It was Christmas morning 1961
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I remember it so well, my rabbit hutch was empty
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And mother said I couldn't go into the shed
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If I went to play nicely, I'd get something tasty
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She didn't know where Flappie might be hanging out either
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She'd ask dad, but since he was busy
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In that little bike shed I had to
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Spend just one hour really looking for Flappie
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He was surely somewhere out on the grass
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But I'd closed the hutch properly, though
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Like I did every evening
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I had even gone back the night before
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I don't know why I did that either
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I stood in front of the hutch a long time as if I knew
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It was Christmas Day 1961
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We searched for Flappie, dad simply joined in
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By the trees and the water, but not in that bike shed
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Because he couldn't be in there, right? And I shook my head
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We searched together, together until coffee time
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The family had coffee, but I didn't want any
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I thought about Flappie and how it could freeze so cold at night
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My little head bowed, big tears of grief
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Because I'd really locked the hutch tight
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Like I did every evening
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I had even gone back the night before
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I don't know why I did that either
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I stood in front of the hutch a long time as if I knew
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It was Christmas Day 1961
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They ate noisily, but it didn't matter much to me
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I thought of Flappie, my own little Flappie
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Where could he be? Not a bite went down my throat
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Then after the soup the main course had to come
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My dad said, all joking: Look Youp, there's Flappie now!
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And I still see the silver tray and there he lay in three pieces
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For the first time I saw my father as a terrible man
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And screaming and stomping I went to bed
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First lay crying on the bedspread for an hour
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Stood cursing once more at the top of the stairs
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And shouted: Flappie was mine!
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Stood at the window for a very long time
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But the hutch just stood there deserted
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It was Boxing Day 1961
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Mother recalls it so well, father's bed was empty
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And I told her she couldn't go into the shed
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And if she played nicely, she'd get a treat