Sometimes in life, things are never what they may seem.
Many years ago, a friend of mine told me the following true story…
When he was growing up, a neighbor of his, Scott, had a big, Golden Retriever, Max, as a pet. Max would get into everything…the garden, the trash cans, ground hog holes, etc. and occasionally, ransack their neighbor’s things. One neighbor, Mr. Swanson, had told Scott and his family that if he ever saw Max come into their yard again, he would call the police and the pound then have Max taken away.
One day Scott and his family came home after school and called for Max. To their horror and astonishment, their dog held a dead, white rabbit in its mouth. The first thing they thought was, where did Max find a white rabbit? All the rabbits that they ever saw hopping around the yard were either brown or gray but not white.
Then a bone-chilling awareness dawned on them…their neighbors, the Swanson’s, had two children who had a white, rabbit for a pet and it lived in a cage in their back yard. Could the dog have wondered into their yard and snatched the rabbit out of its cage? The only way that they would know for certain was to find out for themselves.
Lucky for them, the Swanson’s weren’t home, so Scott warily walked into the yard and looked upon the cage. To his chagrin, he found the small door to the rabbit cage wide open and there wasn’t a rabbit to be found.
Heart pounding and racing back home, Scott told his parents that the rabbit’s cage was empty and he was certain that Max had taken the little critter out of its pen, killed it, and brought it home to show the family as they arrived.
Scott and his parents were not only upset but scared. Max had once again gone into their neighbor’s yard but this time he went over the line…he had killed their pet. Mr. Swanson would have Max taken away. What were they going to do? They had to think of something quick…the Swanson’s would be home within the hour.
Suddenly, Scott’s dad had an inspiration. They would drive down to the local pet store and try to find a white rabbit that they could purchase. Imagine how excited they were when there was a white rabbit for sale!
As fast as they could, they drove back to Scott’s house and handed the rabbit to Scott. Scott ran back into the Swanson’s yard, put the bunny back into the cage, closed the door and left.
Scott and his family were very, very excited. The Swanson’s “pet” was back home where it belonged, Max was safe and nobody would know that anything had happened, Now, all they had to do was wait and see if the Swanson’s would notice.
Twenty minutes later, they saw the Swanson car pull into the driveway and watched as the family went into the house. After waiting, for seemed to be an eternity, a blood-curdling scream emanated from the Swanson’s backyard. Scott, along with his family, ran into the Swanson’s yard to see what had happened.
There, they found Mrs. Swanson, looking white as a ghost, shaking from head to toe. Mr. Swanson came dashing out of their house followed by their two kids. Scott’s father asked, what’s the matter? What’s wrong? Mrs. Swanson just stood their shaking her head in shock and disbelief.
After a minute or so, she calmed down and said in a slow, quiet voice, “I just don’t understand it. The most amazing thing has happened. You see, Snowball, our pet rabbit died last night. I took it out of its cage and buried it in our garden. When I came home to pick some tomatoes and onions for dinner, I saw that the spot where I had buried Snowball was empty…and he was back in its cage!!!”
Scott and his parents stood there in utter amazement. Max hadn’t killed the Swanson’s rabbit at all…it was dead and he had dug it up!!