“Do You Know the Bunny Hop?” Origins
I wrote “Do You Know the Bunny Hop?” for a competition in which it placed but was not published. I don’t remember the entire prompt, and I’d have to search to figure out who sponsored that original competition. I was attracted to the idea of writing about someone with aphasia, and I imagined my own grandmother as the afflicted person. She never left the house without dressing for success, as if she was going to work in an office—high heels, wool suit, jewelry. So that is how I dressed my character. That’s where the similarity to my grandmother ends, since my grandmother did not have aphasia. But someone’s grandmother did. The hot dog vendor who parks his cart on the little lady’s street corner is the still point around which the story turns. He is a good man who befriends an aging woman. Through his simple acts of kindness and humor, this story draws its meaning.
Many thanks to Epoque Press for publishing it. Click HERE to read “Do You Know the Bunny Hop?”