The Rabbit Farm(Finn Kinnear) The Rabbit Farm

The day of the hunt!
I lurched out of bed and stumbled across the room blurry eyed until I collided with my brother's mattress. He groaned unappreciatively at the impact.
"C'mon Alec get out of bed! You promised we would go today. Papa says only bad men break their promises." I looked at him with big reproachful eyes. Still no response. I threw my weight against the side of the bed to emphasize my impatience.
"Aaaarrgh! Cut it out you little runt!" He tussled with the blankets entwining him for several seconds before managing to free himself, then pushed his legs over the side of the bed. He swung a half-hearted blow in my general direction which I easily sidestepped.
Papa was already awake, sitting at the table in the dining room with a bowl of porridge. We each helped ourselves to a share from the pot on the stove, then joined him. He glanced up at us.
"Wow. Early risers today huh?. I thought I'd already be off by the time either of you woke up." He grinned.

Twice a month, Papa made the trip into town to buy anything we couldn't get off the farm. He would be gone for the entire day, providing the perfect opportunity for us to do anything otherwise not allowed. Today, we would be rabbit hunting.

After Papa finally left, the two of us slipped out of the house and made our way to the small shed beside the latrine where the guns were stored.
Of course, I wasn't officially allowed to use guns yet, because according to Papa "Ain't gonna be no boy on the wrong side o' ten be taking a life on my farm". Unbeknownst to Papa though, after much nagging and no small amount of bribes, I had finally convinced Alec to take me rabbit hunting. And I had been looking forward to my first hunt for more days than I could count. For a while I had felt slightly guilty at the thought of disobeying Papa, but it was completely unfair that an eight year old wasn't allowed to shoot. All my friends had been using guns since they were five, and the humiliation at not being included in that was too much.

To my annoyance, Alec wouldn't let me accompany him into the shed, but after a few seconds he emerged with two shotguns. One was clutched in his hands, the other slung across his back.
"Now," he said, smiling with amusement at the look of excitement on my face. "If Papa finds out about this, he'll beat me hard. So you'd better do what I say. Understand? There ain't gonna be no questioning my decisions, and if I hear a single piggy whine come out of your mouth, then it's over, and you'll have to wait another two years till Papa takes you out. Got it?" His face was dead serious, and I hesitated for a second before my enthusiasm came flooding back.
"Sure Alec, of course, whatever you say." He handed me the weapon he was holding, then laughed when the unexpected weight almost caused me to drop it. I blushed, but quickly pulled the strap over my head and hung it across my back like he had done.

After a gruelling walk up to the area Papa had imaginatively named Tall Trees due to the enormous cedars that populated the area, Alec called a halt. The two of us settled down against a monstrous cedar tree. Alec pointed to a rotting log that had collapsed on the forest floor several metres away.
"Let's practise with that." He grabbed a handful of green leaves from the bush beside us then strode over to the dead tree and smeared a rough green circle on its bark. "Reckon you can hit that from there?"
My enthusiasm returned. "Could certainly do a better job than you."
Alec grinned competitively, then returned to beside the cedar. He unhooked the shotgun strap from his shoulder, then pulled a handful of shells from his pocket and wedged them in a hole in the tree. Grabbing two, he broke the gun open across his knee then slotted them into the twin barrels. Snapping it shut, he knelt and without a seconds pause, pulled one of the triggers. Dead wood chips exploded from the log in a shower of splinters. Without hesitating, he fired once more, and again the dead wood erupted violently. He lowered the gun.
"So," he said with a hint of pride. "Why don't you go and have a look?" I skipped eagerly over to the target and examined it's decimated side. The green circle was completely gone, bark torn from the trunk as if shredded by an angry bear. Spread randomly across the gaping scar I could just make out some of the shot, lodged deep in the wood.

By now my excitement was overwhelming, and in my desperate haste to get back to the cedar I tripped over a jutting root, and sent the shotgun spinning off my back onto a patch of pebbles. Thank God it hadn't been loaded. Alec was laughing.
I gingerly pulled myself to my feet, face red with embarrassment. Shame morphed into anger, and I grabbed the shotgun off the ground and took two more shells from the hole in the tree.
"Show me," I growled sheepishly. "Show me how." Alec helped me load the shells then showed me how to position the stock firmly against my shoulder.
"When you fire," he said, "don't pull the gun towards you. And make sure your shoulder is tensed, otherwise you'll hurt yourself." I took his advice, and lined up the decaying trunk in the shotgun's iron sights. "Breathe in." I did. "Breathe out ... hold it ... squeeze". I squeezed.
The gun exploded. I fell to my knees, my vision swam out of focus and my ears were ringing. Alec was yelling something, but I couldn't make out his words. The weapon lay on the ground at my feet, the barrel now split into three metal branches bent out like the limbs of a tree.

After a minute or two, my brain finally started to make sense of the mass of information assaulting my consciousness. Alec's voice penetrated my dazed mind.
" ... complete idiot ... something blocking the barrel ... when you dropped it ... what am I gonna tell Papa!" He plopped himself down beside me and groaned. "Just my luck something like this would happen." We sat there in silence for a couple more minutes as the last of my shock wore off. Alec picked up the remains of the shotgun and examined it, as if there was perhaps a magical way of repairing it hidden in the inner workings. If there was, he didn't appear to find it. Another groan.
"I'm sorry Alec, I really am. It was an accident, please don't be mad ..." I tailed off apologetically. Alec shook his head.
"Don't be mad. Of course I'm mad! You just broke that damned thing!" I flinched instinctively at his angry outburst. "Are you hurt?" I shook my head. "Not sure whether to be pleased or disappointed about that - you would certainly have deserved it." The animosity in his voice cut into me. "I'm gonna be blamed ..."

We sat another several minutes without talking. Alec wore a pained expression.
"You know what?" He paused. "Why waste a good hunt? Just because you ruined it for yourself doesn't mean I can't have a little fun. And you never know, if you keep your mouth shut and don't annoy me, I might even let you use my gun. But if you get a single scratch on her then that shotgun won't be the only broken thing I bring back to Papa."
He picked the remainder of my first shotgun experience off the ground and swung it's undamaged twin across his shoulders once more. "C'mon, we're wasting time."

In the centre of Tall Trees was a clearing, a space where the enormous cedars had for some reason decided never to put down roots. Alec and I had discovered it last year by chance when we were helping Papa set traps for the wolves that would occasionally make their homes among the trees. Alec had caught sight of a rabbit disappearing off into the undergrowth. We had followed it, as quietly as two young boys can (which is to say, not very quietly at all) and after a several minutes it had lead us up over a ridge. Several moments of astonished silenced followed while the sight before us sunk in. A sea of grass stretched out for about a hundred metres ahead of us, devoid of trees except for a solitary dead oak standing haphazardly in the centre. But it wasn't this holding our attention. The clearing was pockmarked with more rabbit holes than we had been able to count, and even more rabbits still.
"It's a rabbit farm!" Alec had said. And the name stuck.
It was to this spot Alec and I had been making our way to today, and soon we had taken up position lying on our stomachs on the ridge overlooking The Rabbit Farm. Below us, an army of the small mammals went about their business, completely unaware of one of their numbers impending doom.

I glanced at Alec beside me. He had the shotgun stock wedged under his shoulder, and was aligning the twin barrels with one of the closer targets. I nudged him roughly in the ribs with my elbow.
"You said I would get to shoot!" I didn't get quite as much anger into the whispered reproach as I had hoped.
"You'll get your chance in a minute." he replied just as quietly.
"No I won't." My voice sounded thin and pathetic. "You've seen what happens after the first shot. They all vanish back down their holes!"
"Just trust me won't you?"
I was unconvinced, and the grin on his face was telling me a different story. The temptation to whine at him was at it's peak. I resorted to a sulky silence.
Alec had finally found whatever it was he had been looking for. He took a deep breath in, slowly exhaled, paused for a moment, then fired.
The warren exploded with activity. Quicker than I could blink it seemed, the rabbits disappeared down their burrows in little streaks of brown fur. All except one. The unlucky recipient of Alec's shot. Or at least, some of Alec's shot.
It writhed in panic on the ground as we made our way down the ridge, flopping uselessly from side to side. Both it's back legs pedalled the air frantically as it noticed us approaching and it's eyes were wide with terror, rolling back and forth. Streaks of red marked it's earth coloured coat. Alec started to laugh.
"Ha, look at its legs go," he giggled. "Stupid little creature. What's wrong? Can't get away?"
"You have to kill it Alec." I said anxiously, trying mask my disgust.
"It's going to die anyway." His eyes were still fixed on the frantic movements of the helpless animal. "Why waste another shot?"
"Kill it!" A tinge of panic entered my voice now, and Alec finally noticed my distress. His eyes flamed with malice.
"You can't handle the sight of a dying rabbit? Grow up! I knew it was a rotten idea to take you hunting. Papa was right - you're still too much of a baby." He was starting to get really angry now. The rabbit still writhed weakly between us.

It was too much for me to handle. If Alec wasn't going to put the poor creature out of it's misery then I would. I reached across the space between us and wrenched the weapon out of his grip. It would have worked if it hadn't been for the strap, which he caught deftly in one hand before it was yanked out of reach. The rabbit's movements had slowed now, with only the occasional desperate spasm contorting its tiny body.

Alec growled like a wild animal. His gaze burned into me, the anger emanating from him in palpable waves. "You shouldn't have done that Dominic." His voice was soft, dangerous.

The exact same moment that he pulled back on the shotgun was the exact same moment my own fingers slipped through the trigger guard. Time seemed to slow as the pressure from his pull pushed my own unwitting fingers up against the trigger. I felt the grating of the metal as the guns internal hammer was released and flicked forward onto the powder cap at the base of the shotgun shell.

The colour drained from Alec's face just as it blossomed across his chest. At his feet, the rabbit had stopped moving.

---