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White Rabbit Park; Short Story by bpw
Topic Started: Apr 19 2014, 06:05 PM (107 Views)
A thinker
Advanced Member
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Chapter I
The year was 1814 when a young biologist moved into a quiet community no more than ten families. No one ever knew his real name nor did it seem to matter to anyone because John Fable was a kind, peaceful and friendly type. Our story begins on a Spring morning when John's neighbors were up and about doing their chores and preparing for their daily lives on their farms.

Mr. Fable was not much of a farmer so he agreed that his land could be farmed by others in exchange for meat and produce from the surrounding farmers. He must have been wealthy because Mr. Fable never needed anyone's help but he always gave and provided to the community. Mr. Fable came out in the mornings to socialize with the farming community yet he was preoccupied this specific morning when he heard excited commotion outside in the farmed area of his property.

Mr. Fable was not given to sit "while the pot was boiling", so he got up and went outside to see what the excitement was about. One of Mr. Fable's neighbors was outside and coddling something white. Mr. Fable looked around and noticed, to his surprise, that all the surrounding farmers and their families were around someone holding a white ball of fur or someone was chasing a white bouncing ball of fur. Mr. Fable's vision was not the greatest, even in his young age. Mrs. Beetle, a very friendly and one of Mr. Fable's favorite neighbors, came over to proudly and excitedly show him her bundle.

"John," she said, "we've never seen such a thing." After seeing that Mrs. Beetle was holding a baby white rabbit, John asked around and realized that a litter had been born on his property. Being a biologist, this peeked John's educated mind very much so that he completely forgot any and all interest of his previous studies he had been engaged with that morning.

Being poor of sight, it was amazing that John was able to get two of the baby rabbits himself. Upon having two of the rabbits, he began inspecting them and noticed he had female and male rabbits. John also noticed a high quality fur and not your typical dull and often oily and matted fur of a wild rabbit. Though a scientist, John was concerned about the welfare of his neighbors and their livelihoods and it appeared to him that something might be afoot to distract a growing farming community where other such communities were struggling. So, John sought out his neighbors menfolk and brought his observation to their attentions as well as mentioned the irregularity of a natural birthing of a litter of practically all white rabbits and ultimately the irregularity of their timid and tamed like qualities.

John suggested to his neighboring farmers that they stay if they like because all the extra hands would be useful in gathering and documenting scientific information. John was speaking to himself before he could conclude his suggestion because the farmers realized that daylight was burning and work on their farms was not getting done so the farmers gathered up their families and their new additions of white fur and headed to their farms.

A few elderly people remained to sit in the shade and talk about the, later to be known as "White Rabbit Morning", rare events of the morning. John stood wondering what he should do next while holding his two fine specimens of this special morning. John and the community has no clue as to how special the morning was nor how special it would be noted in history. Ole Mr. Johnson was known for his caring of animals so John thought of Mr. Johnson for eventually taking care of the two rabbits John had. One of the elderly men approached John and said, "So where ya goin to keep em or you bein a kind sort and let em go?" John knew that he was being asked, on behalf of the elders of the community (also know as the community leads of his quaint farming community), if he was going to kill the rabbits for scientific studies or release them back to the wild.

John was a natural biologist and believed that scientific knowledge could be gained by nature in its natural state without his needing to be destructive to make observations for his studies. John did not reply directly to the inquiry because John knew he was known to be of a suspicious lot to the elders even though the community as a whole welcomed John. John liked that he was "unique" to the elders; so, in keeping with their observations of him, John simply stated, to keep their curiosities peeked in him, "well lets just say I can't keep holding these two baby rabbits all day, I'll need a cage to put 'em in."

The ole man raised his brows in surprise and surprise could be heard in sighs from the ease dropping elders remaining in the shade. Apparently this gentleman was one of the leaders of the elders and rightly so for wisdom showed in his reply. "Well John, that bein' the case, we best get you over to Ole Man Johnson's place to see what he can be a doin to help ya with that cage." The ole man grinned as he turned, knowing John would follow him.

John, too, smiled and bowed towards the frowning and angry remaining elders in the shade and proceeded to follow the ole man to Mr. Johnson's place. Not because he was educated but because John was very keen about people and their ways, John knew he was in a friendly and wise mental "cat and chase" game with the ole man as well as that the ole man probably knew what John was about with John's indirect response to the ole man's question about what John was going to do with the baby rabbits. The elders were given to be known to look for something that was not there but apparently the ole man leading John was only given to playing of such folly and was just as astute about people's ways as was John.

When John and the ole man were aways from the other elders, the ole man smiled a toothless grin towards John and they both started laughing. The old man did ask a "to the point" question to assure his thinking. "John," "yes sir," "you just wantin to cage 'em to look at and release 'em later right?" John replied that was his plan precisely. the ole man smiled again, patted John on the back and assured John that he would "let the cat out of the bag" to the other elders that John would not hurt such a special thing to their community much less kill them rabbits.

Upon arriving at Mr. Johnson's place, the ole man pointed towards Mr. Johnson's place and retreated the way they had come. John hand the baby rabbits tucked in his shirt and they were resting against his belly and shirt when he approached Mr. Johnson's place. Mr. Johnson was about his business in his yard when John appeared with a belly that looked like it had snakes in it.

Mr. Johnson, having not yet met John before yet had heard of him, said in a jestful yet concerned manner, "Hello young man, you must be that biologist I've heard of, so what's got your belly so upset?" John introduced himself while retrieving the baby rabbits from underneath his shirt. The rabbits were restless so John placed them on the ground. Uniquely, they did not "make a run for it" to the woods. Instead they calmly hopped around in the area they were placed at John's feet.

Mr. Johnson replied, "Didn't know anyone was raising rabbits, so who put them two on your door step?" Appreciative, again, of the members of his community's frankness, John replied, "Well sir," to which Mr. Johnson interrupted and replied, "Please young man, call me Bill." John welcomed the immediate befriending and continued. "Ok, you can call me John." John didn't know at the time, that Bill was never addressed by anyone in the community by his first name. Bill's immediate taking to John was the like for the rest of community, John had that aspect of your liking him upon meeting him, John Fable.

Continuing, John said, "Well Bill, you hit right on something special. You see these rabbits are supposedly from a wild litter of which an unknown number of the total litter were found this morning scattered about my property." Bill, very interested now, said, "Hmmm, so the calmness, quality of fur and pet like qualities are supposedly "wild rabbits"?" John agreed with the disbelieving tone in Bill and stated that further inquiry as to how a litter of supposedly "wild" and (mostly) white rabbits appeared on his property. John did say his current priority was to find a cage for the rabbits for further and closer observations.

Bill, having things to do himself, wasted no time in telling John he was afraid John had wasted a trip to his place because he cared for animals but did not cage one of them. This peeked John's interest at how this occurred and asked of such to Bill and was amazed at how Bill accomplished such care for a wide variety of animals over the years with out having use of cages. John realized, after Bill's simply pointing, that Bill's property was surrounded by a rock wall which aided in Bill caring for animals without the need for cages and with the fact that there never were many animals at any time needing Bill's temporary care.

John said that if Bill did not mind that he would like to leave the rabbits with Bill and he would make visits to Bill's place for his scientific observations on a regular basis. Bill agreed without question nor hesitation. Enthusiastically, John returned to his farm and began making notes about the observations of the mornings events. John, initially, noted his suspect of the appearance of "wild" white baby rabbits appearing on his property. His notes did reference that litters of rabbits being born on his property was not unordinary due to he had seen previous litters but none of the previous baby rabbits were white or even speckled with white patches and that white rabbits were not indigenous to his geographical area in the wild.

John and the community's involvement and interest in the "wild" white rabbits remained and has to current date. Mr. Fable dedicated two solid years of research to the study of the rabbits, people in and visiting the community at the time of the event and the immediate and surrounding habitats of his and fellow neighboring farms in an attempt to prove or disprove the legitimacy of the "natural" occurrence of a predominantly all white litter of rabbits being born in the wild. Due to lack of any evidence suggesting remotely or absolutely that the rabbits had been placed on John's property, he concluded his research with a statement to the community that it was his professional and scientific opinion that the litter of white rabbits had been born in the wild.

Chapter II
Our story is not close to being over. Bill and John became very close friends over those two years of John's studying the rabbits. They both could not get beyond the tamed and pet-like qualities that remained in the rabbits as well as most of the off spring from John's two baby rabbits remained to be predominantly white. They both agreed that there were wild aspects evident in the fact that some of the initial off spring did have fur like typical wild rabbits. Lifestyles, such as burrowing in the ground, were evident immediately and very early, in the first two months of John's studies, that the rabbits showed wild qualities. Bill donated his time and property to assist John in the research of the wild white rabbits. Mrs. Johnson was happy about her husbands involvement because she said Bill was too old to be caring for everyone's animals and that the rabbits were more than enough to keep him busy.

During the fourth year, since the appearance of the wild white rabbits, the community was not so enticed to have nor keep such a unique and natural occurrence around -- despite the income being received from tourism and scientist. The community was still, predominantly, a farming community and the wild rabbits were being nuisance rodents to the farms. The mayor mandated vigilant reaction to address the situation to the disturbance the rabbits were creating for the farmers from the small farming community. It was immediately proposed that a dwindling of the rabbit population be resolved by killing the rabbits as a necessity for the farmers crops to maintain a means of life for the community. Bill, John and Mrs. Johnson were the strongest advocates against the killing and surprisingly had half of the town on their side; however, the town was split on what to do.

John had been so focused on preserving the white rabbits that he had lost focus on his profession -- biology. The over population and nuisance of the rabbits prompted John to speak with local and state officials with the intent of not only getting law passed to prevent the extinction of such a rare and special occurrence in nature but also to aid in resolving the situation of the rabbits being a nuisance to the farming community. The killing of the rabbits, to control their population, was maintained for five years and had turned into an entrepreneurship for the town. The notoriety of the rabbits had resulted in a demand for their pelts. John's foresight of the rabbits facing extinction allowed for an efficient and fairly quick plan and action to take initiative six and a half years after the initial appearance of the wild white rabbits.

Mr. Johnson was very old now and relied on his grand and great grand children to aid in continued care and preventive killing of the white rabbits which some poachers had been so bold as to come on Bill property and kill the white rabbits. The first actions taken, by the state, were that wild white rabbits were only legally to be permitted to be killed if found on a farmers property or any area outside of the federal White Rabbit National Park. Farmland closest to Mr. Johnson's place, which only included 3 farms in addition to Mr. Johnson's property, were purchased by the federal government to make up the national park. Now the rabbits had federally protected natural area to live and survive in without facing extinction.

The farmers, that had their farms bought, had already made fortunes from the selling of the white rabbit pelts and were no longer farming for a way of life and anger did not describe how they felt when their new way of life was taken from them by the federal government not only taking (buying) their land but directly removing their abundant and free access to the white rabbits. Mr. Fable had long and extensive conversations with the federal government about just such a situation and reaction from the three farmers and the compensation agreed on was well over what the government typically paid for land to land owners but John was not an unfair or cruel person so he finally negotiated that the three farmland owners be compensated for enough that would permit the three families to live well for them and their grand children. So when the three families took their complaints to the local, state and even national communities they had a short life of attention from the public once their compensation was notified to the public. Squelched on all levels, the three families eventually moved out of the area. The quaint friendly farming community was not more after all the media attention. Bill and John's once friends and neighbors were now mostly business men and now enemies or strangers consisted mostly of their neighbors due to the population of the community had increased ten fold in recent years from the popularity of their town from national media coverage.

On the opening day of the national park, eight years to the date of the appearance of the wild white rabbits, only VIPs had access to the central area of White Rabbit National Park. The center of the park consisted of the local community of the remaining (7) farming families, Mr. Fable, Mr. Johnson and all of his family, Park Rangers, of course local, state and national media and other elected local, state and federal officials. There was really no way of controlling the masses so the park was basically open to the general public on its opening day. The day, to say at the least, was extremely eventful.

Mr. Johnson's original house was at the center of the national park. An observation tower was an addition to the Bill's property along with picnic attributes. The original house remained with an additional building matching the size of Bill's house being added onto Bill's house to serve as a gift shop and the surrounding rock wall was expanded to allow for the watch tower, picnic area, addition to Bill's house (yes, Bill and his wife remained living in their house) and a respectable acreage for open space was also allotted in the enclosed rock wall. John, too, was an elderly man now and this was the cause of his late arrival to the opening day event. Upon John's arrival, John immediately sought his old and best friend Bill. The two of them were surrounded by all of Bill's grand and great grand children. The fact that Bill had lived long enough to see a few of his great grand children was a historical moment in itself! However, the most spectacular moment was intensely being waited on by all, and I do mean all, in attendance. Everyone who knew about the wild white rabbits knew Bill was their original caretaker and John was, in some way, bonded with them too from his research and park founding.

Without notice to any one, John nodded to his old friend and Bill and John walked outside the enclosed rock wall beyond where everyone was gathered. A chair had been placed for Bill to sit here during the completion of the building of the new additions to Bill's property so that Bill could have a place to remain close to his friends the wild white rabbits. Bill sat in the chair while John stood behind the chair. The gathering was so silent a pin dropping could have been heard. The fifteen minutes that passed seemed like hours with the anticipation mounding every minute with regards to all except John and Mrs. Johnson did not know what was going on. You were one of the very few of John's relatives and a few media and a few officials closest to John and Bill if you heard it. Due to Bill's age and weakness John aided Bill in the soft clapping.

What little murmuring existed ceased immediately per the result of Bill's and John's clapping and was replaced with unanimous sighs of disbelief and media photos later revealed expressions of amazement and disbelief on people's faces, except the three that knew what was to happen had smiles on their faces. Very soon after Bill and John clapped their hands, hundreds of rabbits appeared at the forest edge and began spilling into the open area at the edge of the woods. Most of the rabbits were white but you could also see regular colored wild rabbits as well. One journalist later wrote you would have thought it was if Bill's family and the rabbit's family (the initial two John brought to Bill) had come intentionally, that day, to meet each other.

The following was even more spectacular than the appearance of the wild rabbits. It could have appeared as a stand off as man vs. rabbit if you were an unknowing spectator but everyone gathered knew this was a loving and friendly gathering of man and rabbits. John walked out behind Bill's chair and proceeded to walk half the distance between the chair and open space to where the gathered rabbits were seemingly waiting. John looked back at Bill and smiled and even though John knew Bill could not see him as John could not see Bill either that they shared mutual smiles (just like that day when John and Bill smiled at each other after having an unspoken intellectual jest with the elders of the community) -- this was the same smile they now shared with the exception the jest being replaced with admiration and respect for each other and their friends the rabbits.

John faced the rabbits and let his old body collapse to a sitting position on the ground. John's body had no sooner hit the ground when the wild rabbits began approaching John. Again a single gasp was heard from the gathered crowd. The numbers of rabbits surrounding John and all the rabbits there were unknown. The wild rabbits filled the entire open space between Bill and John and the forest's edge. Only the people in the watch tower were able to observe the most spectacular -- a two foot empty perimeter surrounded John by rabbits. John extended his forward and it was said, by the observers in the tower, that two grey like rabbits approached first and then a dozen white rabbits approached John.

After about ten minutes all the rabbits began receding back into the forest. No body moved or spoke until the last rabbit was out of sight. John stood and went back to Bill to help Bill back to a picnic table in the enclosed rock wall where his family eagerly awaited their arrival. John left Bill to address all the awaiting questions from his family. John attended his own inquiry party from the gathered media. John, losing some of his tact for mass social events of strangers, stated he would elaborate on the event to the best of his and Bill's understanding and that there would be absolutely no other involvement with himself or Bill anytime in the future to discuss the event. Now that John had intentionally struck a chord of community's frankness to the media that, to be honest, appeared to shock the media into silence; John took advantage of the shock and silence but stating that when he raised his hand the interview was over. John eased the shock to the media by explaining that such demands were out of respect to his dear friend Bill's and his very old age and their frailties.

This was a time where media was not as rude as they are in today's times and John's demands were respectfully met and honored by the entire media society. It is not known why but at the end of John providing a very general telling of the event, which basically recaptured what everyone had seen or heard (excluding the watch tower media), and choosing a very few local journalist to entertain questions, John intentionally answered their questions with vague replies. John pointed to a young journalist whom the journalist thought he was next to ask a question.

The journalist was about to ask a question when John's gesture was modified from pointing to waving the young journalist forward. Upon the young man reaching, John motioned the young journalist to stand beside him. John raised his hand and said, "Now I am done with this interview. Please excuse me and respect Bill's and my demands with not further involvement of inquiries of myself and absolutely no inquiries of Bill." John stood and motioned the young journalist to follow him. John had intended to take the journalist into Bill's house for a private extended one-on-one interview discussion. Upon approaching the back door of Bill's house, as if someone had asked him to, John looked back at his dear friend Bill enjoying his family.

John asked the journalist to wait at the house while he took a moment to speak with Bill. Without waiting for a reply from the journalist, John proceeded to make his way to Bill. Upon reaching Bill, John leaned down so Bill could whisper into John's ear. John stood erect and said, "sure old friend you can lay down and rest here." This caught all around them to go silent. The children to either side of Bill got up and made room for their grandfather to lie down. Everyone knew Bill was dying. Before Bill's head was placed on the picnic bench, Bill had passed. Bill's family looked at John sadly and tear faced and expectantly inquiring and John simply shook his head yes.

John left Bill to his family's care. John approached the young journalist waiting at Bill's back door. John asked the journalist for his contact information and informed the young man that Bill had passed and asked the young journalist if he would please leave without mentioning Bill's passing to anyone in respect to Bill and Bill's family. John said if the young man would honor his request then he would contact him at a later date for an exclusive and very detailed historical one-on-one interview that would begin from the beginning of the appearance of the wild white rabbits to present day. The journalist was caught up in a mix of sadness of Bill's passing and the excitement of an interview that would make his career as a journalist and was unable to reply before John simply walking away. John's astute ability of observing people allowed him to know the young man would honor his request without hesitation or question. John remorsely thought of how Bill would have enjoyed that encounter with the young journalist and smiled in memory of his beloved and departed friend Bill.

Chapter 3
It is not known how, but Bill's passing was not made known to the attending journalists or attending officials until a few days later. This is even more amazing considering there were still media persons in the watch tower. Everyone remained a few hours longer after Bill had passed then finally around sunset the property surrounding Bill's house was empty of all except family members. Bill, John thought, would appreciate the monument but not all the public attention his funeral received.

A statue of Bill Sitting in a chair with a rabbit in his lap was erected at his grave site which was inside the rock wall on his property next to his house. The commemoration plate on Bill's statue read as follows:
Loved husband, friend to the wild white rabbits and dearest friend to Tim Sponkinovich." Only Bill's wife and John knew who Tim was and because Bill's wife knew how Bill and John like intellectual mischief and that this person's name on Bill's statue would create speculation for decades to come is why Mrs. Johnson agreed to the ploy. Tim's name was Bill's final mysterious and mischievous contribution to society.

About six months after Bill's passing, Mrs. Johnson passed too. Mrs. Johnson was buried next to her husband and her gravestone read, "Loving and dear wife, mother and best friend to her husband and Tim, the caretakers of the wild white rabbits." Upon Mrs. Johnson's passing, John recalled the young journalist and the exclusive interview he had promised the young man. John, well into his age and not having any family to share his story with, decided it best to follow-up on his promise to the young journalist.

Some time after Mrs. Johnson's passing, John met with the young journalist for the telling of the history of events surrounding the wild white rabbits. You, the reader, have read the history. Now the unmentioned fillers. John informed the young journalist about Bill clapping his hands; media in the watch tower had not noticed nor had anyone else for that matter which explained the surprise of everyone in attendance surprise at the appearance of the multitude of rabbits. John further elaborated that the media stayed in the tower until everyone left because the two grey rabbits and the dozen white rabbits had come back to the forest edge after all the rabbits had disappeared into the forest and everyone's attention was on socializing with John, Bill, Mrs. Johnson, Bill's family and each other. John said he found this out because the tower media asked him what did the reappearance of the grey and white rabbits at the forest edge mean.

John told the young journalist that he, John, gave a vague comment about something to the effect of who understands nature and its wild animals actions. John said that he knew the journalists did not like that response but it was used in their articles. The young journalist said eh did recall those comments in the articles and had wondered about the validity of such comments considering that no one talked about the reappearance of the rabbits at the park opening day. John explained that there were not supposed to be any media in the watch tower and that somehow they had made it past the lose security up into the tower. John confirmed the validity of the comments of the rabbits reappearing in the articles could very likely be true and not fantasy of writers wanting to make the event even more amazing.

John knew there was something about the young journalist that he instinctively liked. The young journalist did not disappoint John's instinct by his next inquiry. The young journalist asked, "So, which parts were fact and which "could have happened" on that day?" John informed the young man that he need to ask a more president question, such as, "Had anything like all those rabbits appearing at once happened before that day?" Not waiting for a reply from the young man, John elaborated that in the past he and Bill and Bill's wife would meet at least two or three nights a month, sometime after midnight, so as not to draw public attention on Bill property.

Rhetorically the young journalist stated the obvious that the three of them already knew that the rabbits would appear. John vocalized his appreciation his liking the journalist and stated that is why the young man was honored with the special one-on-one interview. John elaborated on the young man's obvious statement by saying yes but it was not entirely expected that the three of them thought there was a chance that nothing would happen due to they would be calling the rabbits during the day with many on lookers that would potentially prevent the rabbits from appearing during the day instead of at their regular callings at night. John said it was a welcome surprise that they did show and it seemed that double the numbers were present than normal callings. John said the appearance of the grey rabbits and the clearing circle around him was extremely surprising and they neither the appearance of the grey rabbits nor the clearing had ever happened before. John said that three of them had a agreed, prior to the day and their planning on this special showing to everyone that if the rabbits did not appear then it would simply be a silent moment in respect to the new protected environment for the wild white rabbits.

Following is dialogue that John and I shared during our one-on-one interview.
Me: "So you got lucky?"
John: "Oh you don't know how lucky and in how many unexpected ways. Do you recall the tower journalists commentaries about the rabbits and their gathering around me?"
Me: "yes"
John: "Well to begin with, Bill, his wife and myself had never witnessed any where close to that many rabbits appearing when Bill would clap his hands. Wait let me back up. Being as the rabbits were wild, Bill's property was obviously never goin to be large enough to hold the ever growing population of rabbits so they soon ventured into the neighboring forested area surrounding Bills property and Bill being the diligent caregiver was always curious as to the approximate numbers of the rabbit population so he just started clapping his hands one day, as Bill told and showed me one day, and amazingly the local rabbits would start gathering around him. Bill said that as time went on it developed to rabbits from the forest would sometimes come out to visit when he clapped his hands. You can imagine the surprise to me as a biologist and these rabbits being "wild". I thought Bill was feeding the rabbits but Bill said he could not afford that and he had no clue as to his special bond to the rabbits.

I did not know what to think of the special visit of the grey rabbits and the circle around me. Typically what would happen when we would call the rabbits is they would come out from the forest and hop up to us but again never anywhere close to the numbers that appeared that day. I recall that day thinking of what Bill and his wife were thinking when they saw so many rabbits appearing. I think we three were as awestruck as everyone else.

I remember thinking later that maybe in some special way like Bill's special bonding that my bond was special because somehow the rabbits knew of my actions involved with their new protected sanctuary. I guess the grey rabbits were the oldest surviving descendants of the original rabbits I initially brought to Bill's property. I can only speculate in a fictitious manner about those unexplainable events because definitely nothing explainable from a scientific aspect. Trust me when I tell you this because I thoroughly investigated that day and it's events.

Before you ask, no the rabbits were not and have not been timid and tame like with anyone else other than Bill, his wife and myself. I would speculate that if anyone had come into the area where the rabbits were gathered that day, other than Bill's wife, that the rabbits would have scattered and panic stricken back into the forest.

I guess because the three of us never showed any threat is why the wild rabbits always were tame like around us."
Me: "Well Mr. Fable, it was all amazing that day and still remains as amazing today to me and many."
John" "As for me too young man."
Me: "Mr. Fable would you entertain two last questions?"
John: saying expectantly and smiling, "sure"
Me: "These questions may appear personal so I apologize and please respectfully decline reply if they are too personal. First, an article from a watch tower journalist said you leaned down to Mr. Johnson and it was written that it was rumored he said something to you and you replied to what he said. I think, Mr. Fable, there is more to that telling than what was written. Would you care to elaborate if my speculation is accurate or was the article correct in what you said to Mr. Johnson's whisper? Again, I apologize if this is too personal of a question. My second question is, and all the general public and Bill's family, except Mrs. Johnson who respectfully deferred to you for comment, who in tarnation is Tim Sponkinovich and why is he noted on Mr. Johnson's statue?"
John: laughing uncontrollably, John said, "Young man you truly are an asset to your paper and the media industry. To your first question. Bill did whisper something very personal to and for me only. I only told his wife what he told me that day because of the personal nature I did not share it with the media. Mrs. Johnson thanked me for telling her Bill's last words and she said she had already suspected he said something to what I told her he said to me that day. Bill whispered to me, "It's time dear friend, good bye."

Now for your most important question of this entire interview and hopefully for years to come about one Tim Sponkinovich. Well lets just say that I know a lot about Mr. Sponkinovich and that the only people that know almost as much about our mutual friend Tim is Bill and his wife and that is all I am willing to elaborate on at this point and time in regards to respecting Bill wanting to keep Tim a mystery to everyone."
Me: "Well, please forgive me for saying this but I think you have already heard the rumors. Everyone is speculating that you are Tim. I will not delve further into the "mystery" of Tim. You demanded and the journalistic community respect and continue to respect your demand of the opening park day of not inquiring of events of that day and we have left the identity Tim as undocumented speculation in respect to you."
John: "In all my years and with the rabbits alone you would think that amazement would be a regular part of my thinking and with regards to nature, I think of all nature as amazing but for mankind to not only abide by the wishes of one man for a specific point in time but to be honorable to continue to abide by such a wish for these many years is an amazement of mankind that I would have not expected.
Pointing out the respectfulness of the media over many years is why I tell you, yes, Tim is me. My real name is Tim L. Sponkinovich. If you will recall, at the beginning of my telling you the history of the wild white rabbits, I informed you that no one knew my real name.
I came to be known as John, I guess, as people call most unknown males "John Doe" and, again, can only guess as to my last name being given to me by the elders of the community as Fable because of all the speculative stories that were circulated about my arrival, who I was and where did I come from. I really like the fictional name so I let it stand and quickly grew accustomed to folks calling me John Fable. The "L" in my real name is for Lionnel. You can not blame me for liking the John Fable name and the mystery around it, can you?[rhetorical]
I told Bill and his wife what my real name is when I first met them and how I came to be known to the community as John Fable. Bill and his wife, liking mystery as much as myself, agreed to keep the secret between the three of us. I guess the reason I confided in Bill and his wife is because they just struck some unidentified cord in me to befriend them with such a secret to the rest of the community and that is what made the three of us so close and like family.
Me: "Well, "Tim," [laughingly I said] I mean John, you, Bill and his wife have had the most amazing lives and I would be honored if you would permit me to do honor to all three of you by putting your story in a paper back instead of a newspaper article because there would be a great injustice to demeaning your three lives in a menial newspaper article that would require editing out for space constraints a lot of interesting and important facts and information. So would you grant me permission to put you lives stories into a book "Mr. Fable"?
John: "Young man, one can throw a book away just as well as they can a newspaper. However, your enthusiasm and desire to honor our lives are not in vain and it would be my honor to have you publish our stories in your book."
Me: "Thank you very much Mr. Fable. You mentioned that you do not have any family, is that correct?"
John: smiling, "Yes, why do you ask?"
Me: "Well I am curious if you will have a revelation on your statue "Mr. Fable"?"
John: laughing, "Young man, you truly should have met Bill. You would have been a welcomed member of our small clan. Lets just say jaws will drop." [more laughing]

One year later John Fable passed away. The young journalist, wanting to keep the characters and mystery of John and Bill alive, asked of John before he passed, if he could publish his book in John's real name Tim L. Sponkinovich as a pen name and author of the book -- John resoundingly agreed!!! John's body was buried next to his only known kin, Bill Johnson and Bill's wife, Mrs. Johnson, in the White Rabbit National Park.

A statue of John Fable was erected next to Bill's with John's hand on Bill's shoulder bent over appearing to whisper something into Bill's ear. The plate on John's statue reads as follows:
A man known publicly as a dear friend to the caretaker of wild white rabbits and his loving wife. John is in heaven waiting for another of his dear friends Tim Sponkinovich.

The journalist passed away many decades ago after John Fable's passing and it was not until after the journalist passed and close friends of the journalist knew of John Fable's story that the journalist's closest friends finally revealed to all the birth name of John Fable.

The journalist's tombstone read:
Have lived an amazing life with amazing friends.
I have gone to meet one of most amazing friends. . . .
John Fable. . . . a.k.a Tim L. Sponkinovich
Edited by A thinker, Apr 20 2014, 01:21 PM.
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