The only rabbit in school

She had come to Norway from China by way of Germany, and she was desperate to be a normal kid. Her class in Oslo was a welcome class, a transition halfway house for immigrants who couldn't yet speak Norwegian, and students moved out of it once they seemed ready. By October the class had talked about Halloween, and it was coming up.

In the United States, kids wear their costumes to school and hold a little parade. In Norway, people knew what Halloween was, but costumes stayed home. She walked in on October 31st in a full rabbit suit, complete with gloves and a tail.

Her ordinary clothes had already marked her as the new kid, and the rabbit suit made that worse. She held her pencils through the big gloves for the entire school day. Everyone had talked about the date, and she had assumed they were all on the same page.