The Magic Rabbit

By Todd Maguire on November 20, 2015 in Other

Tim Stokes was abruptly woken from his afternoon snooze by his faithful Golden Retriever scratching frantically at the kitchen flyscreen door. It took a minute for Tim to register where he was. He heaved his hulking frame off the lounge and walked towards the back door, rubbing his eyes and cursing the unwelcomed interruption.

As he opened the door, his dog Rubin stood in front of him was proudly wagging his its tail. As When Tim focussed and went to scold his dog for cutting short his kip, he spotted a large clump of dirty fur in the retriever’s smiling, drooling mouth. Upon closer inspection, Tim realised that it was his neighbour’s pet white rabbit.

Tim managed to prize the rabbit from Rubin and place it in the laundry sink. He was praying that nobody had seen Rubin the canine roaming around with the carcass in his mouth. The rabbit was definitely dead, but strangely there were no puncture marks or bloodstains.

“‘’Bloody Nora,;, Rubin, you stupid mutt;, you’ve obviously broken the rabbit’s neck during your playtime with it.”’’

A devilish idea came over Tim as his dog sat watching his every move.

Tim proceeded to wash the muck- caked rabbit in the sink with shampoo. He washed off all the dirt and even spoiled the mass of fur with a splash of his girlfriend’s top- shelf conditioner. Finishing off with a good blow dry with her hair dryer, the rabbit looked brand new.

Tim was actually good mates with his neighbour and he knew that at this time of day the whole family waserewould be out and about at work and at school. He placed the rabbit in a bag and jumped the low back fence to his neighbour’s place. Like a SWAT team member, he scurried across the back yard and placed the rabbit back in its hutch and locked the door behind himit. When Tim was back in his yard, he smiled and gave his playful dog a pat. What they don’t know won’t hurt them, Tim reckoned.

A few days later, Tim ran into his neighbour as he was mowing his the lawn.

“‘’G’day, buddy;, what’s new?” Tim nervously asked his neighbour.

“‘’You won’t believe this one, Tim,.” tThe neighbour said. ‘’I found our pet rabbit dead in its hutch yesterday morning.”’’

“‘’Sorry to hear that mate. I know how much your kids loved that little critter.” Tim was riddled with guilt, but had to stand his ground.

“‘’Yeah, mate, it was a bit of a shock,.” ‘’ tThe neighbour shook said, shaking his head in amazement. “‘’Especially because given that the rabbit actually died last weekend of natural causes and I had to bury it on the Sunday. You wouldn’t read about it, hey?.”

Tim sheepishly said nothing as his dog let out an untimely bark. He was right all along: what they don’t know won’t hurt them; but what concerned Tim most was what if they did know of his deception.

Tim couldn’t sleep that night. He felt guiltier now than he had when he thought his dog was the perpetrator. Maybe honesty is the best policy after all, he reckoned.