Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Gloria the Feral

A few Sunday's ago, the door bell went at 7:50 in the morning. Mark was having a sleep in (we take it in turns - I had a lovely 4 hr sleep in the day before) and my first thought was that the door to door salesmen were getting a bit too keen.
I opened the door to our very apologetic neighbour who asked if we owned a little grey bunny. I said we do, and he proceeded to explain that there was a very happy rabbit chewing on his petunias with gusto, and that she wasn't a problem except that she might run on to the road if he left his garage door open. I told him to give me two minutes and I'd be right over.
I stood there for a moment trying to decide what to do. I thought it unfair to interrupt Mark's glorious sleep in, so I whipped the kids out of their pj's into their day clothes quicker then a hare out of a burrow.
I then told them that we had to go on a mission (I might have called them 'troops' - although this might be too embarrassing to mention on a public post). We marched over to the neighbours with Maria and Sam armed with nets on poles, Bekah in her stroller, and my charming self in a jumper, pj bottoms, with gorgeous ugg boot completing my outfit. Hot stuff.
Our neighbour must have heard us 'one-two, forward march' -ing over and met us at the door. He looked a little bit confused - I think it was the uggs...too overdressed? - but he let us in anyway. I couldn't help but feel a bit out of place as we trooped through his house to his back yard, but I quickly overcame the uncomfortable feeling as I spied Gloria dearest sunbathing on his patio.
We decided the simple round up was the way to go, and prepared for a long battle. However it was over pretty quickly - yours truly managed to do a running dive and catch the little pet in one of the nets. I though it was pretty impressive, but the puzzled look was back on my neighbours face so I decided to get out pretty quickly before he started asking about where I get my style.
However, there was a slight problem with getting the rabbit home. Gloria has turned slightly feral after the last escape (she was finally caught by Mark after nearly half an hour of blocking up holes that lead to under the house and cunning outdoor furniture barricades around the garden, complete with a similar running tackle by my dear husband. He wasn't amused with the incident, however I reackon that his deep thought into the catch proved otherwise).
Anyway our slightly feral darling pet has taken to biting whoever tried to hold her. When I say biting, I actually mean attacking and trying to decapitate the person trying to touch her. Needless to say I am quite frightened to touch her. I said this to our neighbour and asked him if he would mind picking her up and taking to back to her cage. The puzzled look deepened, and so he pinned the bunny down by her neck and picked her up quite easily. We all walked back through his house - the kids delighted by the early morning adventures. He asked me how the rabbit had managed to escape. I explained that she had been planning a coup, and seized freedom when I was trying to fill her water up. He seemed unsatisfied with my testimony, and was rather quiet. Mark met us as we came back into our front garden and was greeted with elated pratter by the kids. Mark took Gloria off our neighbour, who made a quick retreat. Mark put Gloria back in her cage, turned to me and asked how she managed to escape after his great efforts last time, and long lectures about how she was never allowed out of her cage again full stop. I told him my story, however he quizzed me a little too closely. Silly questions like how long was the top of the cage open while I was doing this alleged change of the water? And are you sure she was planning a coup, or did you leave the top open so that the rabbit that you were complaining was depressed by capture could be liberated by freedom again?
Like I said, silly questions.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Seems like it is time for rabbit stew . !