The Rabbit Thief

Robin's father, a climate scientist, left Robin in the care of their grandparents to go on an Arctic research mission, but never returned. As the weather became harsher and the seas began to freeze in winter, the population of the island dwindled, until finally the last of the occupants were relocated - except for Robin's grandparents, who stayed and waited for their son to come home.

After their deaths, Robin lives alone on the island, tending a garden, caring for an elderly hen, foraging in the hedgerows and at the dock from which their father left for the last time. Every morning, they record the weather data from their father's weather station, and every day at noon, they record the position of the sun on an analemma on the living room wall.

The hen perishes: Robin cannot bear to eat her, and buries her instead. They begin to trap rabbits, and the oncoming winter doesn't look so lean. When a rabbit is stolen from their snare, they hide, fearing a predatory presence on the island. Hunger drives them out again. They emerge to find a gift of honey by the snare line.

Over the long winter, Robin exchanges gifts with the rabbit thief, always at a distance, never seeing more than a glimpse. The dream of a friend sustains them, until they find their snare destroyed and no gift in the bloody snow. Angry and betrayed, they retreat.

But the gifts return - a bottle of mead. Robin forgives the rabbit thief, if it was them, and not a fox or a wild dog. Seeing from the rabbit thief's footprints that their boots are worn through, they give their grandmother's boots.

The solstice turns. In the island's round tower, a a fire glows. A signal?

Days grow longer as the stored food dwindles. Spring comes. On a foraging walk, amid flowers, the rabbit thief comes close enough to throw a cleaver on Robin's back before disappearing giggling into the brush.

Robin enjoys dandelion root 'coffee' with the first greens from their greenhouse. A bee comes, and they share the honey from their spoon, grateful for a companion.

But a bee is not a person. Robin says goodbye, leaving their weather journal in their father's old room, transplanting spring bulbs to the graves of their grandparents and the hen. They pack a few things and leave the safety of home, hiking toward the tower to find the rabbit thief.