Working Title

Mrs. Olmstead's third grade class has been waiting since September for this day. It has been four long months and they have finally done all the necessary research. Mrs. Olmstead walks into the classroom at 7:56 AM to find the entire class sitting silently in their chairs. All eyes focus on her as she walks to her desk, sets her quilted tote bag on the floor, removes her tan raincoat, and places the covered cage on top of Friday's math homework.

Mrs. Olmstead's saccharine voice melts over the room of students. "Now, before I take the cover off this cage I want to remind you all of something. All life is precious. Sometimes the sweetest creatures can come in the most unappealing forms. Please remember this and take care of both of them as if there were no difference between the two."

Her papery hands lift the thick black cover from the wire cage. Inside, the two rabbits that the students have been waiting for calmly nibble on their grey-green pellets. One rabbit is black with six white spots on its back. The other is white, and the pink skin of its neck and back are exposed. Ribbons of reddish brown weave their way around its neck and down its back between the raised white scars.

Mrs. Olmstead opens the cage and sets the rabbits on the floor. The class as a whole tentatively inches closer to the rabbits, and moves, as if one, toward the black rabbit. They gather in a circle around the one undamaged creature and the white rabbit sits by the desk alone. All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others.