the rain came at the break of day Who: Nate and Bunny Where: their converted bus, the Dog Park What: talking about recent events When: the afternoon of 12/2
It's a broken heart, babe, I know the sound Feels like your hands are nailed to the ground
In all Bunny’s dreams, night after night, the camp was flooded by muddy water, a sure sign that some bad luck had attached itself to the Dog Park. She wondered, sometimes, if she'd used up all her good fortune in finding Nate, if what was happening now was the result of the universe balancing the scales back out. But the loss of life, the loss of homes, the loss of freedom -- it went too far the other way. The granting of her heart’s desire just wasn't big enough to cause that much suffering and turmoil. This was something greater, something that had been building a long time.
So in her quiet way, she went about trying to counteract all that ill will. Courting luck as best she could, using her own twists on superstitions learned in childhood. Wearing her cardigan with the four-hole-buttons inside out. (Paulina, the woman she'd helped on the day of the bombing, had been happy to turn it wrong way out for her, because one kind deed led to another and another and they needed all the good will they could scrape together.) Carrying straight pins in her pockets, and a penny inside each of her boots, wedged beneath her heel. It was like hoping a sneeze would turn a tornado, but Bunny hoped all the same.
And she infused every action with as much cheer as possible, because the only way she could stand to approach their circumstances was from the side, with a smile. Nate was up, seated on a well-cushioned chair at their little table, while she covered a small pan of dried beans with water to set them soaking overnight. She softly hummed a familiar hymn as she put the lid on, leaving the pan to set while she came to join Nate. Scooting behind him, she pressed a kiss to the crown of his head, and settled into her own chair.
“What are you sitting here looking so thoughtful about, baby?” Bunny asked, even though she had a pretty fair guess.