4

I – Mr. Bigglesburg

September 5, 2016

6:00 AM. Allen Wolfe gave a low growl at his alarm clock. He didn't care if it were playing his favorite song, or if it woke him up quietly and peacefully.

He shut the alarm clock off and gave a low sigh, hands brushing his hair at first, but falling into his lap the next instant. He looked at the other side of his bed. Empty and bare and cold, just like his wife left it when she left them. He sat in the dark for a few minutes trying to suppress memories. It had been three years, and he needed to take care of his daughter.

He went through the usual morning routine that consisted of him taking a piss, taking a shower, brushing his teeth, shaving his chin, using mouthwash, flossing, getting dressed, etc. Except today's performance was a little slower than usual.

He opened the door and made his way down the hallway to the kitchen. Jaquelin's door was open, and there was quiet talking coming from the kitchen. It wasn't the same kind of quiet talking that came with talking to one's self, though. It was the quiet talking of one soul to another. Quiet, but excited and curious.

Allen walked into the kitchen and saw Jaquelin munching on a bowl of cereal with Mr. Bigglesburg sitting on the table. Jaquelin was engaged in a rather interesting conversation, though about what he did not know. Occasionally, Jaquelin would feed Mr. Bigglesburg a bit of her cereal between her own words.

Allen looked at his girl as he prepared this morning's coffee and toast. Long, beautiful, blonde hair, just like her mother's. Dark brown eyes like his own. It was curious, though. Her eyes might have been the same color as his own, but there was something different about them. Something sparkled in them every time she was engaged in a conversation, or looking at the world around her. They were the eyes of a child, full of amazement. Not the eyes of an adult, full of death and taxes.

The coffee was loud, as usual, and would take a while to fully prepare. Jaquelin smiled as she heard the noise.

“Look, Mr. Bigglesburg,” she exclaimed, “Daddy's come to eat breakfast with us!”

Mr. Bigglesburg twitched her furry little nose as if she understood. Allen smiled thinking about that bunny. It was a bit more peculiar than the other bunnies Jaquelin could have chosen from, not because she had named a female bunny “Mr. Bigglesburg”, but because it had a pink tail, even with its white fur.

Jaquelin held out another cereal bit and Mr. Bigglesburg ate it happily. Allen smiled. Jaquelin really had taken to that bunny, and it was a good thing to him. Watching her sit every morning in front of an empty cereal bowl or all by her lonesome was something that tore at his heart-strings and played the saddest melodies until he would join her at the table, and she would tell her all kinds of things like her dreams, or her classmates, or the weather yesterday, or the possibility of going to a beach. But she needed to have someone to talk to when he wasn't there.

“If only...”

But his thoughts were interrupted by the toaster tossing up two rather burnt pieces of bread. Allen stuck the two pieces on a plate, took some butter and spread it, and, after taking a bowl and a spoon, walked over to his girl and her bunny.

“Good morning, daddy,” she said contently. Her smile was always so cute, even if her eyelids were a bit droopy from having woken up so early and from staying up late with her dad to watch the latest Disney movie aired on television.

“Good morning, sweetie.” Allen was fully able to see her face in this light. “One day she will grow up to be an amazing woman...”

“Where's the cereal, honey?” he asked her.

“I put it back in the cupboard,” she said, making faces at Mr. Bigglesburg.

Allen got up and walked to the cupboard, retrieved a box of cereal that was full of marshmellows and other happy shapes, and walked back to his chair, pouring out its contents into the cereal bowl.

“I think daddy might want some milk with that cereal, right Mr. Bigglesburg?” Jaquelin asked, giggling. Allen gave a quick smile and shuffled to the fridge, where he pulled out an almost-empty gallon of milk and poured the last of it into his cereal.

Some coffee was ready, and Allen poured some into a cup before sitting down and finally beginning his breakfast.

“You excited for your first day of school?” Allen asked the cereal box. Twenty grams of sugar per serving. Maybe this was why he was gaining weight.

“Of course!” Jaquelin said, eyes glowing straight at her daddy. “Can Mr. Bigglesburg come, though?”

“Mr. Bigglesburg will have to stay home,” Allen said, trying to figure out what childish puzzle he was solving on the one side of the cereal box. Twenty grams of sugar. Jeez.

“You hear that, Mr. Bigglesburg,” Jaquelin told her bunny, “you'll have to stay home. I'm sorry.”

Mr. Bigglesburg twitched her nose.

Allen sipped his coffee.

Jaquelin smiled. Today would be a good day even without Mr. Bigglesburg, and she'd see her when she got home, anyway.

She jumped out of her chair, scooped up her cereal bowl and its contents, and poured it out into the sink before dropping her bowl into the sink, making louder noises than the coffee machine was, and skipped down the hall to her room to get changed and get ready for school.

Mr. Bigglesburg was on the table, watching Allen who was watching the cereal box. Twenty grams of fat.

Moments later, Jaquelin ran back into the kitchen with her Barbie backpack and threw it on the ground next to her seat.

“Ready!” she shouted.

Allen looked at his wristwatch and lauged. “It's 6:45. School doesn't start until 8:30.” He smiled and sipped his coffee.

“Ready?” Allen asked. He was straightening his tie in a bathroom mirror and holding his chin up to make sure that he could see that his tie was perfectly presentable. He checked his wristwatch. 8:10. They should be there in time.

“Yes, daddy!” Jaquelin said, as she jumped from the couch where she and Mr. Bigglesburg had relocated themselves. She ran to the front door and put her shoes on. She had learned to lace her shoes last year and was very proud of it, though she didn't like how they always untied themselves when she was running around the playground. She liked velcro better.

“Then let's go,” he said, spending a half-minute in the mirror making sure his hair was pretty before grabbing his keys, tying his shoes, and making his way out the door. Jaquelin reached up and took his hand as they walked to the car in the driveway.

“You remember to put Mr. Bigglesburg back in his cage?” Allen asked, as he unlocked her door.

“Yes,” she responded, throwing her backpack into the seat and looking out her window. Mr. Bigglesburg would be happier outside of the cage.

5:13 PM. Caroline Johnson was making her way home from school. First days of school were always rough for her, with the new students always being tired and lethargic and thinking about their summer consisting of sex, drugs, and alcohol.

But that was the beauty of teaching at a university. They were all paying to be there, and so in their minds, they better get their money's worth. The people who showed up in class were the people who wanted to be there, not the people who needed to be there. They couldn't afford to think about sex, drugs, and alcohol in class, because they needed to think about literature. That's what they paid for.

“That 8-o'clock class, though,” she thought, “they seem like... Well, that's not a fair judgment. Maybe they'll shape up later, after we actually get into what I want to get into. First days are always about yourself and your life and your syllabus and your expectations and never about what anyone actually came to the class to learn about. They'll be fine.”

All this she thought as she walked down the street and noticed a strange little bunny with mostly white fur, but a pink tail hopping from yard to yard.

A little girl was in her bed crying that night.