Every week I will be posting a short story that will be loosely based on that weeks either most interesting or popular news story. It will be a modern modern retelling since technically it JUST HAPPENED. I played with this idea awhile back when I wrote a story based on the rare small bunny that was killed at his own press conference ( http://now.msn.com/rare-bunny-stepped-on-killed-at-his-own-press-conference). The best ideas and creative efforts often come from real life, this is apparently so in the form of Hollywood glad-handing as most best pictures nominees and winners are based on true life events. I'm trying a new spin. To get you started, below is "A Rare Event" based on the bunny. It is a bit long at 11 pages. The new ones will be much shorter, 5 and under.
I will be back next week with a new story and the posted link to the original news story that the short story is based off of. Feel free to leave creative feedback or any suggestions for a news story you would like to see re-imagined! Enjoy! -HZ
The Cameraman
Everything seems very off at 5 a.m.
In many ways it seems quieter than any other time of morning, or night,
supposing on the circumstances of one’s job.
Danny’s job involved a lot of 5 a.m.
mornings; he was used to the distant trains waking him up five minutes before
this alarm went off, the still feeling in his bedroom, the glowing red numbers
of his alarm clock glaring at him from across the room.
It was Saturday and Danny was on
assignment that day. All he knew about the event he would be shooting was that
it was at the zoo and that its start time afforded him a wake-up call of 7 a.m.
instead of 5 a.m. It was practically sleeping in.
Danny still woke at 5 a.m., a
combination of two facts; he had forgotten to reset his automatic coffee maker,
a present to himself on his 30th birthday, it filled his small one
bedroom apartment with warm vanilla and espresso flavors that he associated
with standing, and holding and sipping. The other thought was who would be the
reporter he was teamed up with that day.
WRFP was currently number 3 in the
local ratings, something Danny chalked up to a lack of focus on the stuff
people really wanted to see, crime and violence. Rather WRFP devoted copious
time to fluff pieces. It amused Danny to see the reporters remain loquacious at
events that would barely solicit interest from a sloth, hence his zoo assignment.
Danny figured it would have something to do with a new animal. He suspected Heather,
Brian, Natalie, Marcus, or the other weekend reporter Shawnie would be stuck
wondering through the crowd of moist, sticky faced kids, overweight moms, and
disenchanted dads. They would be forced to ask them all how excited they were,
while Danny lugged his camera around trying not to hit any of the kids in the
face with the huge lens. He would also try not to get mad at an ass hole
“waver” pre-teen who would no doubt ruin his shot by standing in the background,
getting a hard on from being on the number 3 ranked local news for 3 seconds. But
wavers were always inevitable, and sometimes encouraged at sporting events. One
time Danny had a waver at the candlelight vigil of some teen shot down in gang
violence situation, he was disgusted.
Rather than attempt to go back to
sleep, Danny decided to slow down his normal morning routine, have that extra
cup of coffee, have the warm water of his shower run against his back a little longer, even read the real news, the
world news. As he finished his second cup of coffee, he hoped that Natalie
would be reporting today, though he would not know until he arrived at the
station.
“Hey there Dan-ster!”
“Fuck”, he thought, “of course it had
to be Marcus.”
“Hey Marcus.” Danny spoke flatly as
to counteract Marcus fake and overzealous attitude. Marcus never knew how to
turn if off when the cameras were not rolling and it drove Danny crazy. Danny
was looking down at the van assignment clipboard, they were to be in one of the
nicer ones today. At least something was looking up.
“Today should be short and sweet, ma
man. I highly doubt this bunny will draw that much of a crowd.”
“Bunny?”
“Yeah, it’s some small rare bunny,
it does not have any ears so it kinda looks like a gerbil or something, but I’m
guessing a little cutter, otherwise who would give a shit right?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Let’s roll, I’m ready when you
are.”
“Let's get this over with.”
The Child
Regan was awake early. She heard her
mom in the kitchen talking to her dad, but could not make out what they were
saying, but she knew she smelled bacon and was hungry. But first she had
business to attend to.
All of her stuffed animals were
horribly out of order and in disarray on her bed. She knew it was her fault,
that she moved a lot in her sleep and it was she who often kicked Coco, her
teddy bear off the bed. Or accidently group together the cat, Boots, and the
dog, Fred, who were not very good friends in what looked like a friendly
embrace.
“You two stop it!” She whispered and
she moved Boots to the other side of the stuffed animal line, setting him next
to another bear named Pockets who wore a plaid vest. She continued to whisper
as she addressed her friends so her Mom would not know that she was up. She
turned he head to the door when she heard it open.
“Look who is up!”
“Hi Mom.”
“Your Dad is cooking breakfast, you
hungry?”
“Um, yeah I think so.”
“Who is coming to breakfast with you
today?”
Regan scanned her line of stuffed
animals. She wanted to treat them all with equal attention, so when she saw
Horsey starring up at her, she knew it was his turn.
At the table Regan poked at her
scrambled eggs. She had asked for more bacon and was told no, she needed to eat
the other food on her plate first.
Her Dad had been busy reading the
paper when he looked over the top and spoke nonchalantly.
“You know Regan, your Mom and I have
a surprise for you today.”
“What is it!”
“I’ll show you.” Regan had not
noticed but her Dad had been hiding something behind his wide open paper. He
lifted it over the top and to Regan’s most delighted surprise, it was a small
stuffed rabbit like the one she had seen on candy labels at the store lately.
She snatched it quick and brought it close to her face to feel the soft fur and
to smell the slightly perfumed head.
“What do you say?”
“Thank you! I love him!”
“So it’s a him, huh?”
“Yeah, Hoppy.”
“That’s a good name. Well that’s not
all, you know what else we are going to do today?”
Regan shook her head no, still holding
the rabbit close to her face.
“We are going to go to the zoo.
There is new bunny there, kinda like Hoppy, except this one does not have long
ears like a normal bunny.”
“Really, he probably does not look
like a bunny then.”
“I’m sure he has other features that
make him look like a bunny. His body will still be the same, he will still have
whiskers and the face of a bunny.” Regan looked skeptical, but a trip to the
zoo was a trip to the zoo. She lowered her new addition from her face.”
“When do we get to go?”
The Handler
Nina scanned the audience space from the flimsily put together stage. “Folding chairs on a grassy knoll, typical.”
She thought.
The day was perfect in many
respects, there were a few clouds in the sky with a slight breeze, shifting the
temperature to comfortably warm to slightly chilled ever so often. She heard
the unmistakable sounds of a peacock and was surprised to see one weaving its
way through the chairs.
“Julie!” Nina called out concerned.
Within moments a small, slightly plump girl in khaki shorts and an olive green
polo came bounding up to her.
“Everything okay Ms. Whitney?”
“Is that peacock, out? Or loose or
something?”
“Yeah, well no, we have a few of
them, they have an “open exhibit.”
“Well can we keep them in a “closed”
exhibit for the event? If one of those birds eats Olly this zoo will be in some
serious shit, okay?”
“Not a problem, Ms. Whitney.”
Julie was zoo liaison to Nina
Whitney, the handler of Olly. Some of the other zoo staff preferred to think of
Nina as the Bunny’s agent or PR, that Nina’s attitude exuded everything but
“animal handler.” Before Julie had a chance to run off to fix the peacock
situation, Nina stopped her.
“You made sure to keep his cage half
in the sun and half in the shade right?”
“Yes Ms. Whitney.”
“Great. Tee minus two hours. Do you
know when the press is getting here?”
“Sorry, could not tell you. When we
had the African Penguins here one year, some showed up early, some just with
the other people.” Julie was pleased to get the honor of essentially being Ms.
Whitney’s assistant for the day, but her questions were starting to nag.
“Thanks anyway Julie, I’ll see you
in a bit.”
Nina Whitney had come a long way
since assisting Hank Dooley, the man known for bringing exotic or unique
animals to late night and day time talk shows. He helped her understand animals
in show business versus animals in the wild, how their roles are more than just
to exist in nature and be a part of a greater picture there, but to influence
humans in their daily lives as well.
Nina came to terms that this was no
San Diego Zoo, and that she would just have to accept the mediocrity that came
with towns with populations under 15,000. If anything she was pleased that the
town was able to have Olly in their zoo for two weeks, that his petite face and
sweet demeanor could and would, bring joy to the joyless.
Olly
Olly was alert. His black eyes wide as people shuffled back and forth
and all around his cage in preparation for his big reveal. His pale brown fur
speckled with patches of black had been brushed earlier and was now slightly
puffier than normal. A great deal of straw had been taken out of his cage to
ensure none of it would stick to his freshly groomed fur.
Nina approached the cage, her
forehead shiny from the stress of the day. She crouched down to become eye
level with Olly.
“Hey little guy! How ya doin’ in
there? Ready for your big day!?” Nina opened up the cage and gently picked Olly
up by the scruff of his tiny neck and set him in her left palm, he fit
perfectly. As she gently pet him his little black eyes squinted in pleasure, as
Nina was the closest thing to a Mom Olly had. His true owner was somewhere in
Austria, too busy scouting other new and interesting animals to add to his
collection. More animals to take away from their mothers, all to be loaned out
to zoos all across America and Europe.
“Okay, you! Back you go. We will see
you later!” Nina put her band back in the cage so Olly could hop off her hand.
He made his way over to his water bottle and lapped at the drip with fervor,
like an athlete about to embark on a long marathon knowing that hydration was
key to a long day.
The Child
Regan knew that they should have been earlier. At seven years old, she
was already exhibiting crowd and punctuality anxiety.
“We are never gonna get a good
seat!” She protested to her Dad, binoculars flopping against his chest gently
as he walked. He was holding Regan’s hand, her other occupied by Hoppy.
“Stop that, we are plenty early
Regan. Even if we don’t get a good seat, Dad brought the binoculars.”
Regan looked around at all the other
kids. There were strollers getting pushed, balloons twisted into crowns atop
the heads of boys and girls sitting on their father’s shoulders, a faint smell
of wet grass lingered in the air, as did a variety of snacks; popcorn, caramel
apples and corn dogs. It smelled like the Fourth of July on a farm.
As they neared the seating area
Regan jumped as she walked so she could get a better look at the stage. There
were some tall plants adorning each side of the stage, the back drop was of a
metal mesh so that the abundant foliage behind it gave the sense the stage was
almost a cage all on its own. Regan saw a camera, and a man with a microphone
talking to lady with short red hair.
“ I want to see the bunny!” She said
again in hopes of urging her parents to walk faster.
“It’s not yet noon. We have time now
calm down okay?” Her Mom said slightly exasperated. Regan held her Dad’s hand a
little tighter as she was beginning to feel that he would be the nicer one
today.
They sat beside an old couple who
did not have any children with them. They both had oversized sunglasses and
large binoculars around their necks. The man wore a hat that sat atop his head
rather than actually be on it and the women an oversized men’s fishing hat with
a large brim. Regan’s Mom sat her down between herself and the couple. Regan
was slightly disappointed that Hoppy did not get a seat for himself.
“Are you excited to see Olly?” The
old man leaned over to speak to Regan. At first she was scared. She was told
not to talk to strangers but the man had a big smile and her parents were right
next to her.
She nodded yes, then asked, “Who is
Olly?”
“Why that is the name of the Bunny!
All the way from Austria!”
“Where is that?”
“Across the Ocean, very far away
from here. He is a very special ya know?”
“Cause he does not have any ears?”
“That’s part of it.”
Regan looked around again. All the
aluminum gray folding chairs were almost full. She heard other kids asking
their moms and dads similar questions about the bunny, mostly about when they
would get to see him. Regan decided she did not want to be like the other kids,
and refrained from asking her Dad again, despite the nervous anticipation
feeling in her stomach.
The Cameraman
All Danny could smell was animal
shit. He and Marcus had spent the first hour at the zoo interviewing people,
asking questions so blatantly obvious it made Danny want to strangle himself
with Marcus’s obnoxiously purple tie.
“So what brings you here today to
see Olly?” Marcus was squatting down to get the opinion of a 4 year boy with
wild curly hair and a red popsicle stain ring around his mouth, which meant
that Danny had to squat too, heavy equipment and all. To Danny, children’s
events meant strength building in the quads and calves.
“Umm…cause he is different.”
“Different huh? You like different
types of animals?
“Yeah.”
“What’s your favorite type of
animal?”
“Ummm…a tiger.”
“Not a bunny?”
“ I like them too.”
The interview ended shortly after
that. Kids’ answers in interviews were always unpredictable, just like the
wavers. Marcus motioned for Danny to follow him to the stage to get the “behind
the scenes” shot.
“I got us a quick interview with the
handler.”
“Then we are done?” Danny said
hopefully.
“I was thinking it would be good to
get a few shots of the kids’ reactions when the bunny comes out. I think it
will round out the piece nicely.
“Marcus this is like a two minute
segment!’
“ I gotta do my wrap up Danny.
Besides, are you not the least bit curious to see a tiny bunny with no ears?”
Marcus, its Saturday. I’m a 33 year
old man. I have a long list of other things I would rather be doing today.” Danny
noticed that Marcus did not really even listen to his response anyway for he
was approaching a women with short red
hair. The two of them shook hands and once again Marcus motioned for Danny to
join him. It annoyed Danny, as all the other reporters just trusted that Danny
would be there for the shot. It seemed to Danny that Marcus obviously liked
showing people that the cameramen and camerawomen of WRFP were below him.
“Danny this is Nina Whitney, Olly’s
handler.” Marcus stepped aside so that the two could shake hands.
“Pleased to meet you Ms. Whitney.”
Danny thought Nina quite pretty. Her hair was cropped around her face,
showcasing its heart shape. She had light brown eyes that completed her
complexion and a subtle smile that came out as they shook hands.
“Nina, please.”
“Nina,” Marcus stared in with his shtick,
“So I’m just going to ask you a few quick questions about Olly, maybe get a
shot of him hopping around for all the folks that can’t be here today?
Nina hesitated a moment and Danny
could tell she seemed slightly put off by the request. After a long pause, Nina
looked up to Danny and said yes, even though she should have directed her
answer at Marcus.
The Handler
Nina felt a little flustered after shaking hands with the cameraman
named Danny. He had the stature and build, the permanent 5 O’ clock shadow she
liked on a man. She had been focusing exclusively on work for the past year and
at that moment, a thought of having some fun with this cameraman while she was
in town for two weeks excited her, all assuming he was single and felt the same
attraction toward her. The morality
switch in her head instantly put the thought off as she was too stressed about
the event to even focus on flirting. Her thoughts returned to Olly.
“And three, two, one!” Nina’s
stomach pulled itself as Danny counted down the time until the cameras would
roll. She was used to cameras, but today was different.
“ Were here with Nina Whitney,
Olly’s handler and former assistant to Hank Dooley, famed nature show host and
exotic animal expert. Nina, what can you tell us about Olly’s unique
appearance?”
“Olly is a actually not a different
species of rabbit. His ear-lessness is the result of a genetic mutation in the
womb. All of Olly’s brothers and sisters were born with ears. It’s just very
rare that this type of thing happens. I don’t know the exact numbers but it
does not happen very often.”
“And how old is Olly?”
“He is about 4 months old so he’s
still a baby.”
“His small size is probably one of
the big draws for people here today. Will he get any bigger?”
“His Mom was not very big so I
anticipate, not much more than he is now. He sits in the palm of your hand perfectly.”
“How many more stops does Olly have
on his tour?”
“We have a few more here in the
States, then a few back in Europe.”
“All right that’s good, I think we
got it!” Marcus said to Danny who lowered his camera. Nina never even saw him
hit a switch to turn it off but assumed it was hidden somewhere.
“Really? That’s all you need?”
“Well now we have to get some
footage of the star of the hour!”
Olly
Olly had shuffled as much of the hay as he could in his cage into the
corner to make a comfortable place to nap in. His eyes were shut tight, the
only movement came from the twitching of his nose.
Nina approached the cage and
unlatched the door. She gently picked up Olly who was now awake from the
sensation of being lifted from his makeshift bed. She picked the hay out of fur
then gave him a few pets. Marcus and Danny also approached him and used their
pointer finger to stroke Olly’s head and back.
“He is pretty cute after all I
guess.” Danny remarked.
“How could you not find this guy
cute!” Marcus was sounding more and more like a game show host as the day wore
on.
“Here, you can get some footage of
him hopping.” Nina crouched down and set Olly on the floor.
Danny readied his camera.
Olly more slid off than hopped off
Nina’s hand. He stayed still, his eyes now wide open and his nose twitching
more furiously than it had been earlier during his slumber. He took a small
apprehensive hop forward. Danny had to crouch again, even lower than before to
get the shot. Olly took another, then anther. With each small hop his direction
changed toward the direction of Danny who had to back up. He was on his
haunches in an almost bizarre crab walk, slowly creeping backward as Olly
hopped toward him. Danny, unable to focus on what was behind him, hit a table,
and lost his balance. He had one eye to focus on where his knee and free hand
would fall to catch himself, but it was too late. He came down on both knees
hard, almost dropping the camera to the floor, but feeling something under his
right knee, something that was now feeling a little moist. He knew.
He heard Nina shutter in horror,
then scream, “Oh my god Olly!”
The Child
Regan had been waiting patiently. Her Dad had gone to get her a corndog
and her Mom was one her phone, squinting at the screen. The old man next to her
was occasionally asking her random questions about what kids her age were
learning in school and what her favorite animal at the zoo was. Regan was
talking about the monkeys when she heard parts of the crowd start to talk a lot
louder than they had before. Even the old man diverted his attention upward and
even stood to get a better look at what was happening. Regan looked to her Mom
who had since put her phone away.
“Mommy what’s happening?”
“I’m not sure sweetie, just hold on
a sec okay?” Regan’s Mom stood and put her hand over her brow to better shield
out the sun and find her husband. She spotted him half way up the aisle, wrangling
three corndogs and a large soda. His face looked concerned. He slowly made his
way through across peoples’ legs and went to whisper in his wife’s ear.
Regan looked up intently, upset that
no one was telling her anything. She hated adult secrets. After her Dad
finished, her Mom put her hand to her mouth.
“Are you serious?” She almost
whispered. He nodded his head and the old man joined in.
“You find out what is going on?”
“Yeah.” He handed the food off to
his wife and sat down next to Regan, ignoring the old man who he knew would
have no problem dealing with the circumstances of what has just happened.
“Sweetheart, the bunny is not going to be here today.”
Regan felt instant disappointment
and could sense the tears welling up in her eyes. “But why?”
“Well, he was just so special and
rare that he--” He was struggling. Even though this was not on par with explaining
the loss of a family pet, he knew his daughter’s affections for animals ran
deep and that a public meltdown was inevitable. He looked over at his wife
briefly who was already getting their stuff ready for departure. “He had to go where
he was more needed.”
Regan looked up confused.
“Randy, just tell her the truth.”
His wife said through gritted teeth.
“What?” Regan pleaded.
“We will talk about when he get
home, okay sweetheart? We will even get an ice cream on the way back okay?”
“But I want to stay here!”
“C’mon Regan, your Dad said it was
time to go so let’s go.”
Regan began to sob out of
disappointment, confusion and sadness. Her Dad picked her up so she would not
have to be drug out of the zoo, sobbing and flailing in a tantrum.
As the three of them made their way
back toward the entrance, Regan could see through the cloudiness of her tears
that she was not the only kid crying at the zoo that day. She gripped onto
Hoppy and sobbed into her Dad’s shirt.
The Handler
Nina was relieved to finally get Olly in a little handkerchief and into
a box. Her mascara had made its way under her eyes from crying. As she closed
the lid to the box the same thought that had come into her head the second it
happened re-emerged, “You should have
never taken him out of that cage, never!” She felt guilty for wanting to
help the news crew with their shot, guilty for thinking the cameraman would
like her more if she let him get the footage. Though it had not been her knee
that crushed poor Olly, she felt the full burden of his death throughout her
body.
“You were so special. I’m sorry.”
She looked over at his empty cage and felt another tear fall down her cheek,
which she wiped away quickly. Julie came up from behind her.
“Ummm, Ms. Whitney, don’t worry
about taking anything down. We got everything from here. You just focus on,
well you know.”
“Thanks Julie.” Nina said flatly.
“I’m real sorry about the bunny.”
“Me too, at least it was fast.”
The Cameraman
Danny arrived home at eight after a very unpleasent meeting with the
station manager, Kyle.
Forced to stare at the blood spot on
his knee that had since dried from the accident, the meeting became a horrible
reminder of so many things; children’s tears, Nina’s tears, Marcus’ utter
disbelief and now the screaming of Kyle.
“You realize you may have just
ruined the reputation of this station, right!?”
“I don’t know what else to tell you
Kyle, it was an accident!” Marcus was the one that wanted that footage anyway!”
“Don’t shift the blame to Marcus,
you’re the one with the blood on your hands here, or knee or whatever. You know
right now there are other stations at that zoo covering the murder of that
bunny at the hands of a WRFP cameraman!”
“Like I said, I’m sorry I killed the
bunny, I did not mean to.” Danny felt like shit for being an ass about the
bunny all morning. Earlier when he was watching its dainty hop through the lens
of his camera, a feeling of giddiness overtook him as did a smile to accompany
it. He felt awful for destroying something so innocent.
“You killed our weekend feature
piece story!” Kyle looked at some arbitrary object on his desk. Danny looked
out the window. All he wanted to do was leave and change his pants. The pause
between them lasted for what seemed like hours.
“Are you going to fire me?” Danny
said impassively.
“No. No Danny I’m not going to fire
you. I am going to send you on a one week leave of absence until this blows
over. If I know those pricks over at WKLP like I think I do, they will have one
of their investigative rats in here wanting info and interviews and I want the
guy responsible for the death of the earless bunny gone. Understand?”
“Yeah.”
“Be more careful next time. Sit in a
chair for Christ sakes.”
“Okay.”
As soon as Danny walked through the
door of his apartment, he took his pants off and threw them in the trash with
disgust.
Olly
Olly was in his cage
again, but it was not in the same place. It was in a field and the cage was
open. Olly moved to the opening apprehensively then paused.
Tall grass, short
grass, flowers and trees were all around. Olly heard a faint noise and moved
his body in the direction it came from. It was like his own reflection but
different. His brothers, sisters, his Mom were all there, moving about by a log
covered in moss. A few small insects buzzed above them. Olly’s black eyes
widened, his short legs tingled with excitement.
Olly hopped out of the cage. It disappeared
behind him as he made his way to a small sea of ears.
