The Story of Charles Wallace continues…

Well dear Reader, it’s been a few weeks since I last corresponded with the news of the arrival of Charles Wallace. First though, let me say that I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas. Which brings me to the reason for Charles Wallace’s arrival – the holidays.

While I’m happy to report that I’ve had a lovely season, full of good food and many reasons to be thankful, down at Rabbit Run things have been, shall we say, challenging. Now let me think, where was I?

As you may remember Charles Wallace arrived right in the middle of all the Thanksgiving cooking hullabaloo. And let me tell you, it was quite a sight. All the rabbits were bustling about except of course at that moment, Hula who was now asking Charles Wallace whether he preferred Oolong or Darjeeling, or perhaps he might care for Jasmine?

“Darjeeling please” said Charles Wallace.

Hula brewed up the water and got out two mugs. A yellow one and an aqua one.

“Oh,” said Charles Wallace with a small note of concern in his voice.

“Is something wrong?” asked Hula.

“Ah well,” said Charles Wallace looking sheepishly down at his feet. “That’s an awfully big mug and I am a rather small rabbit who only has so much room … do you have something smaller?”

Well dear friends, at this moment, if you were watching closely, you might have noticed a few whiskers stiffen in the room. Thelma cocked an eyebrow, and Harry pulled on his ear in what you might say was a pensive fashion. Because although Charles Wallace has many fine qualities – as all the rabbits are quick to admit – there are one or two, or possibly three, but certainly not four, things about him that can be, well… somewhat trying.

The first is that, although Charles Wallace is indeed a small fellow who, in his own words, “only has so much room,” the size of that room is open to debate amongst the other rabbits. The truth of the matter is that for such a small rabbit he can consume an astonishing amount of food. As Thelma has often pointed out “that little rabbit can tuck in.”

As a matter of fact on his last visit in the spring when Charles came out to help with the garden tilling, Chef Thelma had to double the recipe for Rabbit Paws in the morning, otherwise there wouldn’t have been enough for both the house and the café as Charles Wallace was having one while he was waiting for his tea, another with his tea and finally he would pocket two in his Osh Kosh overalls for a midmorning snack.

The second thing about Charles Wallace is, well, just take a listen and you’ll probably notice for yourself.

“…do you have anything smaller?” said Charles Wallace. “Perhaps a cup. Porcelain, if you have it, with a saucer. Darjeeling in a porcelain cup and saucer would be so civilized. By the way, would you happen to have any Darjeeling in loose leaf? Of course everyone knows that loose tea leaves are superior to most bagged tea because the leaf isn’t broken.”

“Of course a cup,” said Hula in a serious tone. This was not the first discussion she’d had with Charles Wallace on the merits of porcelain cups over the everyday ceramic mug but it was an easy one to forget. And no, the rabbits had no loose leaf Darjeeling. But Hula was able to find him a cup and a saucer although she was uncertain if it was porcelain.

“Of course a bigger tea leaf retains its natural oils and therefore its flavors, but,” he said brightly as Hula handed him his cup of tea, “I’m sure this is a superior brand of bagged tea.” Charles took a long sip, “Ah lovely,” he proclaimed and then he sighed, “This would be just heaven on Earth with a biscuit.”

Well the rabbits happened to have a few Rabbit Paws left over from breakfast, as Charles Wallace was secretly hoping and Hula quickly handed one to him and much to his delight, put the remainder on a plate. Charles Wallace took a bite and said, “The infamous Rabbit Paw: my tea is a perfect foil for the dryness of the afternoon biscuit."

“Well they were fresh this morning!” snapped a slightly put-upon Thelma.

“And it is my loss they I didn’t arrive sooner Chef,” said Charles Wallace in all earnestness.

Charles Wallace is a very decent, hardworking and in most ways thoughtful little rabbit but he is alas a real know-it-all, or as Beatrix once said in a moment of frustration: “Charles Wallace is a know-it-all who doesn’t know it all!”

And so it was that all the rabbits in the kitchen that morning were just a little tingly-pawed, hoping for a happy visit but just the tiniest bit concerned that the smooth operation and bonhomie of Rabbit Run might be thrown askew by the well-meaning, but occasionally irritating guest.

Hula wisely ushered Charles Wallace out to the front step of Rabbit Run were they sat down to sip their tea and eat their rabbit paws. There in the gentle sunlight of that cool November afternoon they struck their bargain. Charles Wallace would tend to the kitchen floors and Hula Bunny would mentor him in her capacity as a professional muse.

And this dear reader is where we will leave off our story for today. But trust me when I tell you, it is but the beginning of the saga of Charles Wallace’s visit for the holidays.

Musings on Musing

Dear Readers,

It has come to my attention that my story of the arrival of Charles Wallace left some of you feeling concerned. Many of you felt that Hula rather pounced on the naïve little rabbit and was about to take advantage of him.

Hula, my friends, was deeply wounded.

First and foremost she would like to point out that she takes her responsibilities as a Muse – the Delicate Torch Bearer of Other Creatures’ Hopes and Aspirations – very seriously. She is above all else a professional. Furthermore she would never offer her services to the untalented or the uninspired. “I’m a professional muse, not a magician. I can’t make talent, just inspire it,” she is often quoted as saying.

That said, all the rabbits must earn their keep. As Beatrix is fond of saying, “Corn doesn’t grow on trees – it grows on stalks that comes from seeds, which must be planted. But before they can be planted, the seeds have to be bought.” (Beatrix is not very good at short, pithy, quotable sayings.) The point however, is that most things in life require either work or money and often times both. Rabbit Rule Number 14 states that all the rabbits are expected to “be self supporting through their own contributions.”

At Rabbit Run, the most successful rabbit is Chef Thelma with her daily patisserie, the No Foam Cafe, and her weekend bistro, the Supper Pup. Recognizing this, the rest of the rabbits must support her in her efforts. And these two ventures keep the whole lot of them very busy. Every day there is food to prep, items to bake, dishes to wash and customers to wait on.

Harry also gardens, keeping some of his produce for the house and café. What’s left over he sells in attractive baskets on the counter of the No Foam. And of course he continues to hold on to his dream of someday making a go of it as a professional mini golfer.

Louise makes art. Some of her pieces have sold at the No Foam but she has also become an invaluable help to her sister Thelma in the kitchen, decorating the cakes and cookies and insuring that both the café and the bistro have a certain air of bucolic bunny chic.

After Thelma, Fiver probably makes the most consistent money as a violinist playing in jazz ensembles. Though in a pinch he’s not above playing weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and Bunny Hops.

Although Bunnie would rather spend all her time designing a wardrobe that would reflect her sense of fashion sophistication, she also readily contributes to the household economy by repairing the small appliances around the house and in the kitchen.

Beatrix of course keeps the books for both the household and for Chef Thelma.

Of course Hula helps out with all this. She’s come up with some of Chef Thelma’s most successful products. Rabbit Paws: Hula’s idea. Chocolate fruitcake, hers too. Hula was the one who suggested that Louise should create “A Look” in the café, something with little ruffley baskets that Bunnie could put together, to hold the produce that Harry sells in the café.

But oftentimes Hula’s contributions are much harder to put a finger on. So for example the other day Bunnie heard Fiver playing a wondrous new tune on his violin, as sprightly as Vivaldi, but with an jazzy bistro rhythm that feels like Stephane Grappelli.

“That’s beautiful,” said Bunnie, when he was finished. “Did you write that?”

“Yes,” said Fiver. “I was sitting on the porch in the yard, and Hula pointed out the way all the leaves on the tree were shimmering in the wind. I’d never noticed them until she pointed it out, and when I was watching, this melody popped into my head.”

Everyone in Rabbit Run has a similar story of how some offhand remark or observation of Hula’s has inspired them to be their Bunny Best. And so they hold Hula in the very highest respect. But on the other hand, Hula’s particular talent doesn’t pull in a lot of cash. As Beatrix says, “Musing is hard to monetize.” Or, to quote S.J. Perleman, “The Muse is a Tough Buck.”

And so, since being a professional muse doesn’t bring in any specific income, Hula tries to make herself useful in more tangible ways. Thus it is that every morning she is one of the first rabbits up, turning on the oven, checking the rabbit paw orders and prepping the muffin tins and baking sheets.

The life of a muse is a life of undefined direction, a life of Disciplined Whimsy if you will. It’s extremely difficult, however, to discipline your whimsy if you have to throw all your efforts into getting up before the crack of dawn. So it was that Hula struck up this deal with Charles Wallace. She would show Charles what to do in the
kitchen first thing during his stay and in return she, Hula, would inspire him in his creative thinking.

Charles Wallace thought this was an excellent arrangement as he was always ready for the next adventure and he also had always secretly suspected that he was a clever little rabbit and that his mother, Madeleine, whom he lived with, didn’t always appreciate his (as Hula put it) “native talents.”

Next time, we shall resume our story of Charles Wallace’s visit, and the resulting brouhaha.

The Arrival of Charles Wallace

It’s always difficult to try and explain the beginning of things. When I talk to people about my friends, the rabbits, it always seems as if I start in the middle and then work my way out to both ends. So I guess it is with this entry, for Charles Wallace has come for a visit and I don’t expect that you know the first thing about him.

Where do I begin to explain Charles Wallace? Well first off I suppose I should tell you that he’s surprisingly small, no taller than Bunnie, which, upon first meeting him takes one back a bit, because with a name like Charles Wallace, I just expected more rabbit. But he’s small and brown and, as Bunnie was quick to point out with a sniff, “very round.”

Which is a bit of an exaggeration because although he’s a bit rounder in the middle then the other rabbits, “It’s not”, in the words of Hula, “as if you can put him on his side and roll him down the hill.” And as Harry is quick to point out about his cousin (because Charles Wallace is indeed Harry’s cousin), “a skinny rabbit is not an attractive rabbit” Also it’s very hard when you’re a small rabbit; a little extra weight is a lot more noticeable.

He arrived on the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving towing a big, red wheeled suitcase that was bigger than him. That such a small rabbit should have such a huge suitcase was so curious. All the rabbits were intrigued: what could he possibly have in it? Turns out not that much: four guayabera shirts, two Hawaiian shirts, a few pair of cotton pants, overalls for when he helps Harry out in the garden, pajamas and his toiletries.

When Hula questioned him about the large suitcase Charles Wallace brightened and said, “Ah well, one never does know does one?”

“Know what, Charles?” said Hula.

“Where one will end up. What one might find. You have to leave room for the adventure, the surprises. Plus in a pinch, I can sleep in it.” And he hopped in the suitcase to demonstrate.

“Charles Wallace,” said Hula quite seriously, “that is very creative thinking. Have you ever given much thought to your professional muse needs?”

“Why no,” said Charles. “What does a muse do for one?”

And with that, Hula ushered him into the kitchen to make tea for two and explain the advantages of having a professional muse advising and encouraging his native talents.