“Where did the humans go, Mother?” asked Little Bunny.

“They are gone to a place whence they cannot return,” said Mother.

“Where is this place?” she wondered, hopping over a pipe that had burst, spewing its contents into a new rivulet running down a hill of disordered bricks.

“It is a place we must all go someday,” sighed Mother, sniffing with a hope that the brick pile might contain an edible morsel or two.

“Even we will go there?”

“Oh, yes. All things from the first dawn of things must go. Worm and star alike. The wicked and the just alike. The foolish and the wise alike. Man and rabbit alike.”

“How do we get there?” asked; Little Bunny, hopping over to a lone wire but not chewing it when Mother clucked at her.

“Through darkness is the way. An unseeable path leads to a place all things are seen at once.”

“What is this place called, Mother?”

“Death, my beautiful daughter.”

“And why must we go there?”

“Because we have lived. And as Life is, Death is thus, Little Bunny.”

Little Bunny let Mother hop a few paces away while she sat and pondered, nose wiggling. Finally she pronounced, “I like this place, where I can see all things at once. I want to go there someday, but not today. I like things here right now. Even though we have gone so far and eaten so little. Even when it is hard, I like it here. Can I choose when I will go?”

Mother smiled and hopped back to Little Bunny. “None of us chooses, my dear.”

“Why did the humans all go at once? Surely some wanted to stay here a while longer.”

“They were foolish, Little Bunny. Where there were flowers, Man laid stone. When all the flowers were gone, humans struck in anger at each other, making flowers of flame bloom from the sound of thunder. Those who did not burn soon starved, for they had no flowers to eat.”

“Will I never see a flower, Mother? Are there none left?”

“Oh, dear child. You will soon learn. Where once there were flowers, there will be flowers again. Life is thus.”