Although my mum had been told not to near the canal, I had ignored her warning, and had survived going near the canal. I just hadn’t told my mum.
I thought to myself if common sense was the seventh sense, did that mean that there were other senses? Was there an eighth sense - or a first - or a second - or a third - a fifth or even a fourth? Wait a minute - there was one missing - first, second, third, fifth, fourth - SIXTH! Yes, a sixth. Was there a sixth sense? I thought there must be a lot of senses, not just a seventh sense. Not having enough common sense had been pretty memorable enough - therefore, I thought I should find out about the other senses before it was too late.
. . .
I went to see the rabbit by way of the canal.
“You just can’t keep away from that canal, can you?”
“The weeds have moved,” I told the rabbit. “They’ve drifted down near the lock-gates. But I didn’t come here to talk about weeds. I came to find out about all the other senses you’ve been keeping secret from me.”
“Oh, yes!” said the rabbit shaking his head in mock wonderment. “The secret senses!”
“Are you going to tell me, or ain’t you?”
“Being self-aware is important otherwise, you wouldn’t know that you existed. But if you lacked the five main physical senses, you would not know that the world about you existed.”
This seemed like a good thing to know. I couldn’t imagine not knowing that I existed or that the world existed, so I said, “So what are they?”
“They are usually ranked in order of range. Some are long-range senses, while others are short range. So what sense is the longest range sense that you have?”
“My mum doesn’t think I have any common sense, so how am I supposed to know what the other senses are?”
“I’m sorry,” apologised the rabbit. “I keep assuming that everyone knows the difference between grass and weeds, especially when the weeds are on the canal.”
He started laughing - his back foot thumping up and down.
“It ain’t funny!”
“Of course it isn’t,” said the rabbit trying not to laugh. Getting serious, he asked, “How do you know that there is more to existence than just you?”
I thought for a moment, then I thought a bit more. “Well, I can see it unless it’s dark,” I offered.
“Good, sight is number five, the fifth sense. It’s the longest range sense that you have. You can see the stars, and they are millions and millions of miles away.”
I didn’t know that north was that far away. East, south and west were just across the field in various directions. “So, what are the others?” I asked.
“You tell me. If it was too dark to see, how else could you tell that anything else exists?”
“I can touch it.”
“Excellent! That’s the first sense.”
I was getting good at this.
“Good. Now close your eyes, and without trying to touch me, how you know I exist.”
“I can hear you.”
“There you go. Sound is a mid-range sense, or your fourth sense. You can’t hear as far as you can see, but you can hear further than you can touch.”
“What’s next?” I asked.
“Now, pretend that you cannot hear.”
“This is great,” I said. I closed my eyes, and put my hands over my ears. “I can smell you. Is that another sense?”
“I do smell nice, don’t I?” said the rabbit, pleased.
“You smell like a rabbit.”
“Like a rabbit? Of course I smell like a rabbit. I am a rabbit. What else would I smell like?”
“Calm down.”
“Smell is the second sense,” said the rabbit, relaxing.
“What’s the... looking - hearing - feeling - smelling ... what’s the third sense?” I asked.
“Taste!”
“Taste? Yes, I’ve tasted rabbit."
”Suddenly I was alone! This was not the right thing to say to a rabbit.
“But not lately!” I called down the tunnel.
I didn’t get to find out about the sixth sense before I had exercised a total lack of my seventh sense.
. . .
The Next Chapter is Coming Soon