Leonard Starski pedaled his old Schwin bike down the path that bordered his farm, a wide grin on his childlike face. George had promised him a big surprise for his birthday, and the day had finally arrived, and George had never, ever, broken a promise.
He loved riding his Schwin around their property--really loved it!--loved it almost as much as petting the rabbits. And, of course, the best part of the ride was when he stopped at the front gate and got to admire the sign one more time. Lenny was as “dumb as a fence post,” as George was fond of telling him, and couldn’t read or write. But George had learnt him by heart what was on that there sign:
HAPPY HUTCH PET FARM...GEORGE HUTCHINS & LENNY STARSKI, PROPRIETORS
Lenny got off the bike and gaped at the fancy black lettering with pleasure. He read it slowly, out loud, holding his outstretched pointer finger close to his eye and moving it back and forth as he pronounced each word. He had to start the last word three times before he got it right. Big words like that one were hard to learn by heart, but George told him it was better than putting OWNERS on the sign because fancy words made them more respectable. Respectable meant important, and their farm had to be important so that the government men would come and buy the special rabbits in the metal barn where Lenny wasn’t allowed to go in.
Lenny frowned for a minute. He didn’t like the government men much, and he resented the metal barn he wasn’t allowed to enter. No matter how many times--maybe a thousand times--he asked George why, George wouldn’t say. That was the one subject that put George in a bad mood. Once Lenny had asked, “George, when are you gonna tell me why them metal barn rabbits is so special?” George got in a bad mood and said, “Someday when pigs fly to the moon, you big ox! Now, quit asking me about them!”
Lenny didn’t mind when George called him “big ox” or “meathead” or “dumb as a fence post,” ‘cause later George would feel bad and would give Lenny extra fun chores to do around the farm to make up for calling him names. Lenny was a hard worker--always had been--even on all the farms he and George worked on during Depression. He couldn’t remember much of that...just the misty memories of walking long roads, working long days, stoking soft little creatures...and, of course, George’s sweet, shining promises that one day they’d have a place of their own.
It was only after the operation that Lenny’s memory became clearer. He’d woken up in a hospital filled with strange people, funny smells, and scary gadgets that buzzed and chirped and coughed and wheezed. He thought he was having a bad dream until George came in with a pretty lady in a yellow sweater. When he saw them, he stopped shaking and yelling and trying to break the straps that were holding him onto the hospital bed.
George acted kind of funny that first day Lenny woke up from the operation. He looked different, too, all dressed up like for church or a special party. But when he saw Lenny was calming down and smiling at him, George smiled back and pretty soon they were talking back and forth like old times.
The lady in the yellow sweater said her name was Agnes and that she wanted to ask Lenny some questions. He was nervous at first, ‘cause maybe he wouldn’t know the answers like in school when other kids would laugh at how dumb he was. But the lady, Agnes, she was so pretty that he didn’t mind talking to her. She sat right up close and talked to him soft and her voice was like a gentle song that Lenny remembered from when he was sleeping and dreaming. Lenny told Agnes this and she said, “How sweet!” Lenny didn’t tell her that she smelled as pretty as a big flower shop, though; he was too bashful to tell Agnes that.
The questions she asked him weren’t hard--just ones he could answer yes or no, like did Lenny remember this or that name, or this or that farm they’d worked on, or what happened that caused him to need an operation. Lenny felt bad that he could remember only a few things from before the operation, but Agnes said it was normal that he forgot things from before.
Lenny liked Agnes a whole lot. She was the only person who’d ever called him “normal.” Lenny had nice dreams about her but that was the only time he’d gotten to see her. When he asked George later about seeing her again, he told him she’d gone away somewhere, he didn’t know where, and she was awful busy helping other people having other operations.
That first day after the operation was a new beginning for Lenny and George. George said they’d been paid a lot of money by the government because Lenny’s operation was special--it was “sparrow-mental.” Lenny didn’t know what that meant, but because he woke up and was okay, the government would be able to help lots of other people who’d been hurt and maybe would die without the operation. Lenny asked George, “Will Agnes be with them other people when they woke up, like she was with me?” George said he didn’t know. But Lenny kept imagining Agnes being there with the others and wished he could be there with her too someday.
Those days since waking up in the hospital were one exciting day after another. First they cashed the big check the government gave them and bought Lenny a bunch of new clothes. Then they stayed in a fancy hotel for days and days and ate like kings on a holiday. While they were at the hotel George got some special papers that they both signed to change their last names to Starski and Hutchins. George said that was so they could move to a new area that only the g-men would know about and bad people from before that operation couldn’t find them and make no trouble. Then they rode on a train and got to eat in a club car and sleep in a Pullman car and the engineer even let Lenny blow the super-loud train whistle when they came to their new town.
Back on his Schwin and wearing his wide grin once again, he let out a piercing “woo-woooo!” as the wind whipped by him on his way up the drive to the farmhouse. It was Sunday and soon George and Mrs. Baker would be coming home from church. He would sit in the parlor with the Sunday paper and she would go to the kitchen and fix their lunch. She’d keep on her good dress with the purple flowers, but put on an extra big bib apron to keep it from getting messed on. George would be quiet all day and take a nap in his ratty old armchair. Then after sundown they’d listen to Lone Ranger and Fibber and Molly in the rec room.
Lenny didn’t like church much and almost never went. He enjoyed the musical part but George wouldn’t let him sing along ‘cause he said Lenny had a tin ear. Anyway, most of the talking and reading parts were too hard to understand, and lots of the folks there would look at Lenny in a funny way, like they were afraid he might blow up or something.
“George, you go to church every Sunday,” Lenny said once. “You sure must like it, huh?”
George took a deep breath and smiled a sad kind of smile. “I go ‘cause I need it, Lenny. Not ‘cause I enjoy it.” Lenny cocked his head and blinked at him.
“Look at it this way,” George went on. “You had to learn a bunch of things about farms and rabbits and all, so you’d be ready when your dream came true, right?”
Lenny nodded. “Yeah. I learned real good about them rabbits.”
“Well, said George, “there are things people like me need to know--things to learn about another place we dream about. We learn those things in church so we’re ready to go there.”
“What things, George? What dream place you talking about?”
George reached up and mussed Lenny’s hair. “Don’t worry about those things, Len. Believe me, you already know all you need to know.” Lenny just walked away scratching his head. How could it be he knew things those people in church didn’t? He sure wished he knew what those things were.
He hurried through the house to the rear porch where the pet hutches were attached. On the way he grabbed a couple carrots from the vegetable bin near the back door. Popping the cardboard lid off the barrel of rabbit feed, he filled the pouches of the cloth feed belt he wore around his waist, and stooped down low to enter the first hutch. Calling the rabbits by name, cuddling and caressing them, rewarding the most eager ones with a piece of carrot, scolding them gently when they refused their food, humming and crooning to them with his booming monotone--these were the moments Lenny cherished. He was in Paradise...living his dream. Methodically moving from hutch to hutch, he repeated the ritual a dozen times, finally unfastening the feed belt to hang it on the hook by the back door...
And then he heard a scream. High, shrill, piercing like a jagged blade...a rabbit scream.
“Lenny, stop! Lenny, dear, wait!” a voice chased him as he leapt from the porch in the direction of the metal barn. Mrs. Baker’s voice. She and George had returned. Lenny didn’t stop or look back. George’s blue pickup was parked by the barn next to a large black van with a long green stripe: the government men were here. They never came on Sunday.
Lenny stopped short at the metal barn’s side door, hesitating. He wasn’t allowed in here and didn’t want to break any rules on his birthday. But that scream...and he could hear voices arguing inside...and one of them was George’s. Lenny couldn’t make out what they were saying. He cracked the door open and put his ear to the crack. He smelled a sudden aroma...one that reminded him of music. His eyes widened and he almost called out her name. But the voices were clearer now and he forced himself to listen, still unwilling to enter the forbidden barn.
A voice he didn’t recognize said, “Relax, Hutchens, there’s no need for him to know...as long as we’re all willing to be reasonable.”
“Cut the crap, Billings.” George’s voice. “The point is, I would know. Our agreement was for medical specimens. Medical. We’re interested in finding cures...saving lives. Not improving baby food and beauty products.”
“They’re dumb animals, Hutchens...they don’t know what the experiments are for. You think they care why they’re being killed?”
“I care...We care--Lenny and me. This kind of research...it saved his life. When we thought he was a goner....”
“Right--when YOU pulled that trigger after he killed that woman--”
“Shut up, you bastard!”
“Hey, take it easy, Hutchens! Like I said, no need for anyone to find out about you two. That was the deal, right?”
“Right. But this order...it’s outrageous!”
“Why? The little brutes multiply fast enough, don’t they? You’ll recoup your numbers in no time.”
“But...what’ll I tell Lenny?”
Another voice, a woman’s: “You’ll have to tell him something. He’s been listening at the door.”
This was too much. Lenny opened the door wider and shuffled into the barn for the first time.
“Agnes,” he said, looking around and trying to smile, “are you my birthday surprise?” The barn was lit with bright overhead lights that buzzed like swarms of angry bees. The walls were lined with shiny wire cages, each cage with its own rabbit. There were shiny metal tables and cabinets here and there. It smelled a little like the hospital where Lenny had his operation.
“You shouldn’t be in here, Lenny,” George said, but he was staring at the floor.
“I know, George. But I heard one of them rabbits screaming and...”
“Go on, now. Go back to the house.”
“No. No, George. I been listening. I been hearing what you and the g-man been saying. And I been thinking about this here special barn...and them special rabbits. I think I know some secrets about them. I think they’re like me...sparrow-mental. Agnes is right, George. I wanna...I gotta...
“You have got to tell me the truth. I want to know...what you know, George.”
“Lenny...” George slowly raised his eyes to fasten them on his friend. The g-man turned away shaking his head and began looking at some papers on one of the shiny tables. Agnes was looking on with a sympathetic frown, her yellow sweater seeming to glow in the bright lighting.
“Lenny...” George began again, taking a step toward him, “remember when I told you that you know all you need to know about that other dream place--the place the church people dream about?”
Lenny nodded.
“Well all those church people are scared, Lenny. They’re scared they’ll never make it to that dream place because of things that they’ve done...bad, wicked, despicable things. They go to church to get rid of those things. They go there to get washed...to get cleaned up. Otherwise God might not let them into that special place...you understand?”
“But, George...why do YOU go there? YOU ain’t done none of those bad things...right, George?”
George looked like he was about to go on talking, but Agnes walked up and took his arm, stopping him.
“Lenny, it’s really good to see you again.” Her eyes were glimmering with moisture like dew on morning grass. “It’s been three years since your operation and I’ve been checking up on you during those three years, even though you never knew about it.”
Lenny frowned and reached up to scratch his head. “But, Agnes...George said...he told me you was gone away somewheres else and--”
“George was telling you what I told him to say, Lenny. You see, you are such a special person, and the operation was so new and special, that someone had to follow up and observe you to make sure that nothing went wrong--to make sure you didn’t get sick or...”
“...or die?” Lenny squinted at her and quit scratching. He stuck both hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet.
“...or die,” she agreed. “Lenny, you had to be protected in a way that you wouldn’t know about. That was why I couldn’t visit you or let you know where I was. George had to tell you some lies so that you’d never suspect that you were being observed. If you knew you were being watched, you would have behaved differently and my observations wouldn’t have been worth as much.”
“So, now that I know you been watchin’...now...you can’t watch me no more?”
“Well, we’ll have to see about that. It’s been three years and nothing has gone wrong yet. My employers will have to determine whether or not to continue the observations, with or without my involvement. But...if they leave it up to me, I would want to be allowed to follow up your case personally, with your knowledge and permission. I would want to be your friend, Lenny.”
“That’s what...Wow! That’s what I’d want move than anything, Agnes. That’s my birthday wish...my biggest birthday wish ever!”
Then Lenny frowned and glanced around. “But...George...Agnes...I wanna know why that there rabbit was screaming. I don’t want any of them rabbits getting hurt none, George.”
“That was my fault.” Suddenly the g-man--the man George called ‘Billings’--spoke up. George and Agnes turned and looked at him nervously. “I can see I had the wrong idea about the nature of this place. Of this farm. I accidentally hurt one of the speci---er, one of the rabbits, that is. I’m sorry, uh, Mr. Starski...it won’t happen again.” He sidled up to George and whispered something to him Lenny couldn’t catch. George nodded and turned a smile back in Lenny’s direction.
“You...you gonna make sure nobody hurts none of them special rabbits no more, George?”
“Sure. Sure, Lenny. You can count on me. You don’t have to worry about them.”
“Right! And Agnes...Agnes is making sure that I’m okay from that sparrow-mental operation...”
Agnes and George nodded and glanced at each other, smiling.
“And me...” Lenny continued, his happy spirit returning, “I’ll keep on taking care of all them pet rabbits. So now we all know everything we needs to know.”
