The Rabbit Hutch

by Tess Gunty

Take a pottery class in the fall; you will never be short of Christmas presents.

All my life, I have been cute.

I nursed on summer, but now its milk is dry.

With Todd, information always seems like it’s missing. There’s something un-American about him that’s tough to describe.

Todd wasn’t a leader, wasn’t a follower—just a drifter,

You’re just a series of messy, contradicting behaviors, like everyone else. Those behaviors can become patterns, or instincts, and some are better than others. But as long as you’re alive, the jury’s out.”

People are dangerous because they are contagions.

They infect you with or without your consent; they lure you onto paths you wouldn’t have chosen; they commandeer you. You encounter a priest and some falcons, and now you hear them as clearly as you hear the traffic outside your motel.

Reconstruction is inevitable—he accepts this—and there’s no rebirth without death.