JESSICA

J E S S I C A
April 30, 1994

Throwing away a live rabbit is not as easy as one would imagine. It takes much courage, determination and emotional detachment to do so. To begin with, it all started when the suitor of one of my daughters gifted her with a baby rabbit in a cage a few Christmases ago. It was a very exciting gift complete with food pellets and instructions on how to deal with it.

At first the rabbit which was named Jessica was very shy and wouldn’t eat. But as days passed-by it became greedier and messier. It grew bigger and bigger until the cage turned too small for it. Something must be done. But my daughter wasn’t concerned enough, it seemed. Her suitor promised to transfer it to a bigger cage but he didn’t because to do so he would have to use his car in transferring it from Alabang to Bel-Air and he just didn’t want to mess his car with his own gift.

One night I decided to free Jessica from her already unfriendly cage to a vacant lot where there are plenty of grass and banana plant. The idea was so it won’t starve while feeling at home too.

The following morning my son visited the place where we left the rabbit the night before and there it was exactly catatonic at the spot where we left her.

Jessica must have been shocked by the experience that either she didn’t know what to do or must have thought that she was still inside her cage. I went back with my son to see what happened. She moved a little distance where it was shady but she was shivering as if asking for compassion.

The “rabbit” in me must have been so touched that I brought it back home. The experience must have taught Jessica a lesson. Now, even if we open her cage she would stay inside or if she goes out for a while she returns and stays inside.