CHAPTER 10 – GODMOTHER TO A RABBIT?
“I’m back!” announced Dad, as he burst through the door. Abigail sat up and rotated her ears towards him. She tried not to look too excited, but she was so happy to hear his voice. He had been gone for days, and even though someone had been looking after her, she was wondering what had happened to him. Did he get lost? Did he get eaten? She worried that he might never come back. As Dad knelt down to give her a pet, she flashed a worried glance at him. “Don’t worry, Abigail, I’ll always come back to you,” he reassured her. “But what if you don’t?” she wondered. Little did she know, Dad had it covered.
When Abigail came into his life, Dad rewrote his will to make sure enough money was set aside to cover her expenses for the rest of her life. He calculated how much she’d need in food, supplies, and medical care every year, and then multiplied it by the life expectancy of a house rabbit – about 12 years. It wasn’t a trivial amount of money, but he wanted to make sure she would have a good life, even if he wasn’t there, and didn’t want her to suffer because her new caregiver couldn’t afford her.
That was the easy part. The harder part was finding someone who would look after her with the same love and care as he did. “Who of all my friends would be the best guardian for her?” he pondered. He went through the rolodex in his mind of all of his animal-loving friends. Some would probably just put her in a cage, and that wouldn’t do. Some had other animals who might get along with Abigail – or might stress her out. She was so tiny. He didn’t want to take the chance.
And that’s when Abigail’s Aunt Chelsea popped into his mind. Aunt Chelsea was a gentle soul. She was responsible. And she loved all living beings. In fact, it was Aunt Chelsea who had encouraged Dad to adopt Abigail in the first place. One day, Dad asked Chelsea, “I want to designate someone to take care of Abigail in case anything happens to me. Would you be her godmother?” Chelsea was taken aback for a moment. “Godmother to a rabbit?” she thought. But she adored Abigail, and without any further hesitation, said, “Yes! Yes, of course!” And with that, Dad had peace of mind, knowing Abigail would be in good hands should anything happen to him.
So Dad wrote her into his will as guardian for Abigail. From then on, he shared all of Abigail’s antics and preferences with Chelsea – what she liked to eat, what she liked to do, how she liked to arrange her territory, what treats she liked, and how she liked to be petted – so that Chelsea would really know Abigail.
Dad looked into Abigail’s eyes as he stroked her little ears and said in a soothing voice, “Don’t worry, Abigail. Aunt Chelsea is your godmother. She will look after you if anything happens to me.” Abigail seemed to understand. She liked Aunt Chelsea. She knew from the moment she met Chelsea that she could trust her. Abigail closed her eyes and relaxed. She had a godmother!
