"Rods and Cones" by Jacob M Appel

"Rods and Cones" by Jacob M Appel 

This story comes from the collection "Scouting for the Reaper" by Jacob M. Appel. 

Ok, so every author has that one book that didn't do so well, and every collection has a couple stories that just don't make the cut compared to the others.  This was one of those stories.  Compared to the other stories in the collection this has been my least favorite of them all. 

A husband and wife own a rabbit.  After watching the rabbit for a little bit they decide the rabbit has gone blind.  The husband is calm, cool, and collect and offers the suggestion of taking the rabbit to the vet and then waiting to see what is said.  The wife has other ideas. 

The wife is so worried about her rabbit and the rabbit going blind that every day while her husband is at work she tries a different avenue to find out what's wrong with the rabbit.  Everything from taking the rabbit to the vet, getting cat scans, and even taking the rabbit to a holistic healer.  All to no avail. 

Although the story centers around the rabbit, what the story really gets at is the relationship between the husband and the wife.  The wife has minor seizures from time to time and can't drive anywhere and is dependent upon other people.  This I think leads her to feel a little insecure with herself.  She feels the need to project this upon the rabbit.  She also projects her anger about the husbands lack of caring at him.  This is really what I feel the author was getting at with the theme of this story.  How one woman uses the rabbit as a coping mechanism and how it could bring two people together, or even apart. 

Not a bad read overall, but not my favorite of this collection.  The other stories were so much better in my opinion.  That doesn't mean I think this story is bad.  I just don’t think this story is as good as the others in this particular collection, but definitely better than some stories I've read from other collections and anthologies.