Somewhere down Folly’s Track, 1906
Neddy had been walking for a while but he wasn’t worried. The bunny disappeared every now and again, but he was still able to follow it. The rabbit didn’t seem scared at all but rather to be enjoying a slow ramble in the summer sun just as much as Neddy.
They had been following the dusty track down the hill, further away from the cottage as well as from Harlington.
Neddy stopped for a moment and looked behind him. He wasn’t that far from home and for an instant he wondered if he should turn around and go back. His father would be coming home soon, as well as his brothers.
But when he thought about it, he grew annoyed all over again. Why his brothers had to be so mean sometimes was beyond him.
‘Don’t see why I couldn’t have gone swimming too,’ he said quietly to the rabbit. ‘It’s not fair.’
The rabbit looked up from the piece of grass it was nibbling, but it didn’t look particularly concerned by Neddy’s plight.
He briefly debated about turning around and going home. But Mam was busy with the baby and supper would be ages away, so perhaps he still had a bit of time. Neddy took a step towards the bunny. He wished it would stop hopping away; he really wanted to pat the rabbit and keep it as his friend.
As soon as the rabbit sensed his approach it hopped a couple of jumps further away but this time it changed direction. Up until now, it had been leading Neddy down Folly’s Track, but not anymore. Instead the rabbit left the edge of the track and veered into the tangle of bush.
‘Come back,’ Neddy called out but the rabbit ignored him and, as if to prove a point, took another defiant hop into the undergrowth.
Neddy took one last glance up the track towards his home before following the rabbit through the dry grass and beyond the skinny eucalypt saplings. He hurried, not wanting to lose sight of the animal—it wasn’t scampering off but had certainly increased its pace. The further Neddy wound his way through the bush, the more the heat of the day was lessened by the shade of the trees. He was so intent on following the rabbit as it zigzagged through the dry scrub, fallen branches and clumps of dead grass, that he didn’t take notice which way he was heading.
The rabbit disappeared behind a tumbled log and Neddy stopped to catch his breath. He’d come so far, he didn’t want to lose it now. By the time he made it to the old log and peered behind it, he realised that the rabbit had gone. He sat down on the log with a bump and the sense of loss washed over him. Looking about he saw that he was in a small clearing ringed with tall gums whose branches and grey–green leaves seemed to reach up to the sky. It wasn’t until that moment Neddy became uneasy. The breeze danced through the trees making the bough creak and the leaves rustle. Apart from an unseen bird singing in the distance, the clearing was quiet.
A shiver skimmed down Neddy’s back as he grasped the fact that there was a good possibility he was lost. There was an itch at the back of his throat and hot tears began to well in his eyes. Maybe following the bunny hadn’t been such a good idea; all of a sudden he felt very alone.
The first tear trickled down his cheek. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, but another one followed quickly after it. He dashed that one away as well, but his eyes kept filling up. His lips started to tremble when he heard a rustle not far away. Neddy looked up and saw the little brown rabbit sitting at the base of a gum tree as if waiting for him.
Neddy stood up and wiped the remainder of the tears away.
‘It’s all right, bunny,’ he said, ‘I’m coming, I’m coming.’