A story of supposedly simpler times. It may seem like a long time ago, but it feels like yesterday. That's what great memories and awful ones have in common, it is what makes PTSD so terrifying and bliss so cosmic.
A few minutes in the past can cast us into pitch black darkness or lift us up, high above the grit of daily life. For today, we chose an uplifting story about a bunny and a young woman.
The young woman, for reasons unspecified, traveled with a bunny, following a band from show to show during a live concert tour. Sharing a room in a cheap motel with friends or strangers to save money posed challenges to animal husbandry.
The young woman started to sneak the bunny into the shows.
How do you get a bunny through security?
The secret was the bunny's love of purses. From its early days, the small black animal was not only used to traveling in a purse but loved it. Buried under a scarf or a spare t-shirt, the bunny would relax, becoming completely floppy. It would not move when a hand touched it.
Which turned out to be perfect for venue security. Security was looking for hard objects, water or liquor bottles, cameras, recording hardware.
Soft and not moving was great.
The size of the purse mattered, too. If it was too large, backpack sized or so, the security people would always open it, even if it didn't look as if it contained much. So, a smallish purse, bunny at the bottom, some light piece of clothing on top, and the bunny attended more shows than a lot of people ever did.
Once inside at a seat or a spot suitable for the owner and the pet, the bunny would come out and be fitted with a small collar that had a sign saying "I know where to find my people, please let me roam".
By the end of a show, the bunny would be back at the purse.
Sometimes she would smell like roses, she loved eating roses, and there were lots of them, especially at the summer shows.
One day, a security person opened the purse and rummaged through, forceful enough to disturb the bunny.
What's that, a rabbit?
A bunny.
You can't bring animals inside the show. Stash it somewhere before you go in.
The friends with the car were already inside, no one else she could ask was nearby. She walked around to the backstage entrance and hung out, hoping for an acquaintance from the crew or staff to pass.
A couple of children came towards the backstage entrance. She recognized one as the daughter of a band member. They knew each other from other shows, where several kids often hung out at the table of one of the charities, which doubled as babysitters during a show.
Hey, can I give you my purse with the bunny? Security found it, can you take it to the charity table for me to pick it up?
The kids were thrilled and took the purse with the bunny. No one bothers to check a child, especially not the lead singer's kid.
Back at security, she ended up in the line next to the person who had found the bunny.
Hey, check her, she tried to smuggle in a bunny earlier.
Not carrying a purse any more, the young woman lifted her hands: Look, no bunny.
Nowadays, every now and then, there is news about a concert of a singer who, as a child, smuggled a bunny into shows.
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