by Crystal J. Ortmann
23-Apr-2006
Dusty stretched out his big back feet and legs as he woke up from his nap. “Aah, that feels good.” For a minute, he forgot he had a new friend in the house. The sun coming through the window made him feel sleepy and he yawned.
“Wow!” Cocoa said. “That’s some case of carrot breath you have!” She shifted a little to get out of the way of his next yawn.
Dusty chuckled and snuggled closer to her. “She’s not one of those skinny rabbits. She’s firm and soft and warm. She might want to watch her mouth a little though.” It wasn’t the first time she said something a little bit mean to him. He chose to ignore it.
They started licking each other. He loved it. “That’s one thing I really like and my people don’t do for me. It’s great having another one like me in the house.”
“Why can’t you just lick my fur?” she asked Dusty. “Sometimes, I just want all the attention myself.”
Cocoa had a few habits that annoyed Dusty, but he still liked her. “She is kind of selfish,” he thought. Still, he liked it better with her, so he decided to not pay any attention to the things he didn’t like.
“Ouch!” he yelped. Cocoa bit him to let him know she had enough. “All right! Just say so! You don’t have to be mean.” Dusty licked the bite spot and hopped away. She upset him when she acted so hateful.
“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” Cocoa said as she hopped after him.
“Leave me alone,” he said. Sometimes, he needed to be by himself to figure things out. Her bite made him angry and he didn’t like getting upset.
“Okay, okay, I won’t bother the big baby,” she taunted, then hopped over to the magazine basket and pulled out a page and ate it.
“Cocoa, stop it,” said the lady. Cocoa only listened when she felt like it. Right now, she wanted to be naughty and chew something.
Dusty heard her getting fussed at and he hopped out to see what had happened. There was the lady trying to move Cocoa away from the magazines.
“Why does Cocoa do that?” wondered Dusty. “She knows she’ll get in trouble.” Dusty had a hard time understanding his friend. He never chewed those things. It was almost like she wanted to get in trouble. Still, she was his friend and friends stick together.
Dusty felt sad. It always hurt him when Cocoa was disobedient. He thought, “I like it quiet and peaceful, and she wants to have some sort of mess going all the time.” He didn’t know why she liked to do those things. “I don’t get it,” he thought.
“I wonder why we look alike, but we are so different?” Dusty asked himself. “Well, okay, we are different colors and I’m a boy and she is a girl, but otherwise we look alike.”
He tried to figure her out, but it was too much for him. He decided to take another nap after a quick stop at his food dish. Trying to understand Cocoa made Dusty hungry. He munched his pellets, and then hopped down the hall to a room where the sun shone for another nap. “Maybe someday I’ll know why she’s like she is. But now, I’m ready for a nap.”
Dusty acted wisely. It gave Cocoa time to calm down and change her bad behavior—sort of a bunny time out. He still loved his friend, but knew she needed to settle down before they played again.
Children look pretty much the same on the outside too, but often act very differently. One may choose to do right and the other wrong.
God wants us to live together in harmony. But that doesn’t always happen. Even though we are different, we can still be friends. But when friends act in a bad way, sometimes it is just better to stay away until they change, especially if they are trying to get us in trouble too.
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