Bunny spent most of his time alone in his burrow. He thought of himself too useless to become much of anything, and therefore had no reason to try.
Late one muggy summer night Bunny decided to take a trip to the garden to fetch some carrots. As he climbed the hill slowly, the garden came into view and a strange figure appeared. It was a turtle, although Bunny wasn’t sure how he knew what that was, he couldn’t remember ever seeing one. When he was small his mother told him stories about Robbie the turtle, who never talked to anyone and only came out to snatch carrots from the community garden when no one was looking, although he never helped grow them. Bunny froze, a battle in his mind concerning weather he should confront this stranger or sneak away before he was noticed. After all, Bunny was never important and was never valuable for anything. How could a simple bunny ever be a hero? At the exact moment that bunny decided to slip away the stranger noticed him.
The two animals stood in silence as they each debated what to do. After a long moment, bunny hopped down to take a closer look at this turtle. In a feeble voice, he asked the turtle why he was there. “Collecting carrots,” was his answer. Bunny now began to notice the pile of carrots surrounding the turtle. He filled with rage. This was the product of hours of hard labor the community had worked so hard for. Bunny couldn’t think straight. How could this turtle be so insensitive, he wondered. With all of his remaining courage, bunny asked “Who are you?” To that he was answered with a simple “Robbie.” And with that Bunny hopped away, not to be seen for days.
Bunny worked hard to forget about Robbie, and come back to his everyday life. But something kept nagging him to come back. To figure out why Robbie was doing what he was and then to put an end to it. On a particularly clear evening, Bunny returned to the garden in time to find Robbie, this time taking a load of cabbage. Bunny’s rage returned, but he decided not to act on it and to get to the bottom of it instead. Bunny waited until Robbie left with the cabbage, though this took quite a long time because he was a turtle, and then followed behind at a distance. Soon something strange happened. Robbie slowed down, then stopped and turned his long neck. Bunny, though considerably faster, didn’t react in time. Now, Robbie was finally able to observe bunny in greater detail. He was an ordinary rabbit, with the usual gray fur and big, innocent brown eyes. Just like all bunnies. They didn’t amount to much and served the sole purpose of growing vegetables that he could eat. But this bunny was following him. He knew it all along, but had hoped he would get bored, as newly hatched turtles often did, and wander off.
Meanwhile, bunny had caught up once it was obvious that there was no chance he could hide himself. “What are you doing with our vegetables?” he demanded of Robbie.
“Taking them, to eat, of course. What else am I expected to do with vegetables?”
Bunny was now more furious than he was afraid. “Don’t you know that the community has spent precious hours tending to the garden, hoping to provide enough food to last us through the winter? How much time have you committed? I’ve never seen you helping at the garden or for that matter anywhere at all. You have no right to take these vegetables.”
“How are you any different than I?” Robbie calmly answered.
Bunny was so enraged he just had to leave before he caused any trouble, because after all, who was he to cause trouble?
Bunny’s thoughts focused on a single thought. It consumed him, and before long he couldn’t think of a single other thing. He felt a new feeling, that sat on his shoulders like a thousand bricks and made every step he took feel like he was on a chain. For the first time in Bunny’s life he evaluated what he had done and came to the conclusion that he had not accomplished anything. He had been so focused on causing as little trouble as possible that he hadn’t thought that trouble may be necessary for anything to happen. Maybe, Bunny thought, he could be more useful than he ever thought. Maybe that was a good thing.
The next night bunny came back to the garden. He noticed that Robbie was there, but ignored him. Robbie soon called him over though, and Bunny reluctantly agreed. Robbie stood there for a long moment, staring at Bunny’s innocent looking face, and cleared his throat. He wasn’t sure if what he was doing was right, because this crazy plan he seemed to have come up with went against all the morals he learned when he was young. He could still see his mother, while he was still a hatchling, telling him “Now always remember, Robbie, turtles are superior. It is best for the other animals if they know that.” Still, maybe this bunny was right. Maybe he should help. He took a deep breath, and, pushing through all of his jumbled thoughts to say “I’ll help.”
Bunny didn’t understand. “I’ll help,” Robbie repeated, this time with more strength. Now bunny searched his memories to the days when he was young, the days he would help in the garden with all the other animals. He could hardly remember how.
Bunny thought of the only thing left to do. The soil was dry and cracked, despite what the animals had already given the plants, and the plants drooped in thirst. But the creek was dry, and there was no more water to use.
Robbie followed the bunny’s eyes to the dry creek, and realized what the other was seeing. “Follow me to my house,” Robbie told Bunny. “There’s plenty of water. It’s a creek.”
And they were off. The two spent the next few nights watering the garden until the plants were glowing. They were soon inseparable friends, and once all the other animals got word of this strange teamwork, Robbie and Bunny became celebrities. They realized that Robbie and Bunny weren’t completely bad, and regretted the times they had gossiped about them. As they became more and more popular, the memory of the two lazy and cruel animals that they used to be disappeared and was forgotten.