The Experiment Begins

Scales scrutinized the list of questions while Snow Ears tried not to jitter too much on his paws. Finally the snake lifted up his head to turn and look at Snow Ears, "This is excellent. Very well done. I hope you did not stay up too late to work on it."

"No, Dr. Scales. It did not take too long. I am glad you like it."

"Like it? I love it, boy. This is the best work you have ever done.” After a thoughtful pause, Scales said, “The trick would be to get fifty long-eared animals to take part in the experiment." He turned his head away then cocked it to one side, and a few moments later, to the other side. Finally he turned back to Snow Ears and asked, "Where do you think is the best place to find them?"

Snow Ears visibly jumped in his skin because Scales had never asked him such an important question before. He stammered, "The watering-hole is a good place, especially at night."

"Hmmm, you are right. It is a no hunt zone, and there will be all kinds of long-eared animals.

Again Snow Ears shivered, but in a good way. Scales had never asked for his opinion, nor has he ever agreed with any of his suggestions. Cutting the ear really worked, the rabbit thought with delight as his nostrils throbbed with excitement and his half ear flapped three times to each nod.

For the next few days, the office was a flurry of activity. Even Goose came in to help write out the brochures announcing the plan for the experiment. Scales wrote a very informative article about the experiment on Snow Ears's ear, and about how his behavior pattern had changed as well as about the kind of work he was now involved in, and how trustworthy he had become. The conclusion was that, the subject Snow Ears now had determinism, intelligence, confidence and initiative.

The jungle was a-titter with the news, especially about the part that said this new wonderful self-confidence builder was free. Or rather, it would be funded by Goose. Shy rabbits and hare began to approach Snow Ears and asked him about the procedure he underwent, and he explained to them that it was simple and clean. They only had to remember to bring their own clay to plaster over the wound. Some even offered to pay him seeds to ensure that they woulf get an application form, but Snow Ears would not hear of it because the experiment must be fair if it was to succeed.

Finally the day of recruitment arrived, and even the most timid animal came out of its hole to line up for a form. Each prayed that the stick Scales had brought with him would not deem their ears too short, and for this reason the rats were disappointed. Some wild pigs, however, were a lot more lucky, since Scales considered the width and meatiness of their ears to be important.

The final tally came up to 6 pigs, 12 jackrabbits, 15 hares, 9 bunnies and 8 cottontail rabbits, each of whom had serious image issues. So to help them immediately, Scales chopped off part of their ears the moment he approved their application and then, to keep the place clean, he gobbled up the partial ears he chopped.

As promised, two weeks later Snow Ears approached each and every participant and asked them the questions he had prepared. It took him two days to put the information together, calculate out the average for the data and obtained the following result.

Scales hmm-ed over the result over and over until Snow Ears felt like he was about to explode from pent-up anxiety. Finally Scales said, "This is a most revealing result. What do you make of it Snow Ears?"

"It appears to show a positive trend, sir."

"Not just any positive trend because 84% of respondents say that it made them more confident. This result is far better than I ever hoped for."

"Do you think Mr. Goose will be pleased, sir?"

"Absolutely. I cannot think how he might be unhappy about it. This is a wonderful success."

"When do we need to check on the participants again?"

"I don't think that is necessary. Anyway there are too many outside factors that will affect their answers, such as friends' opinions, accidents or life tragedies. I don't think it is a good idea."

"But the two weeks wait, sir, how has it affected the data result?"

"Good question. It is a good time frame because the wounds would have healed after about a week to ten days, which means that the participants would have had time to test out their new found confidence and intelligence."

"Oh, I see. Thank you for explaining, Dr. Scales," Snow Ears said, although the answer did not quiet the little voice in the back of his head. He already had a bad headache because of the neck cramp he experienced from trying to keep his head straight, so he decided to ignore it.

But the little voice persisted, and when he was jolted out of a nightmare that night, he heard himself say, "Life is lived beyond two weeks."

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