Snow Ears's Forked Road

Snow Ears stared aghast into Scales’s face: Cut his ears? Why ever would he consider doing that?

”But Dr. Scales,” the rabbit stammered. “Don’t you remember the survey we did last time on counting skills? The jackrabbits have a longer ear to face ratio and you attributed their intelligence to this. If I cut my ears, then I will become less intelligent.”

Scales cocked his head to one side. “Yes, that is curious. However, their intelligence does not bring them higher up the food chain.” He turned back to gaze meaningfully into Snow Ears’s eyes. “Don’t you want to be higher up in the food chain?”

Snow Ears snuffled the dirt floor and rubbed his left ear where a bald patch had already begun to form.

Scales said, “I remember the first time I saw you. You had tiger stripes painted onto your fur coat and you looked quite successful. And you would have gotten a lot more respect from your colleagues if your ears had not given you away. Then you went and worked for Pigeon was it not?”

“Yes, Dr. Scales. I did. I was the delivery pigeon for the Southside and the Valley.”

“What happened? I heard he pays well.”

“A few colleagues complained. They said I couldn’t fly.”

“Ah, some animals are like that. They talk about what you can’t do, but then they never give you a solution for your problem.”

“My delivery speed was on par with everyone else in the jungle area, but I was a lot slower when I had to send items to the buffaloes across the valley.”

“Hmmm, that must have been frustrating. But I think they would have shown you more respect if your ears were short.”

On noticing Snow Ears’s hesitation, Scales wrapped himself around the rabbit like a noose and said, “Well, we can just cut one ear first and see how that one goes. For example, I notice that you have this nervous habit of rubbing your left ear. I guarantee you that if we cut that ear off, you will become less nervous.”

Snow Ears thought and thought, but he could not think of anything to say to stop Scales from cutting off his ear. Finally he said, “But it will hurt terribly.”

“Success comes with sacrifice. If you want to go up the food chain you must be willing to tolerate a little pain.”

Snow Ears thought some more, one part of him was terrified of losing his ear, while another part longed to be successful.

“Still if you are not interested,” Scales said, “I can always find another willing rabbit.”

Snow Ears began to visibly tremble. He wanted so badly to be popular but he was also terrified. “Would it be all right if I think about it for the night?”

“Oh I guess it will do no harm. But if I don’t get a respond from you tomorrow morning, I will assume that you are not interested.”

“Okay Dr. Scales. Thank you, sir,” Snow Ears called out as Scales slithered out of the office. Then he huddled back into his corner and began to rub his ear, but stopped the moment he realized what he was doing. He mulled over Scales’s offer and finally decided that he would ask his neighbor, Grocer Hare, for his opinion.

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