The accidental demise of our neighbour's rabbit

From the time I was six years old, I remember that we usually had a part-time helper on the farm. My father ran a small farm, but most of his income came from his self-employed accounting business. In those days, everything was books and paper, so to serve his clients, Papa would have to travel to their locations in all corners of PEI. Often, he would be gone from home for 2 - 3 days at a time. In the 60s, my three brothers and I were still too young to handle all the barn chores. So, we hired a local man (usually a neighbour). We had some interesting ones!

When I was 8 -10 years old, we had Andre a Theodore as our main hired hand. He was our neighbour and a farmer's son. He was keen and had good farming knowledge from his life experiences. One thing that sometimes frustrated my father and amused us is that he had no education (e.g., he couldn't read, had math challenges for simple additions, etc.). But, in general, we enjoyed having him around -- he had a good sense of humour. 


At his parents' home next door, he enjoyed raising different or unique animals (i.e. not common in the local community). At one time, he had a bunch of miniature chickens for some reason! And another year, he was raising a few rabbits; again, I'm not sure why. 

Occasionally, those rabbits would wander to our yard and sometimes into our Meme beloved vegetable garden. She was pretty keen to keep them out, so we kids were encouraged to give chase if we saw one of Andre's rabbits on our property. One day, I spotted a rabbit, and the chase was on. The rabbit was fast and would outrun me and stop (maybe for some more fresh grass/weed). So, to be more effective in getting the message across that he should go home, I grabbed something (a bolt, I think) and threw it. Unfortunately, the bolt hit the rabbit in the back of the head and killed him on the spot! 

My mother (and the whole family) decided not to tell Andre of his fat rabbit's passing. But not to worry, we quickly skinned the rabbit and enjoyed a yummy stew for dinner! 

The End.


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