Remember What The Doormouse Said

Here’s a brief rundown of a phone conversation I had on Wednesday evening:

*ring*

Anthony: “Hello?”

Me: “Hey, what’s going on?”

Anthony: “Nothing. Jenel and Karolyn are planting some stuff in the garden.”

Me: “Cool, cool. You want a rabbit?”

*and scene*

At the time, I was standing in front of my apartment and staring at a large, floppy-eared white rabbit about the size of a double-XL cat. I don’t know where it came from, but I don’t think wild rabbits look like that, grow to that size, or are quite so apt to come right up to strange people as that snowy little egg-painter.

In addition to the “oh, cool” factor associated with seeing a huge, overly cute rabbit camping out in front of your house, there was also the questioning within myself (and when can’t I make things about myself, after all). Questions like: what do you do with a rabbit? I don’t really know any of my neighbors well enough to go around in the evening knocking on doors trying to find the rabbit’s home. Plus, he was hopping away, albeit rather slowly. And as Jeb pointed out rabbits can give themselves heart attacks when frightened, so I didn’t want to go chasing after it or try carrying it around. I also couldn’t shake the nagging doubt that the cute little guy had some kind of not-so-cute disease that I didn’t want to bring into my house (I wasn’t really afraid of my landlord finding the rodent). I also don’t think that animal welfare would be useful in such a case. Maybe I’m wrong. As I stood there contemplating various issues and questions, the rabbit in question had vanished. Hamlet would never have caught any rabbits.

Where did the little puffball go? No doubt he was late for some type of appointment, right? I couldn’t help thinking that such a plump, slow-moving, and most likely street-unwise creature would surely be a meal for something in the nocturnal Norman wilderness within an hour (or perish on the unforgiving asphalt of Lindsey Street). This is one of those times when I’m not that smart. I left for a delightful evening of ZOMBIES!!! the Board Game with Anthony, Jenel and Karolyn, and when I returned home at 2:30 in the morning, I was surprised to see that the bunny had returned (or else someone is releasing a horde of big fat bunny rabbits in Norman) and was calmly stretched out on the soft dirt behind my apartment building.

I put out some water and zucchini tonight (I think rabbits like zucchini), but I really hope that whoever lost their rabbit has found him and taken him safely back home. And if someone just got tired of taking care of a rabbit and “released” it back into the wild, then I hope he or she gets to experience a sudden and involuntary release from their home as well.

[feed your head at biblebeltbabylon.blogspot.com, xanga.com/moontos and blog.myspace.com/moontos]