The Duck and the Rabbit

Tenth story in the Fantastic Dreams collection.

One warm day after school, JD and Vin sat down on the floor of the den to watch their newest cartoon video before dinnertime.

"What's up Doc?" asked Bugs Bunny on the screen.

"It's duck season and Elmer Fudd wants to eat me," complained Daffy Duck angrily.

"And you want my help?"

"Yes, I can't get rid of him. He's been following me all week." Daffy Duck didn't look at all happy.

"Dinnertime, boys," called Chris Larabee from the kitchen.

"Just a minute, Dad," called back Vin, wanting to watch the whole cartoon first.

"No, Vin; NOW!" was the reply from Chris. He'd had a bad day at work and wasn't in the mood to be patient.

Vin knew better than to argue with his dad, so pressed stop on the video remote and turned the TV off.

After dinner, both boys returned to the den to finish watching the cartoon. They sat down and Vin turned on the TV, then pressed play on the video.

A loud bang had the men come running, to find a small amount of smoke coming out of the video player. Vin switched off the TV, shocked by the occurrence.

"Boys, you better go to your room and play, while we sort this out," said Chris, as he and Buck cautiously approached the video machine.

Vin and JD left the den and went to their room, disappointed that they hadn't seen the rest of their new video which might be broken now.

"Maybe we'll dream about it tonight like we dream about a lot of stuff we watch," suggested JD.

"You can't choose what you dream about," argued Vin, annoyed that the video machine was broken and they'd never see what happened next in the cartoon.

JD heard the quack of a duck and opened his eyes; what was a duck doing in the boys' bedroom? He hadn't been there when the boys went to bed earlier.

"Elmer Fudd's after me! You have to hide me under your bed!" exclaimed Daffy Duck, standing beside JD's bed. JD noticed he was still in his bedroom for this dream. They usually went somewhere else when they dreamed.

"You're too big to fit under my bed," replied JD, noticing that the duck was taller than he looked on TV.

Daffy Duck didn't reply. He just started to get under the little boy's bed, squeezing himself to fit under.

JD heard someone breathing loudly and looked toward his bedroom door. He saw that Elmer Fudd stood there wearing his usual hunting outfit and carrying his rifle.

"Have you seen a big black duck?" Elmer asked. He too looked taller than he did on TV.

"No, Sir," replied JD trying to sound truthful.

"How about that wabbit, then? I think he's hiding the duck."

"No, we don't have any rabbits or ducks here."

"Call me if you see any." Elmer Fudd walked back into the hallway, looking for his animal foes.

Bugs Bunny suddenly appeared, seemingly from thin air. "Is Daffy here?" he asked loudly.

"Shhh!" warned JD, "Elmer's looking for him outside this room."

"I'm not scared of him!" said Bugs loudly.

Before JD could argue, a black hand on the end of a long thin arm stretched out from under the bed and pulled Bugs under, startling both rabbit and boy.

Elmer came back into the room having heard noises. "Was there someone in here with you just now? Perhaps a wabbit?"

JD shook his head.

Elmer Fudd then did something that JD wasn't expecting at all; he turned into a tall devil with red skin, pointed ears and a tail with a point on the end. In his hand he held a large pitchfork. "Do you know what happens to people who lie to me?" he hissed at the boy.

JD shook with terror, too scared to reply, wishing that Vin would come to his rescue.

"Tell me again; where's the wabbit and duck?" asked Elmer's voice that came out of the devil's mouth.

"I don't know; please don't hurt me," begged the little boy, wishing his Da was there.

Suddenly, it began to rain in the bedroom and the devil crouched down on the floor. Then he curled up into a ball, clearly frightened by the wet weather.

An angelic figure appeared complete with long full-length white robes and a golden halo above his head. As it got closer to JD, the little boy gasped in shock; it was Uncle Ezra!

"I apologise that I couldn't arrive sooner and save you from being frightened by that evil manifestation in the first place. The Holy Father would not allow me to leave at that time," informed the man. "That particular devil is frightened by water, so my causing it to rain has stopped him from hurting you in this dream."

"Are you an angel, Uncle Ezra?" asked JD in awe.

"Only in this dream, JD. My appearance was chosen by your unconscious thoughts." As he spoke, Ezra straightened his hair with a comb that he seemed to conjure up out of thin air.

JD looked baffled by Ezra's explanation. "I guess that means you are one. I want to stop dreamin' now 'cause this dream's getting too scary."

"All the scary things in your dreams are created by you, my boy. As you grow up your dreams will be a lot less frightening, I promise."

JD suddenly found himself lying awake in bed. The devil and angel had vanished and JD was pretty certain that if he checked under his bed, Bugs and Daffy would also be gone. He decided to check just in case and confirmed his suspicions - both cartoon characters had vanished.

"Wow, what a dream," the little boy said to himself. "I'm glad that devil got scared by the rain made by Uncle Ezra. The real end of that cartoon couldn't be as good as that dream!"

JD then realized that even if he never saw the cartoon's end he could try and imagine how it ended. He'd tell Vin all about the dream in the morning.

The End