Elisa comes to my room and asks for a story. I am her second choice as Aidan is consumed with a game on his iPad. Elisa sits down and I ask "A story?" to buy myself a little time. I am excited and happy that she asked me as I like the concept of being a story telling father however I really have no idea what story to tell. "Elisa", I say, "this is the story of the jack rabbit and the bear" and I really have no clue beyond that. Elisa rests her head on my chest.

_The jack rabbit wanted to go home for the holidays for she hadn't seen her parents in a long, long time. It was a cold December in Beijing and the parents' home was far so the jack rabbit was worried she might not be able to do it. And then she told herself that if she runs really, really fast that she will get warm. And jack rabbits are really good at running really, really fast. She would run as fast as she could until she could run no more, rest for a bit, and then run as fast as she could again. She would stay warm and make it to her parents. With that the jack rabbit headed out of her home and into the Beijing morning.
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_The jack rabbit ran…run,run,run…and then rested. And then run, run, run…and then rested. And so on throughout the morning and by late afternoon was reaching the Beijing suburbs. She was wondering if she would make it to her parents' home tonight when she was startled by a great big black bear. Fleeing for her life she ran as fast as she could yelling "don't eat me bear, don't eat me bear" which amused the bear. The bear somehow got in front of the jack rabbit and blocked her path. "Don't eat me, don't eat me", the jack rabbit shivered. "Oh, I'm not going to eat you", the bear said. "Why would I eat you when I have KFC and McDonald's? You are not very yummy compared to that." The jack rabbit, relieved and confused, asked the bear if he really went into McDonald's and KFC. "Sure, why not" said the bear, "have you seen their other customers lately?" With that both the bear and the jack rabbit relaxed and the bear asked the jack rabbit where she was off to in such a hurry on the holiday night. "To see my parents." "Where do your parents live?" "America" "Your parents live in America!, And you are running there?" "Yes"
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_"Silly rabbit, silly rabbit, silly rabbit" the bear laughed and the jack rabbit was confused again. "I can do it. I will run and then rest and then run again" said the jack rabbit. "Silly jack rabbit, you cannot run to America. It's too far, way across the ocean."
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_"What's the ocean?"
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_"Oh my, it's like a really big lake."
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_"What's a lake?"
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_"Uh..like a really, really big pond of water. Anyway, we need to take and airplane and fly over the ocean to America"
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_"What's an Airplane?"
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_"An airplane is like a really big car that can fly."
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_"Now you are being silly bear. Cars can fly. They are too heavy to fly. Even you couldn't lift one."
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_"Oh, jack rabbit, they are 'like' cars but they are made to fly. Trust me. Let's go to the airport."
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_And with that they took the airport express subway line to the massive terminal 3 of the Beijing Airport. The check in counter asked if they had any luggage and they said no. "No clothes to take on a trip to America?" asked the clerk. "No, we have fur" said the bear at which point the clerk looked up. "I need to see your passport."
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_After the bear explained that they were exempt from the passport requirement due to the human/animal Geneva convention of 1966, they were allowed board the plane. The sat in coach. The bear naturally took the window seat, his massive frame squished against the cabin. The jack rabbit to the aisle seat and was barely visible once the seat belt was in place. The plane taxied and before it took off the bear was snoring and the jack rabbit had climbed onto the bear's belly to get a peek out the window.
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_(to be continued)
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Elisa has started to nod off about the time my story started to lose momentum. The next night she asked to hear the story of the jack rabbit and the bear again.