Mom wouldn’t let my sister and me have a pet. After futile letters to Santa, we were told he couldn’t give gifts in contravention of one’s parents’ wishes. When I was twelve, Mom had to go to India for three weeks. We’d just moved into a house with a rabbit hutch in the backyard. We worked on Dad nonstop, saying things like, “Rabbits are basically flowers that move!” Finally, Dad bought us a male rabbit, whom we named Fido. When Mom got home, she looked out the window and said, “What are those weird hopping birds?” Fido had six babies.
Susmita Ramani lives in the Bay Area with their husband, two teenagers, and many pets. Besides fiction writing, they love improv, hot yoga, and bouldering. susmitaramani.wordpress.com.