We gratefully acknowledge the original 'Disapproving Rabbits' website, that inspired this site, and its creators, Sharon, Bill, Cinnamon, and Dougal. Without you, we would not be here. We Approve Of You!



JS-CSS Paginator

Saturday, November 14, 2015

The Disapprovers - Apollo

We spent the next few days fighting and arguing. Molly wanted to go, Abby and Suzy wouldn't have any of it. They had the veto power. That was our agreement, anybunn of us could stop any mission, no-go from one of us means no-go for all of us. Molly and I felt so desperate. We kept ourselves busy playing "what if" games and we tried to visualize different scenarios we could run into. Just in case. Days went by and we didn't hear from Zeus. Bruno said he was still waiting for parts. I was afraid to find out what he was up to, I was afraid of being left out of the next trip. Rumor had it, Zeus managed to talk Bruno into helping him. Just in case, you know, if we weren't going, sigh...
On a brighter note, Apollo got well. He would have to live with scarring on his lungs, but generally he would be ok. The experimental treatment worked!
Then, we got the word. We went to visit Zeus. We found him sitting with his head resting in his folded arms, weeping. Apollo didn't make it afterall. It felt like life played a cruel joke, "You're fine, everything's going to be ok. Oops, sorry, here's your ticket for the Rainbow Bridge Express, off you go now!!!" I was devastated. All I could do was to sit down. Suzy went over to him and slowly scratched him behind his ear. No bunny said anything. Zeus raised his head and wiped his running nose on his arm. He kept looking at us and we could offer no consolation, we had no answers, no means of making it better. Abby hopped off to look for some tissues. When she came back she dried his face and gently wiped his red, puffy eyes. We gathered around him and nose nudged him.
Silence in the room felt like a sore and we were becoming a single wound. For the first time I noticed the slow metering of the clock on the wall. It probably hung there and ticked since eternity and I never paid any attention to it, but today, the tick of every second felt like a pinch of salt dropping on us.
"Sorry everybunny, it's been a long day, I'm glad you came by" said Zeus. "I'll try to take a nap, I'm really exhausted, can you drop by later on?"
"Of course, Zeus, we'll come back in the evening." said Molly and we slowly hopped off.
That night we gathered supplies for a small feast. Bruno broke into the fridge and procured a block of organic Swiss cheese, Molly found some Snicker Bytes. We had veggies, crackers and all sorts of yummies. We dipped into our secret stash and pulled out a big jug of carrot juice; top shelf kind if you know what I mean.
Frankie, Freddie and Milla joined us and we kept Zeus company late into the night. Everybunny got to have too much of everything. A taxidermist couldn't stuff us better. After a few carrotinis Molly decided to look for a window with a good view of the sky. We thought that was a grand idea and after a stumbling about the house for a while we found one. We could sit on the floor and see the stars. There were very few clouds in the sky. The puffs that remained were clearing out quickly and we stared at the tiny sparkles in the dark, wondering where Apollo went exploring first during this adventure.
I woke up the next day with a really upset stomach, my head was angry at me too and was trying to thump the living daylights out of me. I wasn't sure how I ended up on my pad. Did the hoomins find us in the morning or what? I learned later that it was Molly and Abby that dragged me back. Well, once was enough and next time I'm having hot chamomile tea. I'm just hoping the occasion will be brighter.
Since I noticed the ticking of the clock on the wall, I could not get it out my mind. When Abby came over to check on me, I asked her if she noticed it as well. She said she had no idea what I was talking about.
The next day we learned from Bruno that Zeus wanted to demo his latest creations and to lay out his plans. I had no desire to partake in this. One part of me was very happy for him to be setting out on an adventure and another one was plain jealous. Yes, it's quite doable to be happy for somebunn and be jealous and heartbroken at the same time. I explained that to Bruno. He sat down in front of me and started licking his paw and washing his face. He kept looking at me with one eye as if egging me on "Oh don't give me that! What sort of expeditionary behaviour is that?!? Come on, don't be a jerk." When Abby came by to join him I thought, well, Zeus never showed me anything, but his willingness to help and support whatever we were up to. Sigh, I hate losing those arguments with myself. So off we went.
Zeus was surrounded by a mess of wires and things I couldn't recognize. He had something hooked up to his laptop and was looking at its screen, then at what looked like a small, black olive in his hand. He was pointing that olive around and watched how the images change on the screen. Was that a camera? Right when my imagination was about to run wild, Abby spoke up, "Zeus, if Toes still want to go I want to do what I can to help." Suzy nodded in agreement. My eyes almost popped out and I felt a squeeze in my gut.
"How come?" asked Zeus.
Tick ... tock ... tick ... tock ... the clock kept stabbing the thick silence in the room.
Suzy started to whisper, "Apollo did everything right, played as safe as he could, our hoomins did everything that could be done for him. Yet his time was up when his time was up. We can play it safe and I can guarantee nothing to nobunny. Toes can be just as right wanting to go and explore. Why should we rob him of that?"
Tick … tock … tick … tock …
"So, where do we go from here?" I asked.
"You tell me, Mr. Toes." said Zeus.
"For now we start with this little thing…" and he lifted the small, black olive like object with a wire coming out of it.
"It's a camera and a sensor all in one, it shows close to a 360 degree panoramic image. It also takes some measurements. For example, atmosphere content, temperature, mineral composition. Things like that. We think it can fit through the small gap Molly was able to create."
"Why the wire?" asked Molly.
"We had to compromise to keep it as small as we could. If we discover that there's something to explore in…,"
Zeus paused, "... in this thing, I'd like to send in this little feller."
Zeus rolled out something that looked like a mandarin orange, a small white ball, flattened a little on two sides. It was laying on its side when it suddenly separated down the middle, both sides separating and spread apart, exposing a small, fat disk inside. It rolled upright and now looked like two large wheels with a much smaller one between them, sharing a common axle.
"Hm…" commented Molly.
"If there's something to see, we can control it remotely or it can travel on its own. To be honest, I don't think we'll need it." added Zeus and continued, "That thing over there is probably some overgrown, hollow mushroom cap or something. No worries."
"I see. When's our next chance to be alone and get out then?" I asked.

5 comments:

Auntie Jane (It is official!) said...

We are so sorry to hear about little Apollo. Thank you for your stories and your loving care of livingness.

Anonymous said...

Peace, little Apollo, and comfort to your many companions and family.

RG said...

RIP Apollo. Another good bunny gone too soon.

sallyneary said...

I saw the lovely bun photo and at first thought that was Apollo too, but I think he is actually one of the mission control mice. Perhaps hamsters--forgive me if I got this wrong since I have only cats.
I am sure he had the most stimulating life ever, what with running around with friends of all species and starring in an adventure series. I know you will miss him, Renee.

Mister Bun said...

Indeed, Apollo was one of the little ratty friends and 'worked' in mission control :-(