The Rabbit Behind the School Fence
Chapter 1Two Ears
Chani saw the rabbit before she saw the hole.
Two grey ears stood above the weeds behind the Bais Yaakov playground fence. Then a nose appeared, and the ears vanished again.
"There's a rabbit," she told Miri.
Miri came to look.
Beyond the fence was the caretaker's storage yard. Girls were not allowed in it. The gate was locked, and the sign said KEEP CLEAR.
Chani knelt on the playground side. Near the ground, one section of wire had come loose.
The rabbit could perhaps get through it.
So could her hand.
She kept her hand beside her knee.
Chapter 2An Urgent Idea
"We should catch it," Chani said.
"How?"
"A box. We could guide it toward the hole."
Miri looked at the loose wire.
"That has sharp ends. And what if the rabbit runs farther into the yard?"
Chani stood up.
She felt the same hurry she felt when a cup tipped near the edge of a table. If she acted now, perhaps she could save something.
But she didn't know whether the rabbit was lost, where it belonged, or how to handle it safely.
She knew where the supervising teacher was.
That was a place she could reach without climbing anything.
Chapter 3What She Could Say
Mrs. Klein was helping two younger girls find a missing mitten. Her dark sheitel was tucked behind her ears.
Chani waited until she turned toward them.
"There's a rabbit in the storage yard, near a loose part of the fence. We stayed outside."
Mrs. Klein came to look from the playground.
"Thank you. Keep the other girls away from the loose wire. I'll speak to the caretaker."
"Can we bring a box?"
"Not unless he asks. We don't want a crowd or anyone reaching through."
Chani wanted a job that looked like rescuing.
Instead, she and Miri stood a few steps from the fence and told approaching girls where to walk.
The rabbit's ears appeared again.
They did not move toward it.
Chapter 4The Crowded Fence
Esti wanted to see.
"Only a quick look," she said, taking a step toward the wire.
"From here," Chani said. "Mrs. Klein asked us to keep that part clear."
"Are you in charge of the rabbit?"
"No. The teacher is getting the caretaker."
It would have sounded more exciting to say that she was guarding it.
But she was helping with the playground, not deciding what should happen in the yard.
Miri pointed out a place where Esti could see without getting close.
For a moment the three girls saw the rabbit nibble a leaf.
Then the school bell rang.
Chapter 5The Bell
Chani looked toward the classroom door, then back at the fence.
"What if it leaves while we're inside?"
Mrs. Klein had returned.
"The caretaker knows. He is coming. You need to go in with your class. I'll keep this area clear."
"Could I miss the beginning?"
"No. I've got the next part. You have told us what you saw."
Chani didn't feel finished.
She felt as though walking away would make the rabbit less safe, even with an adult standing there.
Miri picked up Chani's coat from the bench.
"You don't have to carry the yard into the classroom," she said.
Chani took the coat.
She went inside, leaving Mrs. Klein where the loose wire was.
Chapter 6A Window with No View
Their classroom window faced the street, not the yard.
Chani couldn't check it from her desk.
She opened her exercise book. The first question had three parts. She read the same line twice.
Then she wrote the first part down and answered it.
Her worry did not go away. The pencil still worked.
At the end of the lesson, Mrs. Klein came to the classroom door.
"The caretaker found the owner. The rabbit belongs to the family next door. They are coming with its carrier."
Chani smiled.
"Did he catch it?"
"They are handling that. You can ask me about the outcome before you leave school."
Not every detail was hers to watch.
Chapter 7The Carrier
Before home time, Mrs. Klein told Chani and Miri what had happened.
The owner had collected the rabbit with the caretaker's help. Nobody had needed to crawl through the fence.
The caretaker had blocked off the loose wire until he could repair it.
"Can we see the rabbit next time?" Chani asked.
"You would need its owner's permission. It isn't a school pet now because you found it."
Chani looked at Miri.
She hadn't thought of it as taking somebody's rabbit. She had simply begun imagining visits and carrots.
There was an owner on the other side of that idea too.
"All right," she said.
Chapter 8A Different Rescue
At home, Chani told Mummy about the rabbit.
Mummy listened while putting away the shopping, her blue tichel tied neatly above her collar.
"And you caught it?"
"No. I got Mrs. Klein. Then I kept girls away from the wire."
She paused.
"That sounds smaller than what I thought I'd do."
"Was the rabbit returned?"
"Yes. And nobody got hurt."
Chani thought of the box she hadn't fetched and the wire she hadn't touched.
The part she did had led to the people who knew how to do the rest.
The next morning, she saw the repaired fence from the playground. There were no grey ears behind it.
She could look at an empty yard without needing to create another job in it.
