Epilouge

Epilogue

Some days later Riley made his way into the house back to the kitchen where his Mom was packing up herself a dinner.

“Riley, how was work?”

“OK mom. You goin now?”

“Yes`. Now I saved you some beans and chicken. My shift is over at midnight. It looks like a storm comin up over the mountain, but I suspect it’ll pass before I get back. I need you to weed the okra before it starts to rain mister.”

“Aw mom, I can do it tomorrow.”

‘Riley, I asked you three days ago, not go do it right now before the rain. There’s Johnson grass in there as tall as the okra. Unless you want to eat food stamp beans all summer you better get in that garden.

“OK, ok. How is Pawpaw?”

“Not good. I got him to take some soup, but he won’t get out of bed. I suspect this is near the end Riley, you should be ready for that. The man is 94 years old. Not like it’s unexpected. Now, don't bother him none either. Let him sleep, maybe he’ll sleep through the night. Now, go get weedin, see you in the morning.”

Riley kissed his mom and went out the back to the small garden. He looked back towards the mountain next door and could see dark clouds behind it. It was a storm alright, but not that you could tell here. Riley swore as he already had to wipe sweat off his forehead as he unlatched the gate into the garden. He hated the garden, hated weeding, but he knew that if he didn't do some the okra would get crowded out. And he hated canned beans worse than gardening.

He first went through the okra, looking carefully for the green pods, cutting them with the knife Paw Paw had given him, putting them into a plastic bag. The he sat down between the two rows of okra and started pulling the tall grass and clovers. In a few moments he heard his mother start up the old chevy, leaving him stuck with the very unreliable pick up truck. Oh well, Riley thought, no need for even that. He couldn't leave Paw Paw alone anyway.

The past few days, ever since Pawpaw had finished telling him the story, Riley kept thinking back to what he had heard. He wondered what had really happened? Had Pawpaw met some girl before he met Mawmaw and this was his way of remembering it? Or had something really happened in a far away place. Whatever it was, Pawpaw had taken to bed ever since, refusing to eat much and sleeping most of the time. Riley’s knew well before his Mom mentioned it that Pawpaw was dying. He just wished he knew what the story was about. He had wanted to ask so many questions abdou the story, about the country and the people and rabbits, but Pawpaw and refused to talk and his Mom had yelled at him to stop bugging the old man.

Riley looked up and saw, at the far end of the garden, under a blackberry bush, a small grey rabbit. Riley chuckled. Six feet tall. Still, he knew a rabbit in the garden was trouble. He look over the gate but he had closed it.There must have been a hole in the fence.

“Go on! Shoo!” Riley yelled, still sitting. The rabbit didn’t move. Riley shrugged.

“Grab a little bite fella, but once I’m done here I gotta get you out. And for once try to eat the weeds, not the good stuff,ok?” Riley went back to weeding and scooted up the row  a bit. When he looked back the rabbit had moved forward a few hops, chewing his cud, staring at Riley with tiny brown eyes. The rabbit then hopped under a row of tomatoes and sat there. Riley went back to weeding, wanting to finish before the storm. When he looked back up the rabbit had vanished from the tomatoes.

But then he saw it, it was now even closer, a couple of rows over in the sweet potatoes. Riley felt the hairs on his neck stand up. He’d never seen a rabbit actually get closer to a person, they usually scampered out of sight right away. This one kept getting closer. Riley carefully put down the weeds he justed pulled. The rabbit took a hop closer. Riley felt his breath catch. He told himself he was being silly. The animal was probably rabid. But he kept still. The rabbit hopped three more jumps. It was now a few feet from Riley. It looked the whole time right at Riley. Riley was not sure what to do. He didn’t dare breathe.

The rabbit stopped a foot from where Riley had squatted. It sat back on its haunches and made a jerky movement with its paws around its neck. From beneath the fur it produced a small red packet, rolled up in a tube. It carefully put the packet on the ground, looked at Riley, at the packet and then at Riley. And then as fast as he could, the rabbit hopped out of the garden and out of sight.

Riley sat there for a moment in the hot sun, looking at the small red paper tube. Very slowly he reached out and picked it up. It was small, like a rolled up piece of paper. But on the side ot was writing in black ink. He held it up close and tried to make out the writing. He could just make out three letters.

Riley bolted upright and ran toward the house, not even bothering to close the garden gate. He ran as fast as he could, straight up the stairs.

On the tube were three neat letters printed out in a firm hand - e,r,i.

“Pawpaw! Pawpaw! Pawpaw! Wake up! Wake Up!”