Chapter Three - The Pet

Mrs. Whitting was bandaging her son's cleansed wound in the kitchen. After she was done, she added in as motherly a tone as possible, "Josh, you should have known better. It's a wild animal. And I've told you a thousand times not to try catching them."

"But, Mum, it was already in the garage. And you said I could keep it," sobbed Josh.

"I know that," his mother replied, trying to circumvent seven-year-old logic, "But you tried to pick it up, and wild animals don't like being picked up, dear," replied his mother.

"Oh," said Josh simply, looking at his stinging, bandaged hand, "But I picked it up on the road last night."

"Yes, dear, but it wasn't awake then."

The father entered the kitchen just then. "Well, it's not dead, Josh - it was just hurt again when you dropped it on the floor." He sighed. "I knew this was a bad idea. I'll see if Jack knows somewhere that will take in a wild rabbit. Or we could just let the thing go."

Josh's eyes lit up at his father's first words, but then reflected angst again. "Daddy, no!" protested Josh, "He's my bunny! I want to keep him! Can't I keep him?" Josh started sobbing again.

"Even after he attacks you, you think he's a pet?" asked his father sternly.

"I promise I won't pick him up anymore. Can't we just put him in a cage?"

"Son, wild rabbits aren't meant for cages. And we don't have a cage. And I'm not buying one for some crazy rabbit."

"Just until he's tame?" pleaded the boy, "Then he can be a house bunny."

"A house rabbit? Oh, great. I've heard Jack's stories. He's clipped so many rabbits' claws. Do you know that they chew and tear up everything they see?"

"Not in a cage, Daddy. He'll be a good bunny when he's tame. I promise." Josh looked up with pleading eyes.

"Well, it's worth a try, dear," said the mother, "The Richard's have an old cage that they had for their rabbit before it died. They haven't had any pets since, but I think they might still have the cage. What harm could it do?" Seeing her husband's expression, she added, "And, if it's still trouble, then we'll give it away."

Josh hopped around happily, forgetting his hand. That is all that he wanted - a chance to keep his bunny and prove that it would be a good pet.

"Fine," conceded Greg, "I suppose if Josh really wants to keep it, even if it did bite him, I'll give it another chance. Karen, I'm going to see if I can borrow that cage from the Richard's, then we're off for the tree. We're late enough as it is."

Before the Whitting's left, Hopscotch was resting peacefully in his cage. It was about three feet by two feet, more than enough room for a rabbit. Its size would make it difficult to carry around, and it had to be reassembled. The four wire sides snapped snugly into the brown plastic base (supposedly a chew-resistant plastic), and the roof snapped neatly onto the four sides to make a very sturdy cage, indeed.

*** Blackberry was running for his life, trying to get back to Watership Down before Woundwort and his Efrafans had destroyed the warren. The dog from the farm was hot on his heels, barking threats of pain and disembowelment. The beech tree loomed ahead, high atop the hill. Efrafans were visible all around, digging desperately, trying to break into the warren and kill any rabbit that they found. Perhaps he was already too late.

While Blackberry was looking at his endangered home, rather than the ground ahead of him, his right front foot caught in a thick clump of crabgrass. He lost his balance, and tumbled. Within a moment, the dog was upon him, its jaws sinking deep into his torso. Blackberry gasped and squealed, looking for one last time at his home - which would suffer a far worse fate than he when the dog didn't arrive to disperse the Efrafans. Everything blurred as he was slung around like a feather trapped in a wind-blown spider web, and then the world went dim.

Awakening with a start, Blackberry found himself still in the hrududu's burrow, illuminated by daylight. The hrududu was gone, but certainly it would return soon; the place reeked of it.

After recovering himself, Blackberry's mind was clearer now and he realized something else now. He was inside of a cage, not unlike the one that had held the hutch rabbits that he helped free the previous summer. Blackberry felt a surge of panic. He wanted to get out of there, and he could see that there was no way out.

Inside the cage with Blackberry was a pile of flayrah - lettuce and carrots There was no doubt where that came from. But, Blackberry was feeling a little hungry again, and there appeared to be no flay of any kind except what the humans were giving him. Why were they giving him flay? Did they want him to be a hutch rabbit now? He cautiously looked around, and after discerning that no humans were present, started on his meal. He continued thinking. The hutch rabbits were prisoners of the men. I can't become a hutch rabbit! I have to be free! I have to go home! I can't be here!

He snuffled at the wire. It seemed to Blackberry that wire was everywhere in the world of man. It was also found fastened to fence posts, and it was something like thick wire that made up the tall iron trees - the pylons which carried humming strands of what seemed to be more wire high in the sky. It was the same type of material that made up the iron roads (which were also usually straight) that carried odd, roaring beasts of unimaginable size and length. And, it was the same kind of wire from which snares were made, the snares which had claimed the lives of hrair rabbits and which had nearly killed Bigwig the previous summer. Obviously, whatever this material was, it was important to men. Come to think of it, thought Blackberry, the hrududu must be made of this stuff, too. Perhaps Bigwig was right and the hrududil aren't alive at all. Then it hit him. The hrududu was gone; the burrow was empty except for Blackberry and his cage. The men must be gone, too. This would be a good opportunity to escape.

Hopefully chomping down on the wire, he soon learned that the wire couldn't be severed with his teeth, and Bigwig's choking words came back to him from the day the snare nearly killed the powerful fighter - No good biting wire. Blackberry thought, If Bigwig can't fight wire, no one can. He tried to push the wire off of the its base, but it was attached firmly. He was hopelessly trapped.

*** "Clover, may I have a word with you?"

"Certainly, Vilthuril. What is it?"

"Did the men treat you well?"

Clover was silent for a while. "Uh... Well... We did have enough flay to eat, and we didn't worry about elil... But, I wouldn't go back to that life. It is similar to what I've heard of the old Efrafa. Am I right? Efrafans were safe under Woundwort, but no rabbit could be truly free - except maybe the privileged few."

"Yes, but... those who disobeyed often vanished with no questions asked. Anyway, about the men... would they have killed you?"

"Oh, no. We were their pets, like their cats or dogs."

"You weren't going to become their dinner? I've heard that they would have it at that."

"Well, I should think not. None of the others with us were taken. We were pets, no doubt. Men just don't kill their pets."

Vilthuril thought again, and came up with a different angle. "But, you hutch rabbits are different from us. You were bred as pets, is that not so?"

"Well, I guess so. I know our natural instincts are weaker than yours, but we're improving."

"That's not what I meant, really. I just wondered how men would treat a wild rabbit, should they catch one. Would a wild rabbit be their dinner?"

"I wouldn't know..." Clover paused. "Wait a moment, I do remember some seasons back, a wild rabbit did stay with us for a time. The men put him in with us. His name was Reed, and he had been very badly hurt, apparently a dog had mauled him, from what we could discern from his mumbling. He wasn't awake much. And, he stopped running after a day or two. The men put him in the ground after that."

"The men didn't kill him?"

"No, the dog did, Vilthuril."

"They truly didn't try to kill him?"

"No, not at all," Clover paused. "May I ask why you are curious about Reed?"

Vilthuril looked intently at the former hutch rabbit. "I was just thinking of Blackberry. I was wondering what would happen to him if he is alive and the humans have him... as a... pet."

"But, he's dead." replied Clover simply.

Vilthuril shook her head. "I'm not so sure. I met Bigwig on my way here. He said Blackberry wasn't crushed by the hrududu's tires, like you would expect. He was hit somehow, but not crushed. I'm not sure how this would be, but that's what Bigwig said."

Clover blinked. "But, I thought that Bigwig said he is dead."

"He did say that he is dead. But, he also said that the men took Blackberry away. What would they do with a dead wild rabbit? Would they take it with them?"

"Well," replied Clover, "I suppose they would put it in the ground, as they did with Reed. That's what they do with animals that stop running, as far as I've heard."

Vilthuril's voice grew a little in excitement. "But they took Blackberry away. Would men take an injured wild rabbit away with them?"

"Uh... uh... I... suppose they might. After all, Reed-"

"Thank you, Clover! That's what I wanted to hear!"

Clover watched in a confused state as Vilthuril hopped quickly back out of the burrow and down the run.