Sarai

The Little Injured Rabbit

One day as I was walking through the woods that lay behind my granny’s house, I came across a baby rabbit lying in the wet grass. It was too weak to move all by itself. I quietly walked near to it, trying not to scare it as I approached. Even though I knew it couldn’t run away. It was badly hurt. I could tell by the squeaking noises it was making.
It was motionless as I reached down to touch it so that it would know that I was there. After a few gentle strokes I scooped it up into my hands as I placed them together to make a cup.
The frightened little critter was too close to death to be aware that something alive was handling him.
I inspected its’ body to see if there were any external injuries visible. All I could see was meshed down fur and crooked bones on each of its’ back legs. The stomach area was indented in, as if it was starving and hadn’t eaten in many days.
My daddy was the best about letting me bring home stray animals and tend to them. I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up.
I raced home, cradling the wounded animal in my arms like a newborn baby. I remember how mommy had taught me to handle J J when she brought him home from the hospital. She said he was too tiny to be able to hold himself upright or even hold his head up by his self. She said this would be my job, as the oldest child, to teach JJ how to do every thing.
This training came in handy now, as I needed to get my new baby rabbit to a safe place.
“Daddy, Daddy!” I hollered as I ran into the backyard. “Daddy, Daddy! Open the back door. HURRY! It’s dying!”
The back door opened quickly. Almost hitting me and sending me flying backwards. I was already on the top step when he opened the door.
“What in sweet Jesus’ name do you have there child?”
“A baby rabbit Daddy. I found him in the field to the right of the pasture. Ya know, the field where the cows graze in the evening?”
“They must have walked over him when they were leaving to return to the open pasture.” Daddy said as I placed the rabbit on the kitchen table in one of mama’s hand towels. I knew she’d have a fit if she were here to see me. She’d tell me these weren’t nursing rags. I took the chance of being scolded. There wasn’t time to run upstairs to get the first aid box.
The rabbit was completely still and quite now. He had stopped breathing by the time I had entered the house. This meant I would have to give it air to bring it back to life. They had taught us something called CPR in health studies at school. We had a fake, life-size doll to practice on in class. This was totally different.
I passed the dummy test with an A, even though I killed the dummy when it was my turn to save him. The class was large and the last five kids were rushed during our turns. We all made mistakes and either killed the dummy, or injured him, leaving him with broken ribs and punctured lungs. Our instructor told us not to let anyone rush us if this ever happened in real life. Some one’s life could depend on us remembering how to do the CPR thing the right way.
I was positive that his instructions were meant for little rabbits, too. They’re living things just like us.
As I put my pinky finger into his mouth to make certain nothing was in his windpipe, my father questioned me, “What are you doing little girl?”
“Making sure there’s nothing in his air hole, daddy, so I can give it mouth-to-mouth resuctionating.”
Trying not to laugh at her mispronunciation of the word in this serious moment, her father questioned, “Do you mean resuscitation?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said, resuscination.” trying not to lose my patience with him at such a stressful time as I threw my arms up in the air. I was in a complete frenzy.
What if I killed the rabbit like I did my dummy? Oh, wait a minute. Slow down. The rabbit is already dead. I have to put air back into his lungs so he can be alive. “Okay,” I said in a whisper to myself, “remember what the teacher did.”
I lay the dead rabbit on its back. But, it rolled back over on its side. I put it on its back again. It rolled over again. “Darn! I’m gonna kill it dead forever! Help me Daddy.” I pleaded earnestly as I motioned for my daddy to kneel down next to me.
“Hold its back legs together and keep it on its back Daddy.”
As my daddy followed my instructions, I tilted the rabbits’ head back, slightly. I eased his jaws apart, stuck my littlest finger back into his tiny mouth. Checking to make sure nothing was lodged in his throat. Ooh, that was slimier than the dummies throat.
Nothing was in the airway. I kept thinking about the steps the teacher did. 1-lay on back, 2-tilt head, check airway, 3-pinch nose. Pinch nose? His nose was flat. How do you pinch a flat nose? Improvising, I lay the lower part of my palm over its nostrils’. Now there wasn’t any way for air to escape when I blew into its opened mouth.
4-blow air into the victims’ mouth, 5-pump on their chest 5 times, 6-repeat 4 and 5 until victim is breathing again on their own. I blew air softly into his tiny lungs. Then I took the round part of my thumb and pumped firmly, but gently, on its chest. No response from the rabbit. I blew again. I pumped again. I blew again. I pumped again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, breathe, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, breathe, 1, 2, 3. It moved! The rabbits’ chest moved on its own!
“Daddy, it worked! He’s breathing!” I couldn’t help but squeal in excitement. “He’s breathing. He’s alive!”
The little rabbit started kicking at her daddy. He was still holding its’ back legs up in the air, keeping him on his back. He wanted to roll over.
Her daddy released his hold on the rabbits’ legs as the little thing clamored to roll over on its’ side. Barely breathing on its own yet, it struggled to keep his head held upright. It wobbled from side to side. Kind of like JJ did when he came home and she forgot to hold his head for him.
With each breath, the little critter became steadier. After a few minutes he was sitting up looking at the little girl. He blinked a few times, but he never took his eyes off of her.
She wrapped him up tighter in her mama’s hand towel. She scooped him back up into her arms, cradling him like a baby. He rested his head against her chest and closed his eyes. After a few minutes he was rhythmically breathing and was fast asleep. She hugged her daddy as tears of joy welled up in her eyes.
“I didn’t kill him like I did my dummy, Daddy.”
“No Pumpkin, you didn’t. You did great! You slowed down and thought everything through, step by step. Just like the teacher taught you. Your classmates would be proud of you. I know I am.”
“I hope mama will be too.”
“I’m sure she will. Now, you and that little thing go crawl up on the coach and take a nap together. Your mother will be home shortly and I want to have supper ready for her. She’s worked hard today saving lives too. You’re as natural at being a nurse as her.”
“Oh, by the way, Sally Sue.”
“Yes sir.”
“Let’s not tell her about the hand towel till after she’s kicked her feet back and rested a bit, okay?”
“Okay.” She said as she laughed with her daddy about their little secret.
Sally Sue slept deep. She was so tired that she didn’t even dream. Rescuing the little creature took an extreme amount of energy. Mostly because of all the worrying about losing it’s life.
Sally was in this state of deep sleep when her mother came home from work. The noise her mother made didn’t even bother Sally.
“Shh!” Her daddy hushed her mama as she made a racket dropping bags of groceries on top of the dining room table.
“Sally’s asleep, Suzie Q.”
“What is she doing sleeping at this time of day Harold? She won’t sleep tonight and we have an early Sunday school class in the morning.” She quipped at her husband.
“She’s had a really rough afternoon, Honey. Something exciting happened. I’ll let her tell you all about it when she wakes up.” He said, as he smiled with glowing pride.
“What? What happened, Harold? You know I can’t stand suspense.” She said, as she walked over to the couch to wake up Sally.
“What is my hand towel doing on the couch Mister?” She bellowed as she reached down to grab the hand towel.
Before Harold could say anything she had reached down and grasped the hand towel, intending to ease it out of Sally’s tight clutch that she had on the towel. As she placed her hand gently on the corner of the towel she tried to gently pull it out of Sally’s hand, not wanting to startle the little girl.
Not realizing she was the one about to be startled. When she pulled the towel away from the warmth of Sally’s body the rabbit sprang out of the towel. It landed on her mama’s feet. Still weak from its ordeal, all it could do was scratch wildly with his legs. Frantically scratching mama’s sandal clad feet out of fear. Jumping back in fear, her mama stumbled over a footstool. Abruptly, she landed in the lounger that the stool sat in front of with the purpose of people propping their feet upon. She raised her legs and feet into the chair, gathering them underneath her to protect herself. Still screeching in a panic and pointing at the fuzzy intruder she awakened Sally.
Sally suddenly sat up and quickly took in the entire scene in a
a quick glance. Once she saw her mama she knew she’d been busted red-handed with her hand towel.