A Rabbit Resurrected (August)

Friday night of Beach Week, Carrie called me upset. She said there'd be a change when we got home. Based on how she sounded, I guessed it was an animal. Carrie said she'd knew I'd want to come home to help, but she insisted it wouldn't change anything and I should not. 

Carrie didn't want to tell me what it was, but I kept honing in based on what she did and did not say. I didn't want to press too directly, but I thought it would be better to get it over with. 

"It's Hopkins."

Carrie couldn't see it, but my relief was visceral. I thought it was a cat or dog! It never occurred to me she was talking about a rabbit! Much less one that I sometimes forget we owned. It felt like dodging a bullet.

Still, I was sad for Carrie. I wasn't there to help out, so she took care of everything. She told me she found Hopkins non responsive. She couldn't get anything out of him or hear a heart beat, so she eventually carried him off into the woods. 

I said I'd talk to Shane about it, so he'd be prepared when we got home. I told him before bed time and we talked through.

I, also, went downstairs and told Nana, Pop, Matt, and anyone else down there how relieved I was it was just a rabbit! Matt's prejudiced against rabbits anyway (childhood trauma), so he was ready to celebrate!

I was ready to celebrate, too, to be honest. Hopkins had food and water. None of our animals had attacked it. He was a rescue we took in and he got to live out the rest of his life safely. We never interacted with him and now there was one less rabbit to take care of.

The bunny came back.

It was the same night as Champs (a full week after Carrie first told me Hopkins died). Carrie was in bed and I took the dogs with me to do night chores. Kila started to chase a rabbit and I was shocked that she could keep up. The rabbit didn't look like the normal hares we have sprinting around at night. I cornered it behind some trash cans with Kila's help. 

I called Carrie the moment I got a good enough look at it.

She came out and was able to catch the lop. It looked like Hopkins.

It wasn't afraid of the dogs or cats either, like Hopkins.

It had to be Hopkins. He was wet from the storm, but he showed no interest in the hay or water we laid out. If anything, he hopped to the cage door saying, "Ok, can I go now?"

Carrie swore the little guy was dead. Apparently, rabbits can appear dead (and be close to it) without really being dead. Going out in the woods revived the guy.

And if he really like life better outside, we decided to let him have at it.

I saw him in the backyard the next morning.

The day after that he was hanging out on the front porch. It was so hot I put out a water bowl, but he ignored it.

I've seen him a few days since! The dogs will sometimes wander over to say hi and I bet Kila chases him if he's in the yard, but he seems to be living his best bunny life. If he was sick or injured, I'd bring him in, but it's the outside life for him now.

Somehow, Shane hasn't noticed. No, I know why. Shane's been all about electronics. The dogs will bark and I'll spot Hopkins on the porch. Shane will just talk louder and repeat himself to make sure Cole or B heard him.

Which is easier than telling Shane, "Yeah, the bunny is back alive and, no, we're not bringing him inside." It's one of the few times I'm happy Shane can be so oblivious.