quiet riot

the first bottle of vodka lay still, empty. lindsay the rabbit awoke, rubbed his bleary, blurry eyes with bright, white paws, and looked out the window. the first blue mountain stared back. above its cloudy shoulders stretched the blue, blue sky. mr. sea lay quiet, dozing, surfacing every once in a while to giggle and gurgle about some deep, dark, sea secret. all was quiet.

the sudden sense of silence was overwhelming. it hit lindsay the rabbit with force, coming at him from all quarters and pushing him back against the wall. in the face of this sudden wall of calm and quiet, lindsay the rabbit did what any self-respecting rabbit would. he giggled.

closing his rabbit eyes, he dreamed a certain dream. the blue faded, giving way to sepia. in another time, another place, under a lighter, less blue, sky, baudelaire the rabbit set out for india. being bohemian was bad for him, his parents had decided, before thinking about sending him to a place where elephants ostensibly roamed the streets. so, on june 9, 1841 -- exactly 163 years before lindsay the rabbit dreamed his certain dream -- baudelaire left paris on the paquebot des mers du sud. months passed, with the waters flowing quickly and sometimes quietly beneath him. a violent storm forced the ship to at mauritius for repairs. and there, with grey skies above and the heaving, steaming sea below, baudelaire the rabbit decided to return to paris. for him, the destination would never arrive. the sepia faded, giving way to blue. and lindsay the rabbit stirred from his certain dream of storm-tossed seas and the coming of age of baudelaire the rabbit. he awoke.

in another time, another place, under a lighter, less blue, sky, baudelaire the rabbit died quietly in his mother's arms, on august 31, 1867, at the age of 46. lindsay the rabbit sighed. all was quiet as he picked up a book and read….”in this horror of solitude, this need to lose his ego in exterior flesh, which man calls grandly the need for love...” charles baudelaire. 1821-1867.

as the tears started to come, he reached for another bottle.