I took a bit longer than 10 minutes (I didn't really time myself), but I had to finish it! haha

Not my best writing, stylistically...but I wanted to get to the end.

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A rooster crowed somewhere in the distance. It was time for another day. Rabbit awoke from his slumber and began rummaging around his hole for the remaining scraps from his previous day's search for food. There was little to be found. Ever since the onset of the Great Drought, food was scarce. As less and less water became available, so too was there less and less to eat.

Many of the animals in Rabbit's neck of the woods were in a similar situation. Skunk, who was slower than most and who suffered from poor eyesight, found it particularly difficult to amass a sufficient amount to eat. And so, in doing what he must to stay alive, he swallowed his pride each day, and asked all his neighbours for just a small ration to augment the pittance he was able to scrounge for himself.

There were those, like Rabbit, who were generous enough to share, despite their own hardship. However, there were others, like Snake, who would accuse Skunk of being lazy, while stealing a morsel or two whenever Skunk's back was turned.

Despite the presence of a drought, however, it wasn't as though there was no water to be found; the beavers on the other side of the meadow had an abundance for themselves contained in a reservoir behind their dams. The animals of the woods and the meadow would often seek to beg for water from the beavers...and when they were inevitably turned away, they would sometimes attempt to steal it. This was a very difficult task for the smaller creatures, such as Rabbit and his friend, Mouse, because the beavers had reached an agreement with the hawk clan: an exchange of water for protection.

The hawks patrolled the skies over the meadow and the reservoir, ensuring that no one could touch the water, save for those who were either authorized access (such as Weasel) or those who were powerful enough (such as the wolfpack or Big Bear). For the smaller animals, one step in the wrong direction could make them dinner for the hawks--or at the very least, result in their banishment from the meadow, where the majority of the food was to be found.

This was the predicament in which Rabbit had found himself just one week prior--as he was walking along the edge of the gully which sloped down to the reservoir, he dropped an acorn. As it rolled downhill, he went chasing after...but not before a hawk spotted him and chased him back into the woods empty handed. Ever since, he was forced to search for food in other, less abundant areas.

And so it was, that on this day, Rabbit (known to his mother as, James) emerged onto the street below his Brooklyn apartment to continue his search for a new job. There were many others doing the same that day, and there were rumblings that the poor little creatures of this, the concrete wilderness, were soon to push for a change.