A Bump in the Road

The only sadness in Mithril’s life was that no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t seem to cheer George up. This was partly because George didn’t feel well, and Mithril remembered how that had felt.

The other problem was that George was just a bit too attached to material things. Rabbits are particularly good at teaching the lesson “It’s Just Stuff.” The First Law of Rabbit Behavior is: “If it’s within my reach it is mine to chew.” The Second Law of Rabbit Behavior is: “Nothing is ever completely out of my reach.”

Like most men, George failed to see the humor of remote controls, phones, and calculators that were harder to use because of buttons chewed by a rabbit. Bunnies cannot resist the urge to chew such devices—and Kathy just couldn’t seem to remember to put them completely out of Mithril’s reach. She and Mithril both knew that you can find the numbers by their position. And unlabelled function keys on calculators can eventually be figured out from partial labels and the process of trial and error. George, however, was not amused!

Kathy hoped that as George got to know him better, he would realize what a truly special bunny Mithril was. She let Mithril out to play while his humans watched movies on weekend afternoons. Mithril offered George all the affection he gave Kathy. He hopped into George’s lap to cuddle. He sat on the back of the sofa and nibbled at what little hair George had left. He gave George bunny kisses.

Kathy knew that bunny kisses—especially with baby bunnies—sometimes lead to playful “nips.” She had been working with Mithril to correct this behavior. Any time she felt his teeth, she removed her hand, softly tapped Mithril’s nose and said, “Gentle.” They were making progress, but not quickly enough. One afternoon Mithril was sitting on George’s lap kissing his hands and George felt teeth. Even though Mithril did not break the skin, George yelled, “Ouch!” and pushed Mithril off his lap and onto the floor.

Kathy jumped up to make sure the bunny wasn’t hurt. Mithril was fine and not at all upset, but Kathy knew she needed to limit his contact with George. Although she knew George would not purposely hurt Mithril, bunny bones are fragile. It was her job to keep Mithril safe; she could not risk letting him be pushed off the sofa again.

Kathy put Mithril back in his condo until George went back to the bedroom for the night. Meanwhile, Mithril kept standing up with his paws on his condo door. He seemed to be asking to come out and play saying, “I’m not scared.”