We had a rabbit hutch in our back yard, and its star resident was the Easter Bunny. Honestly! That’s what Dickie told me. And he was my big brother, so that’s what I believed.
The thing about the Easter Bunny that many people didn’t seem to know was that he had only one ear. He lost the other somewhere along the way, but it didn’t seem to bother him much. He was a big buck who ruled the roost, and I was very proud that he lived in my back yard. He brought me lots of jellybeans, malted-milk eggs, and a chocolate rabbit or two every year without fail.
There were drawbacks to being the only one in school who had a personal relationship to the Easter Bunny. Teachers, for example, always had to ask why I only colored in one ear. So I had to explain, over and over again, that the Easter Bunny had only one ear, and that he lived with us on Grove Terrace.
One big advantage to knowing the truth: I felt free to make every chocolate bunny I encountered anatomically correct.
I don't really remember when I found out that neither Dickie's story nor the whole Easter Bunny thing were real. Sometimes real life doesn't have to crowd out a good story.
