Saturday in the park, and like the old song goes, I think it was the Fourth of July. It doesn't matter. The important part is that the park was crowded with people, it was ungodly hot, and as I sat on a bench under a tree I started to see a man-sized rabbit.

Jimmy Stewart's was white. Mine was dark green, almost black. At first I figured it was some goofball in a costume, and who wouldn't have thought that? I saw him intermittently through the crowds of runners and walkers and picnickers who were all out soaking up the sunshine as I was. He was striding along at a jaunty pace and carrying a bucket of some sort under one arm. As he drew closer I realized that it was a popcorn bucket he was carrying, the same kind you would get at a movie theater, and I also realized that he wasn't wearing any sort of clothing. It was one outlandish costume, I thought, with things swinging around like that.

Closer still, and it slowly dawned on me that it was not a costume. I thought maybe that I was suffering from heat stroke or something. That had to be it. I tried to get up but my arms and legs did not obey. I wanted to call for help but my voice had quit.

The rabbit -- or at least, that is what it looked like to me -- kept coming, walking straight toward me along the concrete path. Now and then he would fish a piece of popcorn out of his bucket and toss it into his mouth. Others seemed to see him, too, because people were moving quickly out of his way, parting to make room for him to pass. At least, that is how it looked at first. After a moment I realized with a start that the park goers were not exactly moving aside. They were vanishing, just like that, right into thin air. People crossing the path ahead of him disappeared in mid-stride right before my eyes.

That was bad enough. What happened next made me want to scream like a little girl but I could still not force any sound out of my throat. All at once every single person who was between the rabbit and me winked out. In fact, the whole section of the park, which had just a second before been teeming with life, was shockingly silent and empty. The rabbit simply kept walking straight toward me, shifting his popcorn bucket a little in his arm for a better grip. Looking down, I saw that the path he strode on was swarming with little insects, but then I suddenly realized that they were not insects. They were people, the same ones who had been standing and walking and playing there a moment before. They had not disappeared after all. They were tiny, beetle-sized, and stumbling about in panicked confusion.

I remember mouthing the words, "No, oh God, no!" They were running willy-nilly in circles and making a tiny whining noise like a swarm of mosquitoes. Oblivious to their plight, the rabbit simply stepped on them and walked on, leaving behind him a row of long footprints made of little red splatters. Into that terrible wake descended the hungry birds who begged constantly for food at the park. Those poor souls who were not crushed outright beneath the rabbit's tread were snapped up and swallowed whole, or carried off, still kicking. I saw one miniature person being fought over by two starlings who tugged and tugged until he came apart.

And then the rabbit was standing right in front of me. I gaped mutely at his feet and at the blood that was visible around the fronts of his toes, and then slowly raised my eyes up to his. They were an astonishing violet color, their pupils deep and dark, and they showed no malice, just a casual, childish delight.

"Hi!" he said cheerily, making me jump. Shifting his popcorn bucket to his other arm he turned and sat down beside me with a lazy groan. "Oof! It's a scorcher today, isn't it?"

I wanted to run, really I did, but I couldn't.

"Well, like they say, it isn't the heat -- it's the humidity. Maybe we'll be lucky and it will rain." His ears perked up. "Oo, maybe a thunderstorm! I love thunderstorms. Nature at its best." He politely held the popcorn bucket toward me. "Want some?"

The bucket was making an odd noise, a scraping and scrabbling sound. It reminded me of what the Japanese beetles used to sound like when I was a boy and collected them off of the rose bushes into a paper cup. The mosquito-whine still rang at the edge of my hearing even though the birds had cleared anything living off of the path and were now quarreling over the flattened remains. With the bucket pushed under my nose I could not help but stare into it, and the sight made my heart stop dead in my chest.

They were people, just like the ones on the ground, tiny, beetle-sized. There must have been a hundred or more, all scrambling and beating at one another and clawing at the round paper wall that enclosed them. Every one of them was looking up at me, their faces contorted in disbelief and horror and unimaginable terror.

"Go ahead," the rabbit said with a bright smile. "Help yourself. There's plenty."

I wanted so much to shriek, to jump up and run for my life. My body still refused to cooperate. I think I was in shock, a deer in the headlights. With a great effort I found enough voice to squeak out a few words. "You...you're...eating them..."

The rabbit gave me a look as though I had just said something totally crazy. "Um...yes, of course I am," he said.

"But...b-but....but why?"

"Why?" He giggled and reached into the bucket with his free hand. The mob within whined louder and scuttled away from his fingers as they closed around a single thrashing figure and lifted it out into the open air. "They're made out of meat, aren't they?" He flashed a grin and then lifted the morsel -- a woman with red hair -- to his mouth. With a frightfully casual flick of his fingers he tossed her inside.

Just like popcorn.

His tongue rose and rolled her between the crushing surfaces of his teeth and he bit down. Red juice squirted out and ran down his lower lip. He started chewing. "Juicy one," he said jovially. "Sure you won't have any?"

"No." I began to fidget, my body slowly rousing itself out of its stunned immobility. I found to my dismay that my hand could move freely toward the monstrosity, but if I tried to move it away some force prevented it. My fingers hovered awkwardly, a misjudged motion making them move an inch closer, an inch which they were powerless to recover. I thought of a mouse caught in the grip of a snake, allowed to exhale but not to inhale, as the coils slowly tightened.

He glanced toward my approaching hand and giggled. "It's OK," he said, moving his arm closer. "I don't mind."

My fingers touched the green-black fur and I shivered. It was soft -- damn, was it soft. There is nothing else to compare it to, not even silk. It was as warm as the summer air but nonetheless I felt deathly cold. Again I found my voice. "What are you?" I whispered.

Again he gave me that look, and then burst out laughing. "I like you!" he said. "You're silly." His arm rose up and draped over my shoulders, then tugged me up in a companionly embrace against his side. Again he offered me the bucket. "Last chance...."

I swallowed, petrified. "No," I whimpered. "I don't want them."

He gave me a small snug under his arm. "Suit yourself." His fur-covered attributes shifted conspicuously as he spread his legs and nestled the bucket between them. Sobbing inwardly, I could only watch as he lowered his hand inside and withdrew a great fistful of wiggling bodies. They struggled from between his fingers, tiny hands pushing and beating in a futile effort at freedom. I watched as he bore them to his gaping maw and pushed them inside. They sprawled in a great tangled clump before he closed his mouth and mercifully hid them from my view as he chewed them. He swallowed twice, then licked his lips and giggled lightly. "It feels funny when they're still alive in my stomach," he remarked.

"Please don't," I croaked.

He frowned and turned toward me. He looked confused. "Don't what?"

"Don't eat them."

There was blood on his two big incisors. It made my stomach churn. "Why not?" he said with a completely innocent expression. "It's not like they matter or anything."

"But...they do."

His frown deepened and he put his hand to my forehead. It was warm, and like the rest of him outrageously soft. "I think you've been out in the sun too long. It's getting late anyway. What say we go home?" Moving the bucket to the bench beside him, he stood up and took both of my hands in his. "Upsy-daisy!"

I let myself be pulled to my feet. He took a step back and slowly looked me up and down. With the day's heat I had ventured out in nothing but my running shorts, and under his scrutiny I felt naked and vulnerable. "Nice," he said, licking the blood from his incisors. "I got me a good one."

"What are you?" was all I could say.

He put a hand on my shoulder. "You said that already," he murmured. "Definitely gotten too much sun. We'll have to take care of you." Then he brightened. "Or maybe you meant to ask me my name?"

I nodded, not sure what else to do.

"Oh, that!" he laughed. "Hum! You know, it's a good question. I don't think I ever bothered with one." He rubbed thoughtfully at his chin. "Name...name. Well, the first thing I heard when I arrived was "Nani yo!" That's as good a name as any, I suppose, so you can call me Naniyo."

"I'm..."

He put a velvet-furred finger to my lips. "I know," he said, and then he grinned broadly. "Let's go home now. I wouldn't mind getting out of the heat myself." He picked up the popcorn bucket and scooped out another great handful, which he popped into his mouth and swallowed without chewing, letting three or four tumble unnoticed from his lips. As for the rest, he simply flung the bucket forward, sending a fan of tiny bodies sailing ahead, tumbling end over end through the air before they landed with a rainfall-clatter in the grass. Immediately the greedy birds swarmed upon them, while Naniyo laid his arm on my shoulder as though we were old friends and led me away from the park.

I said nothing as I walked, shell-shocked and stiff, beside him. He made small talk, commenting about the trees and the heat and occasionally complimenting me on my looks and build. Thankfully we moved through the wooded section where there were no crowds, although at one point we emerged into a clearing where a group of picnickers were spread out on a blanket. Naniyo did not even pause in his sentence as the whole group vanished, blanket and all. No, not vanished, God help them. The blanket was the size of a napkin and they were still sitting on it in exactly the same postures. I wanted to pull away but his arm felt like a leaden beam on my shoulders as I stumbled along with him. There was an audible splat and then a grinding sound as his foot came down atop them and we walked on, not looking back -- he did not care, and I did not have the courage to.

We emerged again from the woods and into the back yard of a house, one of the classy-rustic kind favored by the well-to-do folks who lived near the park. "Here we are!" he said merrily. "Home sweet home."

He took his arm from my shoulders and led me around to the front door. After wiping his oversized feet carefully on the mat -- I could not bring myself to look at what was cleaned off -- he poked at the doorbell with his finger. I was numb enough by now that it was easier to speak. "This is your house?" I said softly.

"You mean our house. Of course it is!" Then he paused. "Well, not quite yet."

The door opened and a tall, burly man stared at us. "What the fuck?" was all he managed to say before Naniyo's hand shot forward. In the blink of an eye the man disappeared, and his tiny body was falling through the air to land squarely in the middle of Naniyo's palm. The rabbit smiled and closed his hand. Tightly. I heard a wet crunch. "Now it's ours," he said with a grin, and glibly licked the goo from his fingers.

There was no longer any force compelling me -- had not been since the first time I felt it, in fact. But I still had no choice but to follow him inside.

It was a nice place, with beams and rafters and dark wood done up like an old barn. It even had a loft. Naniyo peered around, pleased, and then strode to the stairs and stepped to the side. "After you," he said with a grandiose bow and a sweeping gesture. After an uncomfortable pause I complied, trudging up the stairs while he bounded behind me as excited as a youngster moving into a new home.

He ushered me eagerly into the bedroom where an expensive king-sized bed lay. He let out a delighted squeal and ran past me, leaped half the length of the room and landed with a violent bounce in the center of the bed. "Yahoo!" he shouted. "Come on, give it a try. It's fun."

I couldn't muster such enthusiasm and simply sat down on the edge of the bed and stared.

Naniyo bounced a few more times, giggling, and then sat up and peered quizzically at me. "Awwww, what's the matter?" he said with an earnest tone. He crawled forward. Putting his arms around my waist he eased me fully onto the bed and gently pushed me down to my back, then stretched out beside me. With one soft and fluffy hand he stroked little circles across my chest. "Tell Naniyo what's troubling you."

Slowly I turned my head to gaze into his unearthly violet eyes. They peered back with maddening innocence and genuine concern, as if he could not for the life of him understand why I was so upset, as if we had simply been out for a harmless walk in the park. "Those people," I whimpered.

He nodded. "Uh-huh..."

"You killed them."

Again he nodded, and made a gesture as though he expected more. "Uh-huh...and..?"

"And...they're dead. You murdered them."

His teeth flashed in a gleeful grin. "Well, duh!" He stroked down over my belly, rubbing like you would a puppy. "So what's wrong?"

I was thunderstruck. "But...why?" I sputtered.

"Why?" He poked his tongue out the side of his mouth and knit his brow in concentration. "Why. Well, let's see." He slid an arm under my head and cuddled close, and counted with his fingers on my chest. "One: it's fun." His second finger tapped. "Two: I was hungry." Third finger. "Three: they were there." Then he brought his hand up and gently touched my nose. "And four: you wanted me to."

I started to recoil, but he hugged me more tightly. "I didn't! I never did! I wanted you to stop!"

He giggled and threw a strong, silken leg over my own. He rubbed soothingly at my chest and nosed at my ear, purring softly into it. "Are you sure?" he whispered. His hand rose from my chest and he touched a finger to my forehead. "Deeeeeeeeep inside...are you sure?"

Icy jolts shot through my gut. It could not be. They were fantasies. Idle dreams. Safe dreams.

Naniyo blew softly against my ear. "What did you feel?" he crooned. "What were you whispering to yourself when you saw me trampling on them like so many insects? What was that voice saying, the one you did not want to hear, while you watched my titanic feet crushing the life from them, while you watched them screeching and pleading uselessly as I swallowed them alive?" He blew again. "What is it saying now, knowing that inside my stomach they are still kicking, still screaming as I slowly digest them?"

His hand moved down to the front of my shorts and squeezed. I realized with a wrenching horror that I had an erection.

He giggled. "So that's what it's saying." He tugged his arm out from under my head and sat up, then moved to kneel astride my legs. "Now," he said as he trailed his fingertips down my belly. "Let's get a better look at what I have collected."

I lay motionless as he carefully drew the waistband of my shorts down. "My my," he said with a smile, "You're a big one." My reaction to such things had always been a guilty pleasure, a dark secret that I had always kept tightly bottled up. That reaction now rested humiliatingly exposed, twitching softly upon my belly. "So tense, too," Naniyo crooned. "Poor thing. Let me help with that." He hugged my legs between his own and lowered his head. I felt his warm breath upon it, then a soft and sensual lick, and then delightful warmth surrounded it. I closed my eyes tightly and held my breath, but it rushed out in a loud groan as he began expertly working. My blood was rushing so loudly in my ears that I could not hear my own panting. Behind my eyelids I saw the appalling carnage over and over, gigantic furry paws casting their shadow over terror-stricken people before squashing them beneath what to them must have been thousands of tons of weight. A petrified man crushed into nothingness in a powerful fist. Little figures struggling on a broad, wet tongue, their squeals silenced as they were eaten alive.

It was over. Heat rushed through my cheeks and I opened my eyes. Naniyo's head rose, unearthly eyes slitted in satisfaction. A bead of pearly moisture rested on his lip and he licked it away with delight. "Good boy," he said. He leaned forward and stretched out beside me, his leg once again draped over mine, his cheek resting on my shoulder. "Do you feel better now?"

I swallowed, my mouth dry, and nodded slightly.

Naniyo petted my chest with a soft mitt. "Are you tired?"

I was.

"Then sleep."

I passed out.

I do not know what dreams I may have had that night. Probably my mind could not handle remembering them. I only know that I woke with a start to find myself lying on my side with my face pressed against downy-soft fur. Naniyo was in my arms, cuddled up with his back to me, nestled in the curl of my body. My startled gasp must have woken him, because he stirred, then lifted his head and yawned. "Oh. Morning so soon?" He turned to smile at me over his shoulder, briefly wiggled his rump teasingly back against my hips, and then rolled away and stood up. "Be right back, lover," he said, blowing me a small kiss before he stepped into the bathroom.

His diet...I tried not to think about it. The important thing was that he was occupied and for the first time I had a chance to escape. I could have charged out the door and kept running, maybe found a place to hide until he went away. In fact I made it as far as the door before I stopped. There was no force holding me. Every rational cell in my brain was screaming at me to get moving. I didn't, though. I couldn't.

I heard a click behind me and turned. Naniyo was standing in the bathroom doorway, his arms folded, one shoulder leaning casually on the doorjamb. He was smiling at me, or rather smirking, a knowing gleam in his eye. He was also aroused, a thick, jet-black penis jutting proudly from his groin. I found myself staring at it.

And then I found myself staring at his toes from across a vast field of tight shrubbery. It took a few breathless seconds for me to realize that the foliage in which I stood ankle-deep was the bedroom carpeting. The room itself stretched into infinity, instantly striking me with vertigo. Naniyo towered high into the air, as big as a skyscraper. Still smirking, he began to walk toward me.

My ears rang with the sound of his footfall and the ground shuddered violently beneath me. He took another step, his colossal foot sweeping forward through the air. I could see the fur atop it shifting and rippling as it tilted, the toes rising, and then another explosion as it landed. I was astonished at how quickly they were approaching, each step crossing a football field's length. Mortal terror shot through me and I turned and ran, screaming my head off like a lunatic. I stumbled through the carpet pile, howling and gasping, as he crashed after me at a lazy stroll.

I did not get far, of course, before one of those immense feet slammed down right beside me. It was like a mountain falling and the shock wave sent me sprawling. Awkwardly sitting up I stared at the great wall of fur that was his foot, and then let my frightened eyes travel up along the pillar of his leg. He stood over me, smiling down from his great height, his looming erection half-obscuring his face. "You still don't see it?" he said in a nearly deafening voice, and then turned, pivoting on the nearer foot. I looked up to see his rump, blackfurred, slim, sexy...and rapidly descending toward me. His laughter filled the air with thunder while I cried out and threw my hands up in a vain attempt to shield myself. The muscular curves swept behind me and the last thing I saw was the enormous, fluffy bulk of his scrotum rushing closer before I was buried beneath it.

I don't know how long I struggled. Five seconds, five hours, it all seems the same when you are being smothered. Acres of warm fur pressed down on me and barely indented when I tried to push up against it. An overpowering musk choked me whenever I was able to catch a frantic breath. Desperate to escape, I kept wiggling like a worm, inching my body beneath the vast bulk until at last I saw a sliver of light, and then clawed my way out, gasping, into the fresh air.

Naniyo's thighs rose like canyon walls on either side of me. His erection loomed like an ebony tower into the air above me, and beyond that his gleefully smiling face. He simply watched me, giggling to himself. I blurted out, "Why?"

"You ask that question a lot. Isn't it obvious?"

The answer shocked me and I simply stared, dumbstruck.

Naniyo's fingers descended behind me and scraped slowly forward across the carpet. They bumped against me and urged me, stumbling and shuffling, forward until I was standing before his enormous scrotum, and then he pressed me lightly into its surface. "No," I sputtered, pressing into the soft flesh with my hands. "Why..."

"Why what?"

I gasped, dizzy from his musk. "Why did you come here?"

"You are a curious one, aren't you?" he said, grinning. "Since you asked, though, I'm here because of you. You called to me. I answered."

The answer staggered me. "What are you?"

"What do you think I am?"

The fingers behind me pressed a little more gently. One of them rose and fell, rubbing the length of my back and legs with a tender touch. Given my position it was oddly comforting. "Are you...are you a god?"

High overhead he snickered down at me. The walls on either side of me began to get smaller -- no, I realized, I was getting larger. It was like riding in an elevator and watching the front of his scrotum rush upward, until I was staring at its upper side, and there the ride ended. Two fingers gently pressed in against my sides and lifted me off my feet. He dragged me deliberately upward along the silken fur of his sheath and then onto the warm, naked flesh of his erection. His hand surrounded me, pressing me to its surface.

"I am...your...god."

I began to rise and fall, bobbing like a cork on a troubled sea while my skin bumped and slid against his own. Fluid seeped down from above and slicked my passage. It was a dizzying experience. Sparks flashed over my eyes as he squeezed me slowly tighter, pressing me against the gargantuan organ and dragging me with increasing ferocity over its surface. I fully expected to die, but then the black flesh convulsed and I was hit from above by a bucketful of thick, warm cream. It covered my head and shoulders and I felt more of it flowing down to bury me. I had survived being crushed, I thought, only to be suffocated.

Suddenly I could breathe. I sucked in a great lungful of air, coughed and sucked in another. When I opened my eyes the room was no longer dizzyingly huge. Naniyo was peering back at me from my own height, and when my vision focused on him he leaned forward and gave me a gentle hug, his chin on my shoulder. "That was nice," he whispered contentedly. "We'll have to do it again tonight." Then he touched his nose to mine and kissed me, a deep and loving kiss, before he rocked back on his heels and stood up. "Well, time's a-wasting!" he said, leaning down help me to my feet. "We have a lot to do today."

Dazedly I turned and started to reach for my shorts, which had been tossed carelessly at the foot of the bed. Naniyo saw what I was doing and laughed. "Don't bother," he said, ruffling my hair with his fingers. "You look better without them."

"But..." I began, but he was already bounding out the door, tittering like a schoolboy. I stood unsteadily for a few long seconds and then lurched after him.

Side by side we walked back through the woods, back to the park. It was early, one of those steamy July mornings where it was already baking hot by the time the sun rose. The field where the horror of the previous day had taken place was empty, surrounded by yellow police tape. Apparently nobody could fathom the dozens of disappearances. Naniyo marched glibly through the tape, simply pressing forward until it stretched and tore. I followed, shivering with mounting dread. "What are we doing here?" I asked quietly.

"Doing?" He turned to smile at me, walking backwards now. "We're having fun, of course. At least I am." Here he stopped. "You, though, still seem a little tense. Didn't you enjoy our little rendezvous?"

"Y-yes," I said, looking at the ground.

He nodded sagely. "Oho, I get it. You're still hung up on all the little bugs I killed, aren't you?"

I felt the hair rise up on my neck. "They weren't bugs!"

"Of course they were!" he laughed, and then folded his arms. "You just have to stop thinking of them as having any sort of importance in the universe. They're insects, nothing more. You've never had trouble stepping on a bug before, have you?"

"Bugs don't plead for mercy."

He giggled. "Ah, but that's what makes this kind so amusing!"

We heard the sound of a Diesel engine, and through the trees behind us we caught a glimpse of a yellow school bus. A few seconds later we heard the hooting and howling of teenagers who were hanging out of the windows and flashing obscene gestures. They were decked out in varsity uniforms. Naniyo followed the bus with his gaze and then turned to face me with a bright smile. "You just need a little encouragement. Let me help."

He held his hand out flat. Just as the bus passed behind him it vanished from sight, and at the same time a toy bus appeared in his hand. It came complete with its forest of teenagers sprouting from the windows, only they were not whooping it up now. They were just staring in shock. Humming cheerfully, Naniyo plucked them one by one from the windows with his fingers and rolled them all together in his fist. He collected a half dozen before the others got their wits about them and retreated into the bus's interior, and once more I heard the muffled mosquito-whine.

Smiling, Naniyo tucked the bus under his arm and bent down. Like a gardener planting seeds he nudged a tiny figure out of his grip, then a second, then a third. They tumbled to the ground and began to kick and squeal. Naniyo stood up straight and held up a finger. "Now, watch closely," he said, and lifted his foot.

My mouth fell open as he lowered it toward them. They flailed about, two trying to get to their feet, the third on his knees and gaping. "It's as easy as stepping on a roach." His foot settled atop them. I watched his toes spread as his weight shifted. "A little extra style..." He twisted the ball of his foot slowly. Redness stained the edges of his toes. "...and now it's your turn."

I stared in disbelief as he stooped and rolled the remaining captives off of his palm, sending them sprawling between my feet. Then he slipped around behind me and laid his warm chin on my shoulder. "They're roaches," he crooned into my ear. The little figures were getting up, starting to run all in a group. They were pathetically slow, looking from my view as if they were crawling. "Go ahead. Destroy them," Naniyo whispered encouragingly. "Squash them, Lover. Show them your power. Trust me, you'll enjoy it."

Entranced by that soft voice I slowly raised my foot. I watched the fleeing humanity disappear as my toes overtook them. I stepped down. They wiggled -- I could feel them. I stepped down harder. One-two-three they popped, like fallen mulberries on the sidewalk, all juicy and soft.

Naniyo was right. I enjoyed it.