ABC...M

For ABC Wednesday, it's time for M.

And we all know that M is for Maurice.

Maurice tells stories.

Maurice goes to the United States

Maurice picks blackberries.


... and...

the very first photo of Maurice, ever! Fresh from the flea market, he wasn't even named yet.
But he sure was pinker then.
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Poetry Bus to Fantasyland

This week's Poetry Bus topic was chosen by Enchanted Oak, and apparently I was completely distracted because I got the theme utterly wrong. Our mission was to write something based on one or both of the old photographs she posted. Somehow I thought the mission was to revisit a childhood story. No idea where that came from. I seem to be standing at a bus station with a ticket for a ferry.
click on the picture to follow the wormhole to the story. (Not even a poem! Did somebody put something in my lunch?)

The story of PRs

Alright alright.

The hidden-in-plain-sight thing in the Shootout post was Maurice, but you pretty much had to enlarge the pictures to see him. The clue was clicking through to the Swings and Autumn Leaves post over at Pink Rabbit Abroad, but nobody did that.

You probably wonder what is it with this plush toy.

Pipe down and I’ll tell you the story of Maurice and the Pink Rabbit Obsession.

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There’s history there, so let’s begin at the beginning.
It started at the library. Our local branch, Serra Mesa, was quite small, but in the front room, facing the desk behind which The Librarian ruled, they made an attempt at a kid space, with low chairs and a low table. Eventually a large, very large, stuffed pink rabbit was added. For “ambiance”, I suppose. A kind donation. It was huge, not new, and frankly quite frightening.
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A girl I liked was often there at the library, and, being the sort who doesn’t know what to do with myself when I like somebody, I delighted in tormenting her. At the least, it got her to notice me.
Anyway, this girl Marie was particularly sensitive to the horribleness of the monstrous pink rabbit inhabiting the children’s section of the library. It would move around, visiting the reference stacks, and Literature for Big People. Then it would migrate back to Children’s, and Marie would screw up her courage to touch it and push it out of sight. Sometimes I would hide it just around the corner by the drinking fountain and she’d go for some water and **ack**.

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One day the library seemed blissfully free of its large pink horror. Marie was enjoying her books in peace. Then she went to the bathroom, opened the stall, and what was there taking up the entire space but the rabbit.
She was terrorized.
Scarred for life.
Anytime after that you could mention pink rabbits, or lime jello, and she’d tremble.
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Some time later, after we became real friends, I started giving Marie pink rabbits. It’s therapeutic, isn’t it, to face your fears? A cute porcelain one for her birthday, a fluffy one for Christmas. For years and years the collection grew. Through college. Through grad school. Through marriage, and divorce (for me). Through moving across the country and back and forth again and over the sea.
Then one day, nearly 30 years after the initial episode, I saw Maurice at the flea market. Bought him, of course, for the outrageous sum of 50 centimes.
But for some reason, I didn’t send him.
The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain had just come out, with its peripatetic garden gnome, and I thought... Hmm. What if I had a stuffed traveling companion...
The rest is called Pink Rabbit Abroad. (Dot blogspot dot com!)
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Friday Shoot Out: M

Aha! This week's Shoot Out theme is M, is it? Around here, M is for Maurice.
Yes, my friends, Maurice the fabulous travelling rabbit has come to guest-blog for us. Normally he can be found here. He is still figuring out how the Superhero cape works. Ellie here is going to help me demonstrate my SuperJumping Power.

See how high I can jump!

Oof. Landing is still a little rough.

Let's try that again. You guys catch me.

Oooh, sorry Bjorn.

I bet you I can jump all the way to the roof.

I did it! Um. Help me down somebody?

Thanks.

Let's all jump!

I guess we all need to work on that landing part.