Follow rach_unscripted on Twitter

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Tragedy

Something bad happened in Mayberry tonight.

Something bad, bad.

Something so horrible I'm trembling at the memory.

So here goes.

Don't read this if you have a weak stomach.

It started like any other Tuesday: Wake up, clean up, go to job #1, go to job #2 and finally dinner with the family.  Then I decided the yard needed mowed as I pulled in the driveway, so I fired up my new John Deere and went to it.

With the backyard complete, I moved to the front.  Sadly, however, a few minutes later I heard a high-pitched squeal that sent shivers down my spine as my eyes found the source: teeny, tiny baby rabbits no bigger than the palm of my hand.

Four of them scattered from the nest their mother had burrowed in the ground while one laid motionless (and leg-less) at the exact location of the accident. 

Panicked, a scream might have exited my mouth.

Looking up, I see my neighbor crossing the street with her toddler son and holler "I just ran over a bunch of rabbits!"  An animal lover herself, she hustled over to aid in my attempt to rescue the mini-rabbits.  Her cat takes off with one, another runs under my mower (don't worry, it's turned off), one is sitting stunned by the nest, and the last of the still-alive rabbits runs for my neighbor.

So we do what animal-loving girls do; we take the three we can catch (since the cat and mower took care of the other two) and put them in a box with some grass and such.

Thinking that will be the last of the rabbits for the night, a few minutes later my neighbor knocks at the door with the three rabbits and says she looked it up and we need to put them back in the nest and mark an "X" with some twigs because the momma rabbit comes back at night.

In the morning we'll know if momma rabbit learned of her misfortune of having two less mouths to feed.   In the meantime, I must cope with the fact that I'm a terrible, terrible person. 

Someone please explain to me how gutting a deer is wonderful to me, but this horrific incident is proving highly traumatic. 


No comments:

Post a Comment