends in the neighbourhood.
At this time Rabbit fell into a sublime slumber and watched the carrot fairies dance around him. He dreamt of his own warren, with a lovely straw bed, a decent puddle to wash his whiskers in and a little hidey-hole to store his secrets and dreams. He saw the line of friends waiting outside for all the excellent parties and carrot-juice nights and he heard them compliment him on his excellent find.
When one-eye finally opened he saw the line of people he had upset in his life. The line of people of whom he had sponged from. The endless queue of people waiting for a response to which he said ‘I know. I’m sorry. Thank You’.
‘Time you became smaller’ a voice said. ‘That’s the only way you’ll fit in this tiny hole’. So the Rabbit took the advice. He rationed out each of his carrots and gave them to all his friends. The plan began to work. The smaller he became the less room he took up in the den. ‘Being smaller is the answer!’ thought Rabbit. ‘And the way to be smaller is to have less carrots’. In many ways he was grateful to his friends for being so blunt: ‘We never wanted you to move in here in the first place- there’s no room for a Rabbit such as you!’ Without this encouragement, he would never have thought of the ingenious plan to win them over! ‘Buy the carrots, give them to his friends, and that’ll make them glad to have me. Plus, with me not eating so many carrots, I become smaller and I can fit into their tiny space. I may still be a burden, but a smaller burden than before’ he thought, and chuckled at his ingenuity.
Months later, Rabbit is still a burden. But people are beginning to forget he’s there. He’s getting so small the foxes can step over him without realising he’s even there. A thin thought popped into Rabbit’s feeble brain ‘oh good, I’m so small that even I can’t remember I’m here’.

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