“Real isn’t how you are made,” the Skin Horse tells the rabbit. “It’s a thing that happens to you.” — The Velveteen Rabbit , Margery Williams About forty-five years ago, it happened to me for the first time. A tear. An inkling. I was on the edge of a bed with two little boys, reading The Velveteen Rabbit . I hadn’t taken a shower for days. My clothes were proof of survival, with crumbs and smudges and ketchup wiped off with a wet paper towel. As I read about a toy rabbit lon
