The Unseen Character
A fine rain confronted Robert’s dry face as he stepped off the train. A crisp chill slithered through his coat collar and chilled him down to his toes. To make it worse, his foot was submerged in a puddle that actually was deeper than it seemed. To this soaking of his boots and socks with mud, he did not react. The noise around him was merely a buzz or lull compared to the sounds in his own head. He stood there, unusually still. His feet seemed rooted in the wet cement. His eyes seemed glazed over as he tried to avoid and to remain unnoticed by the excitement that brushed past him.
Robert ignored those people who had places to go and other people to see, while he had none. He had nowhere to be on his last day of leave. He fiddled with his traveling case that was soaked through from the increasing drizzle. A woman with a grey hat pushed past him without even stopping to apologize. I wonder what it’s like to have a place to go…To be needed by another?
Once the platform had cleared of those in a rush, the engine behind him slowly steamed away and the conductor watched this stranger with his travel case and a big burly overcoat with a little curiosity. Robert walked along the platform into the sheltered roof and sat himself down. There was nothing to watch for nor anything to hear except for the continuous drip from the rain gutter onto the rusted railroad tracks. He sat with his fingers intertwined and his head gradually drooped forward.
How much time passed before he met another living soul is unclear. Perhaps it was as darkness began to reside around the station, for it was March and spring was a week away, but it was such a shade of grey that Robert could only hear a single sound. It was the sound of a coat rustling in the chilled air or maybe it was the shuffle of the boots on the wet platform, but whatever it was, Robert soon realized that he was staring at the top of a pair of boots.
They were particularly ugly boots: scuffed, black and covered in splotches of mud. Robert could tell that these boots had been mended more than once because the edges on the patches were frazzled and worn. He drew his eyes up to what appeared to be the folds of a plaid skirt. They too were quite worn, very close to ripping at the seams. The colours were quite bland and particularly faded. The pink was extremely bland, to the point that only the faintest tinge of coral colouring was left. The black and brown lines were solid and possibly stained by various substances. Robert continued upward to notice the small red coat on this figure. The front had several buttons missing due to the ball of fluff being cradled by the stranger. There were several green patches sewn roughly, most likely by a child’s hand, around the sleeves that presented the ball of white fur to Robert. It took a moment for him to realize that the patch of pale fur was quite alive and shivering in the arms of this individual. It shuffled slowly, quivering in the cold, for only its fur provided limited protection. Its red eyes met Robert’s and he lost his breath and shrunk away. The creature to him was like venomous snake that was preparing to spring, to dig its fangs into Robert’s skin and let its poison seep into his veins. Robert immediately recoiled and shifted as far away from the ball of fur that twitched its nose constantly.
The owner of the rabbit faced the frightened man with big hazel eyes. Her face seemed puzzled by his sudden reaction and she became slightly annoyed. She raised an eyebrow at the man who cowered from her pet bunny. Her pale face, flushed by only a slightly rosy colour in her cheeks from the cold, continually shifted from a thin lined mouth to an aggravated frown. Her movements were slow but subtle, with a hint of exasperation. She shrugged her shoulders and took a seat at the other end of the bench which was occupied by Robert. She began to stroke the ball of fluff with a shaky hand that was reddened by the continual breeze that had picked up since the sun’s disappearance. She tried to ignore the man who was afraid of her bunny, but his constant, hyperactive breathing annoyed her immensely.
“You’re a soldier. Aren’t you?” She asked softly.
Robert was surprised by the tone of her voice. Young and soft, but with a hint of wisdom and dryness that could only be spoken by someone who had survived hardships. He was still quite shocked by the furry companion she held and he had intended to answer her, but he couldn’t bring himself to honour her with a reply.
“What rank are you? What battalion do you belong to?” She asked casually, as if speaking about the lousy weather. “Do you fly those bomber planes or drive the tanks over the trenches? Are you enlisted or are you higher in the ranks?”
Her voice hung in the misty air for a moment. As if she never expected an answer, she went on, “I wonder if you met my brother? He was a cadet in the 15th battalion. Andrew Johnson? No? He’s a really fine young man. He’s barely 21. He’s got a blonde mop of hair...almost white hair, that’s rare to see on men these days. He’s got a really strong jaw and a mole right by his left eye. I always tease him about how big it is...it was almost another pupil.” She chuckled to herself softly before continuing on. “He’s a really strong fellow… who could run faster than all those boys on the playground and lifted this here Penny’s cage and food sack without breaking a sweat” The child indicated to the little ball in her arms and gave it another long stroke.
“He joined the army at eighteen. Been serving in that battalion for three years running. Never hesitated once on extending his service to the King and country.” Her face grew grim for a moment and she shuddered in her red coat.
“We don’t have a mama no more….” Her hazel eyes flickered a few times underneath her eyelids. “She died before I turned three… He was the only one who really remembered her. Him and Papa….” She paused again and Robert saw a single tear slide down her cheek and she began to stroke the bunny harder than before. The animal continued to twitch and to crawl about on the girl’s lap. Its slightly pink nose appeared from within the folds of her skirt and sniffed in Robert’s general direction.
“We don’t have a Papa any more either. He went to serve on a ship and never came back. He was a doctor. The best damn doctor in town, by the way. I always thought that he knew he had children at home, so he jumped overboard when they hit that mine, to save himself. He’s been taken prisoner on the enemy ship.” She choked up slightly, but smiled at her listener and went on, “Once the war’s done, they have to let him go and he’ll come home to us. It’ll take awhile, but he’ll come.”
Her smile got brighter, but the tears kept coming. Her face seemed slightly sweeter to be seen with a smile in place since Robert could tell she hadn’t smiled in a while.
“Same with Andy… when he gets back, he and Papa are going to buy that farm he’s always wanted...then we’ll farm the land and die happy. That’s why I’m sitting here and watching the trains go by. I want to be the first one to hug him when he gets off his train.”
Her eyes distanced themselves from the moment and the tears continued to trail the raindrops down her rosy cheeked face. She lifted the soft thing to her face and nuzzled gently against it. The animal did nothing but twitch its tiny leg and continually gaze at Robert. The bunny floated there for several minutes before she brought it down again. She turned her face to Robert and met his eyes, “My name is Rose Johnson…” She stopped and stared at this stranger.
She lifted the sides of her mouth up for a moment and then let them drop. She fumbled around in her red coat pocket, trying to maintain a hold on the squirming bunny. Her pale hand dug deeply into the pocket closest to Robert and she pulled out something long and square. She held it out to him.
He was hesitant to grab it… more likely, scared of what it was. He lifted his hand from his coat pocket and received the gift. He stared at what he now knew was only a chocolate bar, like the ones all mothers give out to their sons on the train. His throat struggled to release words as a way to express gratitude, but the most he could muster was a subtle grunt.
It took a while for him to look up again, but when he did, the child he knew as Rose had vanished. All that remained was him, the gift and an old piece of newspaper that blew across the platform onto the rusting tracks. He sat silently for the longest time. His hands practically crushing the chocolate bar he had received. He felt something burn under his eyes and he slowly stood up. He walked along the platform towards a dimly lit street. Once he found the nearest waste receptacle, the gift was deposited into it.
I have done copious amounts of research on a girl named Rose Johnson who lived during the early 1900’s; however, very few are mentioned. The closest one I can possibly identify whom Robert encountered was one christened in the small church in the city that Robert was supposedly exploring on his last day of leave. These church records were also the ones to share where Rose was buried. She died June 13th, 1919 and the cause of death was the Spanish Flu that broke out after the war. I’ve gone through countless archives for more information and have come up empty. I even tried to travel to this location where she might have lived, but her grave had most likely been destroyed in the bombings of WWII. I am saddened to end this chapter with nothing more to give you about the girl with the white rabbit.