Hare-y Houdini

My sister called me one day two summers ago. It seems she and her husband were driving to the Earth Day celebration. The day was uncommonly sunny and very hot, and they drove past a house which had a cage out by the road, with a sign on the cage reading, "Free." As they passed, my sister saw two ears.

"That's a rabbit," she said. "In the sun with no shade. I have to call my sister."

Her husband said, "I'm turning around."

She called me. "There's a bunny," she said, "on the side of the road, in the sun. Its cage is filthy, and it has bird seed in its dish, and it has no water."

"Get it," I said.

"And there's a sign which says free, and it stinks."

"Get it," I said, "and we'll find it a good home."

So they went to the house and got the rabbit, which the people said they had gotten for their daughter who had just gotten tired of it. Since my sister had guinea pigs and had heard that rabbits and guinea pigs should not be kept together, I took the rabbit and put him on the porch. He was a darling little mini-rex, tan in color, and very sweet. His coat was that wonderful plush which the mini-rex buns are known for. The kids named him Willie. The next day, when I came home from work, EG had moved the bunny into our bedroom. "Huh," I told him. "Looks like Bunny found a new home."

Will eventually got moved to the bottom half of the rabbit condo in the living room, and eventually Harry discovered that he could move the latch to the cage and open the door, and then stick his head in and snack on the treats intended for the rabbit. Unfortunately, Willie is an adventurer, and he gets out and travels through the house. We have had to use a lock on the cage.

Today we came back to find the cage open and the bunny nowhere to be found. Finally, we located him, up inside the sofa, where he was quite comfortable, thank you very much, and had no intention of coming out. Eventually, I persuaded him with the broom to head for his cage, but he ran in the corner instead. When I crawled up to him, he came to me and buried his head in my chest.

Now he is in his cage, inside his box, with only his ears sticking out, "hiding" from the world. And we will be buying a second lock for the cage.