Meet Happy. He'll steal your heart....
A Novel by Susan Pich
A frightened kitten thrown into a sack and seperated from his family is let go in a strange place where a thunderstorm explodes around him. He seeks shelter under a woodpile, and the next morning meets a remarkable rabbit with an unresolved past. Together, the two begin a journey and something unexpected happens. We start to remember, and through the eyes and heart of an innocent kitten and experienced rabbit, begin to recognize who we once were and what the world once was.
Soon, we find ourselves in a world not so different than our own, a world not only of beauty and wonder, but of fear, doubt, greed, intolerance and violence. Slowly, but clearly, we realize our own sad legacy - that in the process of living, we have let something die.
When inspiration reappears in the form of the troubled but determined rabbit named Gypsy, we dare to dream again. As Gypsy and the little kitten he names Happy search for home, hope becomes a mission of second chances. Finding the way back, however, does not come easily. While Gypsy wrestles with the decision to return to a painful past, only when he returns home does he understand the calling behind the purpose that keeps him going.
Along the way are surprises of astonishing beauty, a sky of rainbows, a forest of intriguing characters, an underground world of glittering phenomenon. In the forest, Gypsy introduces Happy to a variety of his friends, from Bongo, the owner of the Monkey's Bar and Restaurant, to Lance, the gambling lynx. Then appears Peewee, the shy little owl who becomes the subject of Blackie the Bear's ill-behaved teasing. Teased himself as the bright orange runt of the litter, Happy relates immediately, running after the embarrassed Peewee when he flys away and inviting the little owl to lunch. Later on, Peewee does something truly miraculous and surprises everyone.
When Gypsy and Happy venture to Fast Lane City, Happy learns what the world has become - a frantic, hectic, non-stop existence of traffic, noise, and selfish, greedy, scared and unhappy beings. In a world where almost no one slows down or smiles, Happy innocently and prophetically asks, "Why is everyone in such a hurry to get their lives over with?"
Still, there are friendly faces inside the crowds and Gypsy introduces Happy to Salina, a beautiful elegant cat who helps them in the search for Happy's family in an underground circuit of her friends. When Lance turns up brutally beaten after a card game in Fast Lane City. Salina becomes a comforting mother figure for Happy when the little kitten makes the horrifying discovery. A loyal friend comes through when they learn the humans tending to Lance's injuries plan on releasing him after his recovery into an untamed and dangerous place.
Leaving Fast Lane City, Happy's spirits sink lower and lower, while Gypsy now feels the uneasiness of his greatest challenge ahead of him. Despite his impending fears, however, he can not ignore his concern for the little kitten, and in the following rapturous days by the ocean, encourages Happy from a place in his heart the rabbit had once remembered. In a private moment at night by the ocean, Gypsy nearly cries to realize that he speaks to himself as well.
Gone for many years, Gypsy returns home to face his father and the consequences of a bitter departure years ago. He must also bring with him the knowledge he has attained in the outside world and warn his hometown of what will be, only to find Hopmeadow still plagued by its own unresolved battles from the past and the economic disaster Gypsy once predicted years ago.
He is reunited with his sister, Clarrie, and meets her son for the first time, a nephew he has never seen. Then there is Meagan, Clarrie's childhood friend who has grown and now seen by Gypsy through different eyes. It will be Meagan who becomes the unlikely victim of the continuous Hopmeadow battles, whose life may be sacrificed in the nightmare to which Gypsy has returned.
Amid deep skepticism, Gypsy must convince the hopeless to believe again. Most of all, he must find a way to bring about acceptance for the differences that exist in all of us, and once and for all bring down the walls of intolerance. In the end, Gypsy will learn something from the little kitten too.
Copyright Susan Pich 2007
Inquiries about this manuscript may be sent to Susan Pich at info@scenicphotoart.com