Collect Art Publication July 2023

Yellow Bunny

Frances was born in 1969 at Leeds Maternity hospital,

(this is going somewhere, I’ve got a plan honestly)

and was given a yellow rabbit

by a lady from Ann’s jewellery evening class. (Those ladies loved mum.)

Ann had two significant car crashes in 1968 and 1969 and had broken her pelvis and back.

Right before the birth she had a blow out and

flipped the car right over on the way home from Harrogate.

Ann says her shoes were stolen while she was unconscious.

(This is relevant

It’s all part of the story).

[Sometimes a story is slow in the coming like Frances was being born.]

Ann suffered terribly at the birth

Still recovering from her injuries Ann was unable to sit up or hold her new baby.

Frances and Yellow Bunny went on a trip to Huddersfield,

with Uncle Bobby, Aunty Susan and Cousins Philip, Janet and Rachel.

Hours, days, weeks, months went by.

Who can tell how slowly of fast they passed.

She was a baby.

{Not yet conscious of thoughts, memory, space, place,

Getting used to being in her body}

Tucked in with Yellow Bunny for company.

Eventually she came home to the tiny flat above the Cobourg next to the betting shop.

And was looked after by a lady with two little boys

(Who had the name of a man)

Frances grew a little more.

She and Yellow Bunny and George the dog went everywhere together

Once they went to the pub together to see where the grown-ups were.

But they weren’t there.

They liked the back door step

looking out onto Queen Square and the cherry trees

and the men asleep on the grass.

Frances would talk to Yellow Bunny in her head – like telepathy

They had long conversations

[Don’t ask her what they burbled about

She can’t remember].

On their move to Cliff Road

Frances and Yellow Bunny had a whole new house to discover

On that first day accidentally locking themselves in the bathroom with a Victorian lock

Which they couldn’t undo

And had to sit there at first silently and then crying for what seemed like hours and then silent again.

While the grown-ups were busy bringing furniture into the house.

Soon after Au pair Jane came to live at the house

And a little while later

Sister Kate arrived with Nurse Bernheim {who lived down the road}

I wasn’t very pleased to see this baby

But I had Nanny Jane and Yellow Bunny and two new dogs Sarah and Sue

[Just one day George wasn’t there anymore, the grown-ups didn’t mention it so I wasn’t sad, I just thought she had gone to a new little girl]

(Jane had a twin sister Jennifer who wore a lot of green eyeshadow and had a boyfriend called Weef)

[Jane’s boyfriend was called Charlie, he had high heels]

{Sometimes when Jane wasn’t working we had Anne and Casey to talk to they were from Australia and very keen on tooth brushing}

[One night me and yellow bunny were on the stairs because Jane and Charlie were shouting at each other, I was a bit worried because I loved them].

(I know deviating from the story…)

{But …}

[Anyway…]

Frances and baby Kate and Nanny Jane and Ann really needed a break

Its hard work being an adorable baby, being an inquisitive toddler, being a working mum, and a nanny is hard work too.

They decided to go on holiday to Jersey where Ann’s parents lived.

[Don’t worry its drawing to its final crisis soon]

(Because it doesn’t matter how much we love someone, when they have to go, it is out of our hands, and the pain of loss is excruciating. And I thought I would never get over it and that day….)

It’s all very well at Jersey but they do have to be on their best behaviour

And Ann is mortified very often

And Frances finds it is very tiresome to be good

And quiet

And well behaved

And polite

And don’t touch.

So to get down to La Rocque Beach or Grouville

was a great release from constraint.

To play, dig, paddle, feel salt, and wind.

Sad to say

Frances was so busy playing

That Yellow Bunny was laid down…

And never picked up again.

Perhaps it was camouflaged, being yellow like the sand.

Ann often told of how Yellow Bunny was floated out to sea, across the channel, to live with a little French girl.

Oh the howls of despair that night at bed time.

No one understood.

After being a bit sympathetic

Then the grown-ups became upset and cross

But she was beyond all restraint and self-control

This was pure loss

Pure pain and desolation

Not a family who put up with drama

And making a scene

Frances was dispatched to the bedroom

And she understood she had gone too far

And was making a disgraceful show of herself.

Nanny Molly and Bomper Alec were very displeased.

Yellow Bunny was gone

There was no bringing her back

Lost forever

Like Eurydice in the underworld

It was a Greek Tragedy.

Frances couldn’t sleep that night

thinking of Yellow Bunny on a home-made raft of Twix wrappers and sticks,

tossed on the seas in the dark at night,

not knowing the way,

being frightened and soaked by waves.

And she couldn’t speak French except for Bonjour.

Ann wanted to buy Frances a new rabbit in the morning

and proposed a shopping trip.

Why didn’t anyone understand?

Yellow Bunny was irreplaceable.

A new bunny was not going to help.

She wanted old Yellow Bunny back,

but wishing is not having

And that is a very hard lesson for a 3yr old.

A new Rabbit was bought…. [But that is another story].

image: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/388013324139535549/ 

Not the original Yellow Bunny,

but as far as I can remember it’s the right style, shape, fur quality, and colouring.

Possibly with a pale blue velvet ribbon round the neck.