FORGIVENESS

Last week I took a walk with a rabbit. It scurried along beside me for half a block or so, making little purring sounds, sort of like a cell phone on Vibrate. It talked the whole way.
I’ve only ever been spoken to in the past by one other rabbit and that was Ruth’s pet rabbit, Satin. But I do recall the things we talked about.
Me: “Come on Satin, it’s time to get into your cage.”
Satin: (scurrying into a corner) “No thank you. I’d rather just stay out and chew up the electrical cords”
Me: “Please come to me Satin. I have to go to work now and it’s not safe to leave you loose in the house.”
Satin (heading for the place where I was standing when I first started chasing her) “How do you know it’s not safe?”
Me: (Heading for the place Satin headed for when she left the last place she left) “I just know, Okay.”
Satin: (sprinting a diagonal across the room) “Why should I believe you? Have you ever heard of a rabbit not being safe alone in this house before?”
Me: (Laundry basket in hand) “No I haven’t. But you are the only rabbit we have ever had. You’re the last one we’re having too, just in case you were wondering.”
Satin: (from under the upside-down laundry basket) “This isn’t fair. You’re bigger than me. You’re a bully. Ruth wouldn’t let you treat me this way if she were here.”
Me: “Me a bully? You’re the bully! You bit me the last time I had to catch you before I could leave for work, and you scratched me the day before that.”
Satin probably said more after that, but I didn’t hear, seeing as how she was under the laundry basket, and rabbit talk is pretty quiet and I was already running for the bus.
Forgiveness, I have learned, can be a long and slow process. The lifespan of the average human is quite a bit longer than the lifespan of the average rabbit. That is to say, it’s a long time since Satin and I last spoke and I haven’t been much inclined to speak to rabbits since then. You can’t be too careful. You never know when a rabbit will want to come home with you. I’ve heard they’re all pretty nice when you first meet them.
But last week I actually took a walk with a rabbit. It scurried along beside me for half a block or so, making little purring sounds, sort of like a cell phone on Vibrate.
Said the rabbit: “It’s a great day for a walk, don’t you think?”
And I said it certainly was a great day. Sometimes you just have to bury the hatchet and move on.