Rose the Bunny

Rosey Red gave me this idea. Make of it what you will.

His name wasn't Scrooge, but it might as well had been.

His actual name was Richard Rose, and throughout the small town he lived in, there was no one richer, but no one less kind or less generous.

And yet there was one person who wanted nothing more than to see his heart soften.

Her name was Penny, and every night she prayed for him, saying “Somebody must have hurt Mr. Rose, which is why he’s so mean. So God, heal his heart.”

Penny knew his unkindness firsthand, because she was the daughter of Rachel Rose, sister to Richard, and was the niece of the man himself.

His treatment of her was no worse than his treatment of anybody else, but little better. Despite this, she pitied him rather than hated him, and so prayed for him each and every night.

The December of that year seemed darker and colder to Penny, so as Christmas approached she spent as much of her time huddling inside as she could. Thus when the doorbell rang on December 24 she ran to answer it, as much to relieve her boredom as any other reason.

At the door was a package, with her name on it.

She grabbed the package and showed it to her mother, saying, “Look, mom. Uncle Richard sent me a Christmas present!”

Her mother looked at the package, and replied, “It seems so. I never thought he would do such a thing without three ghosts visiting him.”

“I can't wait to open it.” Penny exclaimed.

“Tomorrow” He mother stated firmly.

For Penny, the hours seemed to crawl by, but eventually it was Christmas day.

She leapt out of bed, dashed down the stairs, and was sitting by the Christmas tree waiting for permission to open her present from her uncle.

Inside, she first found a paper that looked like an adoption record. It had her name as the new caregiver of a female rabbit named Rose.

Penny then pulled the toy rabbit out of the box, and held it up for her parents to see.

The toy rabbit was dressed in a purple Christmas dress, and even though Penny dutifly opened all her other presents, it was clear that Rose was going to be her favorite.

Since Rose was all dressed up, Penny decided to hold a tea party for the two of them, and that was only the first of the imaginary adventures that Penny would share with Rose.

The day past, as days must, and that night Penny took Rose to bed with her, and before she fell asleep she had shared all her hopes and fears with Rose.

More days went by, until it was New Year’s Eve, and Penny’s parents let her stay up to watch the ball drop, but as soon as they had cheered with the crowd, they sent her to bed.

That night, as Penny slept, a small ball of light entered the room. The ball of light floated above Penny, and then touched the toy rabbit.

Moments later, the light withdrew, and with it was a second light, slightly smaller than the first. Then the two lights left the room.

The two lights went across town, to the mansion owned by Richard Rose, and then to his bedroom, where his body lay, seemingly asleep. The smaller of the two lights entered Richard’s body, and the other faded from sight.

Richard woke with a start, and began to cry, but then the other light returned, and transformed into a beautiful woman, who called his name.

He got out of bed and looked at her, and managed to ask, “It was real, wasn’t it? I spent the last week as Penny’s toy rabbit?”

“Yes, my dear. Did you learn something?” the woman responded.

“I realized why I’ve been so closed off, so much into power and money. I had broken my heart, and shut down emotionally.” He managed.

“And what had broken your heart?” the woman pressed.

“I ... I felt like a girl, but I looked like a boy. And nobody took me seriously when I tried to talk about it. Finally, I just ... quit caring.”

The woman held open her arms, and Richard entered an embrace with her.

A lifetime of hidden pain and guilt came pouring out of Richard.

Much later, there was a phone call at Penny’s house.

Penny’s mother answered it, and even though Penny was mostly focused on the adventure she had devised for herself and Rose the bunny, she could tell that her mother was confused by the call. The phone conversation was followed by a discussion between Penny’s parents, until finally her mother came over to where she was playing.

“Penny, that was your uncle on the phone. He ... wanted us to know something before it became public knowledge.” Penny’s mother told her.

Penny put down Rose the bunny, and gave her mother her full attention, and asked, “What’s happening, Mom?’

“Your uncle told us ... I’m not sure how to put it, but your uncle has told us he plans to become a woman.”Penny’s mother said.

“Like that girl on TV, Jazz Jennings?” Penny asked.

“Yes, something like that.” Her mother replied.

“Well, I guess that explains why he was so sad. I’d be sad too if I had to pretend I was a boy.” Penny stated.

Penny’s mother smiled at her daughter’s easy acceptance of the situation, but she said, “Well, he wanted us to know, before he makes a public announcement. As soona s that happens, your friends may ask you questions, or maybe even tease you about it.”

“It will be ok, Momma. If they have questions I’ll tell them to ask an adult, and if they tease me, I’ll ignore them. If they do worse than tease, I’ll tell the teacher.” Penny responded.

As Penny had been told, a few days later, the reclusive multi-millionaire Richard Rose called a press conference, and wearing a rather pretty dress, announced to the world that Richard was no more, and she would be known as Rosalyn Rose from now on. Not only that, she was going to create the largest LGBT charity in history to help those like her who lacked the advantages she had. However, the part of the press conference that confused the most people was when she thanked her sister, and especially Penny, who had never given up on her.

Penny was not confused, because the night before, she had a dream where a small ball of light entered her room, turned into a woman. That woman showed how Rosalyn had spent the holidays as her toy bunny, and how that time had broken through the armor Roslyn had around her heart, and allowed her to acknowledge her true self.

So when Roslyn thanked her at the press conference, Penny smiled, and whispered a prayer consisting of two words: “Thank you.”

And up in the sky, a star-like light brightened, and then dimmed again.

End.

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