Rabbit Escape

Sitting at the computer this morning, plunking at the keys, then plunking back. Nothing really seems to be catching fire.

Out of the back of my attention, I hear the sounds of scratching and hopping and digging. They stop, then they start again. Finally, thinking it's just more than the morning bunny hop, I get up and go out to the living room to look.

Yup. Snowball the rabbit has escaped again.

I apparently once again failed to completely click the lock on his cage. He has learned that if he puts his weight on the front and the lock isn't locked, he can force it open with body weight. And out he goes.

When I turn the light on, I find him around the other two rabbits' (Midnight and Bella) cages, rubbing his scent glands on their cages to say "Hi". The other rabbits are in the corners of their cages sniffing back, while a circle of rabbit pellets is around the whole cage area, a sort of natural police line tape at the scene of the crime.

I call to Snowball and he comes over and gets picked up. I hold him and pet him for a few minutes - he's obviously in an okay mood, because he sits in my lap, closes his eyes a bit, and makes the low chattering noise with his teeth which in rabbit language means "I'm happy!". After this, I pick him up and back to his cage he goes while I get out the broom and sweep around to collect the droppings for garden.

As I put the broom back, I am suddenly struck by the fact that Snowball never gives up. He always tries the cage in hopes that it will spring open. Why have I lost that energy in my own life, that "try and try again" motive that keeps trying even though you've failed every other time? Is it that I have less energy and determination that a rabbit? Or is it that I have simply learned to give up, that whether or not the cage door is locked, I have come to accept that the door is locked - whether or not it is?

Suddenly, I realize, I may have something to write about.

Out of the back of my attention, I hear the sounds of scratching and hopping and digging...