CHAPTER 161 – Resilience
Abigail was foraging in her hay tunnel late one afternoon. Dad was in the “studio” taking portraits of bunnies who were looking for forever homes. She heard his footsteps and popped her head out of the hay tunnel to see what was up.
“Abigail, there’s a bun I’d like you to meet. His name is Gilbert. He’s a Lionhead,” said Dad, “He was attacked by a dog and went blind. Could you say ‘hi’ to him?”
Dad took Abigail out to meet Gilbert. Abigail expected to see a frightened bunny sitting still, afraid to move, but Gilbert was doing what all bunnies do when they’re getting their picture taken. He was slinking from one edge of the table to the other to find his boundaries. He sensed Abigail and stopped.
“Hi there, I’m Abigail,” she said. He replied, “Oh hi. I’m Gilbert.” Abigail asked, “Are you OK? My Dad said you are blind.” Gilbert replied, “Yes, I’m fine. Just trying to get my bearings and figure out where the boundaries are here. Never been here, you know?”
Gilbert continued approaching the edges of the table. His foster mom kept a close eye on him to make sure he didn’t step off the edge, but Gilbert was careful.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” said Abigail, “but you seem pretty normal in spite of being blind.” Gilbert replied, “It took a little getting used to, but you know us bunnies, we have whiskers, good ears, and a good nose, so I can pretty much sense what’s going on. Once in awhile, I bonk into things. Fortunately, my bun mom keeps stuff in the same place, so once I know where everything is, I can get around pretty well.”
Abigail said, “Wow. You’re really an inspiration. I bet most humans wouldn’t adapt as well as you do. You remind me of my friend Jack In the Bag. I met him at Bunfest. His back legs don’t work, but you’d never know it. He gets around just fine with his front legs.”
Gilbert said, “I heard the doctors talk about putting me to sleep after the accident. I’m glad they didn’t. I live a good life and I’m happy. I’m lucky to have a good bun mom to take care of me. Whenever she puts her hand in front of my nose, I can smell her and I put my head down and let her pet me. That’s how I thank her.”
That was the same thing that Jack had told Abigail. She was impressed. It made her happy to know that there were loving humans in the world who gave disabled bunnies a chance for a good life.
Animals are so resilient. Abigail meets Gilbert, a blind rabbit who gets around just fine with a little help from a loving bun mom.
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