Beasts and Violins

To the Man Driving I-5 with a Rabbit on His Shoulder

32 To the Man Driving I-5 with a Rabbit on His Shoulder I passed your Chevy Scottsdale on the flats ahead of Burlington, from the north. You wore a gray and green plaid jacket, and one of those mesh ball caps farmers get skin cancer from. I don’t see too many Scottsdales anymore without all four tires flat. At my last job, I used a busted-up red one like a cairn, turning into the driveway just beyond it. I was filling boxes then, driving fork. But the animal on your arm. I thought it was a retriever pup at first, that hadn’t come into its color. When I came up on the left, I saw it was a rabbit. A white rabbit, its curled rhododendron leaf ears swept back along its trembling spine, shuffling from one side of your head to the other. Did you wear it to keep the sun off your neck? What magic do you know? I wish you had been driving a little faster. I would have kept pace with you all afternoon to see you turn that rabbit into a dove. It would be one hell of a trick if you hid it in that see-through hat. I know that’s trite, but it’s a trick for the working class —to make something appear, then take it back. I could see you were a laborer by the brick dust on your bumper, and the shovel handles braced against the cab. If you were 33 making money on the side with this rabbit, I don’t know. I only knew you for twenty-five seconds, tops. Maybe there was a library full of kids waiting for you at the next exit. Or you had a roadside stand somewhere, to indulge your hobby. Selling strawberries, too. Antiques and finds from the river. Maybe the little creature was just your companion, something to talk to on long journeys. If I hadn’t been on the clock, I could have stayed even with you, pitching nickels into your truck bed and cheering. Shown you weren’t alone out here. Then I’d have gotten you to pull over, us parked right past the rumble strip at the freeway’s edge, so you could saw me in half. We could have used your black plastic gear box to do it. I’m big but I could have fit. ...