The Blue Hare

€ 1,16

A year ago the world had closed down on Michael. His well meaning relatives had persuaded him to become a voluntary patient at a private hospital for the mentally disturbed. The word voluntary wasn’t quite correct. The threat of being sectioned under the the 1983 Mental Health Act and the possibility of having to wear an unfashionable jacket where the sleeves were attached behind his back made his decision inevitable.
Alphonse had helped him through the nightmare of his incarceration. He ensured that Michael gave all the right answers to the psychiatrists. After six months they let him out, totally cured and now sane. But if they had known that Alphonse was a six foot, blue hare that nobody could see, would they have been of the same opinion?
It was a balmy evening, Michael and Alphonse were sitting on an 8th floor balcony overlooking the Thames with the Millennium Dome just the other side of the river. In the east, storm clouds were growing, promising rain and with the occasional flashes some entertaining thunder and lightning.
The Dome was playing host to a strange sect called ‘the Seekers.’ Everything was normal until there was a worrying creaking and groaning that brought Michael and Alphonse to the edge of the balcony. They watched as the Dome broke free from its foundation and began to lift into the sky. As it gained altitude the video signs began to flash ‘Goodbye, So Long, Adieu, Adios, Auf Wiedershen’ and disappeared accelerating into the night sky.
“Well you don’t often see that…..” Michael remarked “……..A dome without a home.”