Dogs and Rabbit

Talking with my roommate tonight about near-death experiences, or experiences where we've confronted the possibility of death anyway, I remember a surreal moment from my childhood.

I was in second grade, seven years old, in the early months of my time at a new school. I can't remember why I was arriving late that day, or why the person who was with me was there, but everything else is clear.

My school -- and this is something probably not a lot of people can say -- was next to a graveyard. We couldn't see the graveyard, really, as a large hedge enclosed it, but we knew it was there. The school was part of a larger campus that included a college, a defunct high school, and a convent, and the graveyard was for the nuns.

It was fall, I think, early fall, and I was arriving late with a kid named Todd who I barely knew. Todd didn't ride the same bus as I did, so I really can't think why we'd be two stragglers making our way towards the special door on the side of the building reserved for the first and second-graders, but we were. As we walked, our path was suddenly blocked by three wild dogs, who growled and took attack stances. I knew not to run, somehow, and somehow, my instinct was to slowly raise my duffel bag to my protect my throat. I may have suggested to Todd that he do the same.

The stand off probably only lasted a second, or two. My mind must have raced, though I can't remember anything else that I might have thought, though I'm certain that it never actually occurred to me that I could die. I don't think death was in my vocabulary, but fear certainly was, as we waited for the dogs to make their move or let us pass.

Suddenly, out from under the hedge, appeared a brown rabbit, small. It doesn't even look real, I remember thinking, as if it was not a rabbit at all, but a mechnical toy being controlled remotely. It made a few perfect hops and then disappeared again under the hedge. The dogs, distracted by its movement, turned and ran after it, forgetting all about Todd and me.

We made our way inside quickly and never spoke of it again.

It seems so unreal but I know it wasn't a dream, as much as I can know anything.