Silent Symphony

The orchestra had rehearsed silence for so long that no one remembered who had forbidden sound. The violinist waited for the pianist, the pianist for the man in the top hat, and everyone waited for the giant rabbit to nod. But the rabbit believed he was only the carriage. At the annual concert, they sat before a full square and produced nothing.

Then a child pressed an ear against the rabbit’s side. ‘There’s music in here,’ she said. His heartbeat filled the pause: slow, uneven, undeniable.

The violinist matched it, then the wheels, then every breathing body in the square. No one conducted. When the last note faded, the rabbit asked, ‘Was that allowed?’ The audience laughed, and the laugh became the encore.