Tuesday, November 4, 2008

W&G: Curse of the Were-Rabbit

I had another rant prepared but something came up and I thought I'd share.

Bunny.

Stupid bunny.

We have been walking in the neighbourhood and going to an abandoned school yard because of recent park experiences. It's also dark now when I get home and walking these two in the pitch black is not my idea of fun especially if I can't see if another dog is getting miffy. So we head to the school yard and they run around like maniacs for a few minutes.

Leads on and we head home.

150 feet from home Halo stops. Statue. I know that stillness and it bodes an explosion of action. I tighten the lead and peer into the darkness.

There, pinned in the grass, is an almost white bunny. Ears pressed to its head, flat as flat to the ground, sticking out like a white bunny against dark grass.

It sits up.

Halo is practically vibrating but stays solid as a statue.

Raimi looks at Halo and then peers into the darkness in the direction she is looking. Spots the bunny.

Raimi freezes. Still as a statue. The two of them are a photograph.

I tell the bunny "Shoo! Shoo Bunny!"

It hops nonchalantly across the yard and disappears around a tree. Both dogs spring into action and hit the end of the lead. I had spent the precious seconds prior to the "Shoo Bunny!' leaning against the pull of the dogs, wrapping the leads around my hands, bracing myself for the bolt.

We were only half a block from home so I carefully guided the manic dogs toward home. It was difficult progress. We rounded a tree.

Bunny.

White bunny. Sitting up and watching us.

The dogs couldn't believe their luck. The bunny flattened itself against the dark grass. Raimi, who I believe has never seen a bunny, was practically beside himself. Halo was doing her very best intense stare - the kind where you know just below the surface boils a predator.

We tried to walk past the bunny and made a sort of a curve off the sidewalk toward it with Raimi pulling like a train. We were still passing it and almost in the clear.

It bolted.

Toward us.

Heaven's above I thought I was going to get dragged across 4 yards and into the road. It shot toward us, curved at the last second, zipped around a tree and shot into the street. I'm quite sure several blocks down they could hear my " NoooOOOOOoooooOOOOOooooo!!!"

Both dogs in the same direction in a concentrated effort to Get That Bunny were stopped by my voice and my heels leaving skid marks in the neighbour's grass. It wasn't pretty but it did the trick. By the time they had dragged me to a stop the bunny was gone. Immediately Halo stood stock still, watched for a moment, evaluated the loss and let it go.

Raimi. Not so much. He could not get Bunny out of his head. For the last 50 feet to my yard he kept checking back checking back checking back ... bunny bunny bunny. He even checked the yard just to be sure.

We walked into the house, safe from marauding bunnies and Raimi checked Weasley with intense sniffing. Bunny?

2 comments:

Steven and Kimberly said...

LOL...The Boy checked the kitty cat just to be sure, huh? Well, he's just making sure Weasley's not one of those top secret spy-bunnies the CIA has been planting into Ridgeback homes everywhere.

Kathryn said...

Rory says to tell Raimi to come on over to our 'hood. Between the wild ones running rampant and the domestic ones escaping from the yard down the street, we have BUNNIES GALORE! I hope that the Halo Hunting Gene bypassed Rory. Meantime, new handles for your dogs are in order. I'm thinking Halo The Hare Hunter and Raimi The Rabbit Ripper.