Sisyphus And The Box

His father watched him as he got on the school bus that morning.  For the past few years he tried to imagine a brighter future for his son but lately his hopes for him were few.  After so many tears and shut doors, the bitterness and futility were taking its toll on both of them.  The kids were cruel these days.  Even more so than the memories he played back of his own youth.  There were a few occasions when Si had enjoyed some level of victory but those moments were few and far between.  And now John had discovered disturbing notes in Si's journal.  How could a father see such ramblings from such a young mind and not fear for the safety and well being of his only offspring.  The morning was cold and bitter and John noticed Si had left without his coat.  "I'll have to drop it off to him at school.  That young 'un has a one-track mind."  He could remember when Si first approached him about this wonderful new food he had discovered.  It had "everything".  All the tastes his son adored.  And Si would do anything to try to get another box of the delicacy.  He would entertain the entire neighborhood with his antics.  And on so many levels it was the harshness of the other children that bothered him so.  He would be so close to another sampling of the "cornucopia of fruity delights" and yet it would seem so far away.  And it was almost on a daily basis.  If someone would document his antics it would show a level of sadness for one such as Si.  And his father knew that on this day, somewhere in the neighborhood, the children would be waiting just to torment Si again.  "How could they find so much enjoyment from such cruelty?" John asked himself.  When it first started, it was only a few children that would be in on the torturing. Now, with advent of cellular texting, every child in the neighborhood would watch and wait for Si to find the "box" and then watch him like he was some kind of sideshow attraction as the bullies would take away the box and shout obscenities at him.  And John and Si had already tried to escape the torment one time before.  John had taken a new job half way across the country but within months Si was the center of bull's eye for the neighborhood.  John had spent night after night trying to convince Si just to forget about his addiction but it was of no avail.  Si was addicted to "the treat" as he would like to call it.  And it was everywhere it would seem.  Available in every grocery store, John would try to buy it for Si but there was something about the hunt that one such as Si could not resist.  And Si was different than the other children.  It always boiled down to being different in this world.  Si had tried to fit in but the other children never accepted him.  John could only remember one time he had witnessed any level of kindness on the part of the children.  And John hated what he felt towards them.  Every afternoon he would watch as Si would come home, with his head hung low, and tell his father how they took the box again.  The children would leave the box out in the open and then wait for him to show up.  Even on the occasions when one of them would break into giggles, Si never caught on.  And every time, as Si was about to open the box, one of them would jump out and point at him and yell, "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids." John knew today would be no different for Si.  He was a stupid rabbit with an addiction.  And someday the addiction was gonna kill him.  My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.