Children

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White with black spots

There was a little farm on the outskirts of a small town. The farm was on a hill and had many farm animals, fields and a pond that was close to the farm house. Just beyond the pond was a forest that leads out over a hill and on the other side of the hill was a beach.
On the edge of the forest lived a family of bunny rabbits. They loved to play by the pond and during hot summer days would swim there to stay cool. There were seven bunny children three boys and four girls; Ben, Virginia, Betsy, Ashley, Joey, Cindy and Oliver. They all had white fur with black spots except for Joey. Sometimes he was picked on by his brothers and sisters because he was different.
It was a warm summer day and all the bunny children except for Joey were playing near the pond. Joey always felt out of place because his fur was brown with a few white patches and his brothers and sisters have white fur with black spots. His mother and father also had white fur with black spots.
Was he adopted? Was he in the wrong family? He did know for sure.
Joey decided to play with Oliver and Cindy since they usually were nice to him, but as usual once he joined them scampering around the pond Ben came over.
Ben said, “Joey you don’t belong here, go somewhere else to play.”
Joey asked, “But why, what did I do?”
“Nothing,” Ben told him, “you’re just different.”
“What do you mean.” said Joey, knowing that he meant because his fur was a different color.
“You know what I mean,” said Ben, “You aren’t white with black spots like the rest of us. I don’t even think you’re really our brother.”
This hurt Joey’s feelings and he scampered away towards the barn. As he was getting closer to the barn he began to think about what Ben had said. He found a bail of hay just outside the barn and sat to think. “What if I change my fur color, then maybe Ben will like me and not be so mean, but how? Maybe the animals on the farm can help me.”
So Joey set out to ask the farm animals how he could change his fur color to be white with black spots. First he went by the chicken coop. One of the hens was tending to her baby chicks when Joey approached. He looked at her and said,” Excuse me, can I ask you a question?”
“What is it?” the mother hen cackled, “Can’t you see that I’m busy.”
“I just wondered if you know how to change the color of fur?”
“No, now go away, I’m busy”, replied the hen.
So, Joey moved on and asked the pigs.
“Snort, don’t now how I can help.” said one of the pigs as he rolled around in the mud.
“Try the sheep they have fur don’t they?” said another pig as he jumped into the middle of a puddle in the mud.
Joey walked down the to sheep pen to ask the sheep. “Excuse me, can you sheep help me?” Joey asked.
“What is it?” said one of the sheep.
“Do you know how I can change from brown fur to white with black spots?”
“Why on earth would you want to do that?” the sheep replied.
“Because I want to look like my brothers and sisters, so they’ll play with me.” Joey said surprised that the sheep were interested.
“That’s crazy; they won’t play with you because of the color of your fur. I never heard such a thing. Now I can see if you were dirty or smelly maybe like Pete over there.” the sheep said pointing to a sheep that clearly must have thought he was a pig. He was covered in mud and his wool coat was matted and smelly. He obviously had been rolling in the mud like the pigs did earlier.
“Can you help me or not?” Joey asked carefully.
“Well, I don’t know how to change your fur to white with black spots, but old Pete could help you change the color to a darker brown if you like.”
“No thanks.” Joey said disappointed.
Then Joey decided to go into the barn and ask the horses and cows if they had any ideas to help him. The doors were closed so he had to squeeze underneath them to get in and startled one of the cows.
“Hey watch it there little fella.” said the cow.
“I’m sorry,” said Joey, “I didn’t mean to surprise anyone. Can you help me?”
“Now how do you expect a cow can help a rabbit like yourself?” replied the cow.
“Do you know how to change the color of fur? You see mine is brown and my family’s fur is white with black spots.”
“So what’s the big deal? You’re a rabbit, they come in all sorts of colors don’t they?”
“That’s what I thought,” said a horse who overheard them talking. “We horses come in different colors too. So why aren’t you happy with your color? Don’t you know God made you that color for a reason?”
“What do you mean?” asked Joey.
“Every one is made for a purpose; we all have a reason to be here. We’re all part of God’s plan and he made us they way we are for a reason. He made me a horse and he knows why he made me a horse even if I don’t.”
“So are you telling me that God made me brown and my brothers and sisters white with black spots for a reason? I thought it just happened or that I was really part of a different family and they adopted me.”
“Sounds like you need to talk to your parents to understand that they love you no matter the color of your fur.”
“I know that my mom and dad love me, but my brothers and sisters won’t play with me. Ben says that I don’t belong to the family.”
“Ben must be one of your brothers then?”
“Yes he’s the oldest by 2 minutes.”
“Well little rabbit you should get upset your brother is just confused and should talk to your mom and dad about it.”
This made Joey feel a little better but he still was determined to change the color of his fur. Since he had no other animals to talk to he went behind the barn and sat on a hay bail trying to think of a way to make it happen.
As he sat there he heard some one or something coming around the corner. Then he saw a black cat slink around the corner of the barn rubbing its back against the barn. “Excuse me?” Joey said trying to get the cats attention.
“What do you want?” the cat said.
“Can you help me, I have a problem.” Joey replied.
“What’s your problem?” the cat asked.
“Well you see I have two brothers and four sisters. My older brother Ben is always mean to me and says that I don’t belong to our family. He says that since I have brown fur and all of them have fur that’s white with black spots that I don’t fit in. Ben tells my other brother and my sisters not to play with me too. So, I thought that if I could change the color of my fur to match theirs that they would play with me. Do you know how to change the color of my fur to be white with black spots?”
“Hmm,” thought the cat and he said “I have an idea. There was an accident that happened in the house once. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
So the cat ran up to the farm house and returned a few minutes later dragging a bag with him. “Here,” said the cat,” you sit down there on the ground next to this hay bail and don’t move.”
The cat dragged the bag on top of the hay bail and pushed the opening of the bag over the edge and out came flour which covered Joey from head to toe. Joey moved around to make sure he was completely covered with the white flour. “There you go.” said the cat “No you’re white.”
“But what about the black spots?” asked Joey.
The cat had to really think about that for a few minutes.
“Hey, how about you walk through the blackberry bushes on the edge of the forest over there?” said the cat.
“I’ll have to try that, thanks” replied Joey. “By the way what’s your name? Mine’s Joey.”
“My name is Max, good luck.” said the cat.
So Joey went to the blackberry bushes and after walking through them he was covered with black spots. Now he thought he had it made. His brother couldn’t complain or tease him anymore. So excited Joey ran over by the pond to where his brothers and sisters were playing.
“Who are you?” asked Virginia.
“Um, I’m, Um it’s me Joey.” Joey said not sure if they would be nice to him.
“Wow, what happened to you. You look like one of us now. That’s cool.” said Virginia. “Come on let’s play.”
So Joey played with Virginia and the other girls and Oliver, but Ben wasn’t around. They chased each other around the pond and had a great time. Then Ben showed up. “Who’s this bunny you guys are playing with.” he asked.
“It’s Joey,” Virginia said.
“That’s not Joey,” Ben stated.
“No really it is, tell him.” said Cindy.
“It’s me Ben, really.” said Joey a little unsure of Ben.
“Can’t be,” Ben said moving toward Joey who had his back to the pond.
Ben started to push him taunting him, “You’re not Joey, Joey’s got brown fur.”
Joey lost his footing and fell into the pond and the flour began to wash away. Joey sat there frustrated and sad. Now not only was his secret out, but he was embarrassed too.
“So it is you then,” said Ben “nice try dork, you’re still brown you can’t change that.”
Just then they heard a sound that scared them. There was a wolf coming through the forest. Oliver spotted it from a distance and began to shout “Run, run.”
So the bunnies all ran to find a place to hide. They couldn’t get to their home in the ground because the wolf was too close to it. So they all tried to hide in a bush, but the bush was brown from the dry leaves and they knew the wolf would see them. So Joey told them to be quite and squeeze together and he would lie down in front of them.
“Hurry,” Joey said excited but in a whisper.
They all squeezed together and Joey covered them. The wolf was getting closer and closer. Joey started to get very scared that the wolf would find them, but they were all very quite and the wolf had not heard them yet. He was getting closer and would pass by them in a minute. He was looking about and sniffing at the air. As the wolf stepped in front of Joey, Joey held his breath. The wolf would see them for sure he thought. The wolf just walked right past them and didn’t even stop to look behind him. Joey relaxed and began breathing again and waited until he couldn’t see the wolf anymore before he moved a muscle.
Finally all seemed quite again the wolf was gone so the bunnies all moved out from under the bush and ran as fast as they could back to their home in the ground. They told their mother and father about how Joey had saved them from the wolf. Joey, however, didn’t feel like a hero.
“What’s the matter Joey?” his mother asked.
“They still don’t like me, I don’t belong here.” replied Joey.
“What are you talking about, of course you belong here.”
“I don’t fit in. I’m not white with black spots, mom.” Joey said with tears forming in his eyes.
“Where did you hear such a thing?” his mother asked.
“From Ben, and the other bunnies listen to him too.”
“Joey, we love you very much and you do belong here. You are a very important part of this family. You are my bunny. Did you know that your great grand father was brown just like you? Yes, sir he was. He was a great bunny too. He raised 50 bunnies with your great grand mother. That’s when there were larger families. I remember him telling us stories and he was very generous to everyone. I miss him sometimes.”
“You mean I really do belong here?”
“Yes, you do and your father and I will have a talk with your brothers and sisters.” she said as his brothers and sisters looked at him and then at the ground because they knew they were wrong. Joey’s father gave him a hug and a kiss and then took Ben outside for a talk.
“Always remember kids that God made you all special and we all love you.” his mother told him as she sent him and his siblings off to bed for the night.
That night Joey felt proud to be a part of his family for the very first time in his whole life. For the first time he knew he could hold his head up high and be proud of who he is as a bunny and Ben never teased him again.


Original Story – Phill Allen

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