“It all began when your uncle was eight and I was four,” Mother started. “We had been at a farmers’ market and they were selling livestock. Daddy went to look at the cows and we wandered to the smaller shed where they sold chickens and the like. There in the bottom row was a group of adorable baby rabbits, and we set our hearts on them. We ran off to find Mama. By the time Daddy had found a new heifer, we had two cute bunnies. One brown like a wild bunny and one black and white, small and cuddly and oh, so soft! I remember holding my bunny in its box and naming it Spectacles because of the rings around its eyes. The man who sold them to Mother assured her they were both girls.”
“Were they as soft as Angelo?” asked Beni
“No, they weren’t angoras, but they were still soft. Well, Daddy grumped a little bit but he built us a lovely pen. At one end were hutches, and he built a small fenced area with a gate so we could go in and play with them. He made that pen of five foot wire so the dogs couldn’t jump over to hurt the bunnies. He put a wire roof over it so hawks couldn’t hunt them. It was a grand pen. Every day we picked grass for our pets and they slowly grew up that summer.”
“How big were they?” Miah wanted to know.
“About the same as Angelo. Now about that time, there was a flu epidemic and we all got sick. It was late November and we all had our first snow fall while we were sick. The snowfall was really heavy that year. I ended up getting pneumonia and missing school. By the time we were all healthy again, the little fence in the rabbit yard was full to the top with snow! Our bunnies made tunnels through it and came up to the top of the pen to be fed and spent the rest of their time playing in the snow tunnels and in their warm hutches.”
“That sounds like fun,” Emily said. “Did you get to go in the tunnels?”
“Oh, no, they were too small,” said Mother. “For a long time Daddy had been going to the grocery store that gave him all the left over lettuce and vegetables to give to his cows. Well, he began feeding the bunnies leftovers too, and a strange thing happened.”
“What?” asked Miah.
“Daddy came in one day and said, ‘I saw a black rabbit in the pen today,’ but of course, we didn’t have a black rabbit. We thought he was joking, but he pointed to the pen. Sure enough, there were our two bunnies, and a white rabbit and a brown rabbit and a black rabbit as well! My mother said they must have had babies, and were we ever excited! The new bunch of bunnies began to eat a lot more. Daddy thought we must have had a lot of babies as we began to see rabbits of different colors and sizes. We began to get really nervous about what was going on in all those tunnels. Then it began to get warm. It was spring. The snow melted. Lo and behold, we had twenty-seven rabbits!”
“Wow!” exclaimed Miah “That’s a whole city of rabbits!”
“That’s right,” agreed Mother. “There was no way we could keep them. So Daddy put an ad in the paper and we sold them. So you see, before we get another rabbit, we had better find out if we have an outlet for them if we do have babies; someone who would buy the extra babies.”
That afternoon the girls made some calls to local pet stores.
“The lady at the little pet store said she would buy little bunnies from us, Mother,” said Emily. “and the man at the fancy pet store at the mall wants three when they come.”
“Well, we haven’t got a mother yet,” said Fawn. “If we don’t have a mother we won’t have any babies.”
The phone rang. Fawn reached the phone first. “Yes? You do? You better talk to my mother,” she said.
The man on the phone had angora rabbits for sale. He had heard from the pet store owner that they might be looking for a breeding age rabbit. Daddy and Emily rode off to his farm.
“Angora rabbits are the only domestic animal besides angora goats that produce angora wool,” Mr. Fairchild said. “I raise them for their wool and sell the wool to a mill in Maine. I save up fur from brushing them until I have about fifty pounds and then ship it up. They pay me for it and that’s how I keep my hobby paying for itself.”
“Well, we only plan to have them for pets, but we do plan to sell any babies. There seems to be quite a demand for them.”
“Well, make sure the people you sell them to know they need brushed every day,” Mr. Fairchild continued. “They make excellent pets, but if you let their fur get matted, it can hurt them and you have to trim it off and they look sad without their fluff. Over here are the does I have for sale.”
Emily studied the rabbits. “Angelo is marked like that one over there; sort of like a Siamese cat,” said Emily. “If I want different colors, I’ll have to have a different colored mother won’t I?”
“You’d have a better chance of it,” he said. “Since you have a torte male, I’d suggest a black doe. You’d get the best color range.”
Emily chose a fluffy, black doe. Daddy paid Mr. Fairchild, and they took Superfluff home.
“She’s beautiful,” said Miah.
“She’s soft,” said Beni.
“I like her,” smiled Emily. “Who will help me put her in her new pen?” Everyone wanted to help. Beni brought the food dish and a carrot. Miah brought fresh water. Fawn carried some fresh litter from the barn. Soon Superfluff was tucked into her pen. She contently began to eat the carrot and wiggle her ears.
“We’ll let her get used to us for a few days and then introduce her to Angelo,” said Mother. “The babies will be born in about a month and will be ready to leave for new homes in a few months. I think just in time for Easter.”
“I’m glad Jesus found Angelo a wife,” said Beni. “I can’t wait for the babies to come.”
“Now that He has sent us a mother, we must remember to take the best care possible of her,” said Mother. “Let’s make it everybody’s responsibility to see she’s brushed, watered, fed, and kept clean.”
“We will,” everyone agreed.
“And I’m going to dedicate the first batch of babies for our church missions project,” said Emily. “The mother cost me ten dollars. The bags of rabbit pellets cost three dollars. I’ll write it down and the increase can be for the building fund.”
“That’s a good idea,” said Daddy. “I have some accounting paper in the den. Let’s set up an account for your investment bunny babies right now.”
And that is what they did.
God’s Love Reminder Verse:
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)