ALL TURN AWAY

by Conor Robin Madigan

Liam leaves, walks road North, and stares his shiny brown shoes. Pavement stops, gravel happens, his side aches up slow hill. A rabbit sprawls not dead on road dying. Eyes widen Liam's approach. Legs run, effort spins rabbit in circles. Liam stands and watches. "Alo, bunny." "Alo, Liam," says Liam in a bunny voice.
"Did a car smash you?"
"I got smushed," Rabbit says. He kneels.
Broken hips and back flinch nerves. Nothing comes through skin. Nothing comes from mouth or behind. No terror, Liam puts hand to rabbit's head and pets between ears. Scared eyes widen then calm to slits. Liam imagines little white teeth, their strength, he bitten. He cringes. Liam grabs ears and lifts it from the ground. He walks it to tall grass and barbed fence. Rabbit twitches like violent fish Liam drops. He takes out a bag of pretzels. He tries to feed rabbit. Mouth won't take a pretzel. Mouth won't take pretzel. The soft grass he sits and Liam will not eat pretzels if rabbit does not. He wonders should he get a big stone and hit it like Brian would hit it. He wonders if he can do it, and he cries seeing himself do it. Large round stones pile by fence post. A car on the lower road and Liam wants to leave and have somebody take him to his room. But he doesn't want to go back if they still yell. He wants to sit at the bar again with Jonas, eat cherries. He doesn't want to be alone. He lifts a stone and looks away. He lets it fall to rabbit's head, and feet kick, and he hasn't killed it, and he gets another because he doesn't want to pick up the last and he wields it, and hucks it on hindquarters, turns away. He picks up another, and hucks it on rocks and turns away.